Reserving Judgment

We're back at South Campus, a real pleasure: modern facilities, free parking, better neighborhood. Our instructor ("call me Peter") is a front-of-the-house guy who primarily teaches students in the Hospitality and Restaurant Management program. He's leading us through Banquets and Catering.

One of the objectives of the class is to plan and execute a catered function, from start to finish, so we spent some time in class today looking for a reason to cook, essentially. Fitz (new to our class this session) spent a lot of time arguing in favor of making lunch for homeless people, but Peter kept shooting him down: it's all about liability. We've got a couple of options which should be finalized in the next day or so, but it looks like we'll be hosting a fundraiser lunch on September 27 for a local organization TBD, at the on-campus restaurant on Rhode Island Street in the City.

We've settled on a menu, though. Meghan, Alex, (the new) Fitz and I are on the menu committee, and we came up with four possible ideas, based on Italian, Southwestern, Asian and Americana cuisines, and the class voted to prepare Southwestern food. Perhaps it's because we enjoyed Chef Patricio's class so much. At any rate, we'll be preparing a buffet lunch with grilled chicken and flank steak, lots of regional sides and salsas, and dessert. This week, we have to find and standardize recipes and develop a production list and a labor schedule. Next week, we'll work on the ingredients list, and the following week will include a couple of days of actual cooking in preparation for the event.

Our classmates (we are 14 in total) are working on set up (decor, area layout, and the like) and equipment planning, to ensure that we'll have all the supplies we need for both front and back of house. During the event, most of us will be working at buffet stations or as bussers and runners. There's also talk of a raffle and live music. Time will tell.

Andrea hates it already. I'm willing to follow Nick's example in The Great Gatsby: "Reserving judgement is a matter of infinite hope." We'll see how it goes. It could be fun. At the very least, there will be no flambé station, though we might make tortilla bowls to hold the chips. We have the knowledge.

And while we're on the subject of literature, my friend Simona, who writes a great blog about Italian culinary terms, is hosting an on-line celebration of food in fiction. You can get information on the event and how to participate or observe here. I'll be contributing something next week.