Senior Diners Club

Location: Lidia Pucinska Apartments

Date: Thursday, September 26, 2013; 6-8 pm

I had been to Lydia Pucinska Apartments for this program, as well as for a ‘Youth In Services’ project.  I walked over from the CTA stop and was in fact the first to arrive.  Soon our Volunteer leader Josh arrived, along with another volunteer, Jeff.  They said that all the grocery needed to be brought inside, and I was recruited to help with that.  After a few trips we got everything inside and started planning tasks for the evening.  The menu was ‘Chicken and Noodles with Vegetables’, ‘Mashed Potatoes’, ‘Salad’, and ‘Strawberry Shortcake’.  Definitely sounded delicious, I mean there was going to be freshly baked Shortcake!

Strawberry Shortcake was on the menu

Josh believes in being well prepared so that he can focus on cooking during the project.  So he had already chopped most of the vegetables and the salad stuff and brought them over in Tupperware. What was still required was help in shredding the lettuce and Josh asked if I could take over that task.  This involved washing the lettuce and then cutting – or better, ripping by hand – the lettuce into small bite sized pieces.  So I took all of the bulky lettuce over to the sink, started washing them as best as I could and then ripping them into a tray.  Yeah, who needs to mess around with knives when you could just do this!  I chatted with Jeff while I went medieval on the lettuce and learned that he worked in ‘Etno’ with Josh.  Well, two professional today.  We certainly had set the bar of expectations high now.  I asked him about their signature burger and he said that it was something called ‘The Vampire’.  That sounded interesting and I asked why. He said that it was because it had garlic in it.  Everyone’s a comedian nowadays!  Josh was peeling potatoes, a thankless task if there ever was one.  I told him that this was one of the reasons why I like those red potatoes, since you do not have to peel them.  Jeff then took to chopping them and like Josh, he is a lefty as well, leading me to inquire if ‘Etno’ hired only left-handed chefs. 

Soon others arrived, including Erica, Wilson and couple of other volunteers.  The guests had started assembling and this being a place where the Bingo is played before the meal, Wilson took over the Bingo duties while the new volunteers were assigned the dessert duties.  Erica joined me at the lettuce station and we chatted about Pittsburgh and the food options over there.  I asked if she was going to be at the ‘Job Coaching At Open Door Shelter’ project on Monday. I was stepping in for Claire as a back-up leader and since Erica used to lead that project previously, I asked her for advice on setting the agenda.  We discussed some ideas as I continued to work on the lettuce.  Josh had started cooking onions, carrots and celery mix, or ‘Mirepoix’, as I pointed to Erica.  Looks like all my knowledge from watching the ‘Food Network’ was paying off!  Josh added some garlic to the mixture and I said “Vampire Mirepoix”.  Seriously, everyone’s a comedian.

The main course

There was a lot of lettuce to get through and when Erica went over to put the finishing touches on the dessert, another volunteer took her spot with me and we finally got it done.  I then cleaned some of the vessels while Josh wrapped up the cooking.  All of the Bingo prizes had been handed out and so it was time to serve.  Wilson asked me to pour the two salad dressings – Italian and Buttermilk – into bowls and distribute on the 7 tables that constituted the dining area. As I went around distributing the dressing, I got a lot of smiles from the residents, who seemed ready for their dinner.  I then helped serve the salad and many had specific requests such as no onions, more tomatoes and almost all of them wanted extra Ranch dressing …everybody loves Ranch dressing!  We were ready to serve the main course and I went over with the plates of noodles with chicken and vegetables. From the way the residents were enjoying their dinner, it looked like Josh had pulled off a winner.

And the dessert

While we were serving, Josh was using some industrial sized blender to mash the potatoes.  He announced that the potatoes were on the way and one lady who was waiting with relish asked if they were for real or just a rumor.  It was real all right and Josh and Jeff went over to serve the potatoes.  I followed the, with a cup of Parsley, sprinkling it on the top of the potatoes as garnish.  The dinner was over shortly and we moved on to serve the delicious looking Strawberry Shortcake.  The smell was outstanding and was well received by everyone. The residents dispersed after the dessert service and I went around wiping down the tables.  We all worked efficiently and soon the dishes had been washed and the place cleaned.  I had enjoyed watching Josh at work, using his professional skills to make even a challenging menu look easy.  Slowly, but surely, this is turning into one of my favorite projects. One of the ladies that I served had started chatting with me in some foreign language and I had shook my head, indicating that I wasn’t following her.  She repeated in English, “God Bless You”.  That, I had definitely understood.