Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church
Date: Wednesday, August 03, 2016; 5:30-8:30 pm
My dad was visiting and I had asked Marianne the previous
month if I could get him for the project.
She had said that “Yes, we like
dads”. So we took an ‘Uber’ and arrived at 5:30 pm. Marianne was missing and I learned that she
was at a wake – an “Irish” one I
hoped and said so to someone. Their
response was that all of the wakes usually are, since people drink. I set up my dad in a chair in the kitchen and
then asked Chef Dan what he wanted me to do.
He promptly dispatched me to chop cilantro. Oh boy, me with knives again.
I started with that task and was done soon, at which he
asked me to move to cutting Pineapples.
He got out his special knives for this one and showed me how to carve and cut a
pineapple. I got the hang of it soon and
then it was just a question of working on 4 big pineapples, which were all going into the meat dish. I was next to a volunteer and Chef Dan came
and said that it was his last day. I
asked last day before what? Was he going
to prison, the moon, what was the last day referring to? I learned that it wasn’t as drastic and that
he had been visiting and was now going back home. Like the previous month we had "cinnamon rolls" and
this time we even had a glaze, which was being prepared on the side. We also had "refried beans", though this time
the Chef had a small “immersion blender”,
meaning that there was no need for mashing manually…well not for me anyways!
 |
| Tonight's "assembly line" |
My dad was sitting on a chair and observing everything that
was going on, though I saw him make an occasional comment. We seemed to be short-handed this evening,
and Lindsey – who was playing the Marianne role – was having trouble getting
enough people for each task. I said that
I would plate followed by counting seconds; my usual duties. There were 2 couples who were here for the
first time and they both went with “Juicing”,
though I don’t know why anyone ever wants that job. We did our prayer and I set my dad up outside,
next to the plating station. The menu
was very similar to last month, with a “Mexican”
theme, and once again I was on the garnish with “pickled onions”, cheese and cilantro. I said that rather than use a fork, I would
use my fingers for onions and cilantro, which would be more efficient way of
doing things. After the salads and juice
was served, we started on the food and I was the bottleneck with the 3 sets of
garnish, for which my fellow volunteers gave me a hard time. Everyone’s a critic!
After the first serving, I took over the tallying duty and
many guests were coming back. One
gentleman kept returning, not for food, but to ask for hot water for his tea. He was extremely well-mannered and always
referred to me by name – and with perfect pronunciation! When the rush was over, I went over to start
stacking the chairs. We had been told
that some of the guests had complained that we had been disrespectful by not
waiting for people to finish before cleaning up, which I thought was a
fair point. For the longest time I was
the only one doing chairs and wheeling them in.
At one stage, I even dropped a stack of 10 on the floor and had to do it
again. One of the new couples had left
early – which I always have a problem with since Marianne doesn’t like
increasing the number of volunteers, meaning that any commitment should be for
the entire evening. When one couple was
stacking chairs together – by lifting chairs at the same time like some couples therapy, I said to the guy that there was another carrier for chairs and that he
should help out. I was exhausted at the
end with all the stacking and soon left with my dad who I
think had a good time. I saw our old
Chef Keith and I hadn’t seen him since he left – or asked to
leave as he insinuated. He asked if my
dad and I were related since I "looked like him".
He still feels a bit bitter, but said that he was doing some good things
that he liked. I was glad to hear that.
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