Dinner At The Wells Street Cafe

Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church

Date: Wednesday, April 05, 2017; 5:45-8:15 pm

I had not been here for a couple of months and so it was nice to come back.  I arrived to see the usual busy activity in the kitchen, though Marianne was missing today.  As I went inside, Chef Dan’s wife said that he had just mentioned to her how I had been missing and he confirmed that.  It was very lively tonight and I saw a lot of familiar faces.  The main highlight of tonight’s menu was “Cincinnati Style Chili”, meaning a huge amount of meat being cooked on the grill.

Tonight's Menu

There were a lot of cans to be opened, beans as well as some containing carrots, peas and corn.  I was paired with a volunteer and we got down to it, with me on the big can opener, while she drained the fluid from the cans.  We were doing well initially, but then the opener started giving me trouble and not only was I making a mess of the lid, I was spraying the fluid inside all over myself and some on my fellow volunteer!  But we got everything out of the can and then it was off to the steamers for a short time.  We stirred after 5 minutes- and yes it was hot – and then added melted butter and put it in the warmer.

The dining hall was filling up and since we had a lot of volunteers, I had some time to chat with the Chef.  I asked him what “Cincinnati Style Chili” meant, and he said that it included “Mediterranean Spices”.  I guess it must be because of the thriving trade that Cincinnati has with Italy and Greece!  The Chef mentioned that he was getting tattoos of his knives on his forearms and we spent some time discussing that and how I would get a tattoo if it wasn’t so permanent.  The Chef said that he probably has to worry about it for a maximum of 20 more years and so wasn’t too concerned.  “Yeah, better than getting a girl’s name tattooed on when you are in your early 20’s”, I said!

We assigned duties and I was on plating.  We went outside and started by distributing the salad bowls – individual sized – and then took our place in the assembly line.  I got the plate at the end with the Chili already on a bed of pasta and beans and my task was to sprinkle chopped onions on it and put a slice of homemade bread on the plate.  The bread had been made by one of our volunteer’s mother and it was really good.  We had handed out most of the plates when I realized something.  We had forgotten to take the vegetables out of the warmer. 

The volunteer with whom I had worked on it came up with a brilliant idea of putting the container on a cart and taking it to each table and serving them.  “Tableside service”, I said.  We went to each person and many of them rejected the vegetables, after learning that it was corn, carrot and peas.  I was pointing out that we had put in a lot of butter in it and so it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be.  We made sure that we visited everyone and I pointed out to my fellow volunteer that perhaps it was appropriate that it was the two of us doing this, since we had started off with the cans earlier in the evening.  I took over the counting duties for the seconds and then clean-up at the front with stacking of the chairs and rolling them inside.  All of us worked well together and we were done by 8:15 pm, joking and laughing all the way through.  It had been great to come after a few months and see everyone, even if I had missed Marianne.

Dinner At The Wells Street Cafe

Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church

Date: Wednesday, January 04, 2017; 5:45-8:15 pm

For once I was on time, because despite the bone chilling cold weather I did not wait for ‘Uber’ but instead took the train for one stop and then walked.  I arrived to see that Marianne was talking to a new volunteer who was probably here as a “New Year’s Resolution”.  I was also happy to see that little Hannah was here since I hadn’t seen her in a long time.  We had a full house of volunteers today with all the regulars, plus some that I had not seen before.  Everyone was busy and my first task was opening some cartons of Orange juice and adding to pans of chicken as a marinade.  The menu was distinctly “Mexican”, having “Clear Chicken Soup with Lime”, “Refried Beans”, “Corn Rice”, some Chicken dish with salad and finally “Chocolate Chip Muffin with Chipotle Caramel”; something that I was interested in seeing.  Inspired by this, Marianne was doing Mexican themed jokes…really bad ones.

Tonight's plate

Next task was draining some corn cans and adding corn to the rice trays along with some salt, cumin, butter and tomatoes – after which it went inside the steamer.  Chef Dan was observing a volunteer as he boiled sugar in water and we discussed different stages of candy making.  I suggested that for next week he put “cotton candy” on the menu!  The liquid in the pot was getting quite hot and we were watching it closely.  As soon as the first traces of Carmel were visible, I added 2 whole sticks of butter and then chef added some hot sauce, since there were no “chipotle peppers” or “chipotle sauce”.  He finished off the caramel with milk, though it curdled as soon as it hit the hot sauce.  But chef strained it and it was ready to go.  I said that we should put the sauce in a squeeze bottle and drizzle on top of the muffins, an idea that the Chef actually liked.

Marianne was looking sad because one of our guests had passed and its personal for her, having taken the time to get to know everyone. We did a quick huddle and after praying were ready to go.  However the chicken wasn’t ready, and so we waited by the plating station.  Music was on in the meanwhile with some enthusiastic singers.  We served the soups but even then the chicken wasn’t ready, and the people were getting a bit antsy.  I suggested that we sent out the muffins first and so that’s what we did.  Hey, after all there’s something about life being too short and eating dessert first!  Chicken was finally done and we got going fast.  I was on the salad and sprinkling cheese on top of it.  Even though the dinner was late, the chicken looked and smelt amazing.  The Chef had really outdone himself. 

We got the first servings out and then as is my practice, I started tallying the seconds.  After the long line of people for seconds, I finalized the count and then helped stack chairs. I was extremely tired and so left early after saying bye to Marianne.  I asked if we were having the “Valentine’s Day” event and she said that they were doing some construction in the dining hall and so it wasn’t certain.  There would however be a “Karaoke Night” soon!  Can’t imagine how that would go.

Dinner At The Wells Street Cafe

Location: Breaking Bread Ministries/LaSalle Street Church

Date: Wednesday, December 07, 2016; 6:00-8:15 pm

We had a lot of cookies

I had a bad experience with ‘Uber’, waiting for over 30 minutes and so desperately caught a cab, arriving late.  I saw that we had cookies today, the ones with the holiday frosting. Apparently we have received over a 1000 of those, meaning that we would be serving these for weeks.  Marianne asked me how I had lost so much weight, so that she could do the same and I said “Diet and Exercise”, at which she seemed disappointed, expecting something more along the lines of “magic pills”!  There were a lot of volunteers in today and so I didn’t have anything to do for a while.  Chef Dan was missing and one of the regular volunteers, Doug, was handling the cooking duties – and was quite excited to do so.  There was some pork dish with vegetables and some “Asian sauce”.  Doug is also known for his creative salad dressings and Marianne liked it so much that she was ready to drink it like it were juice.

We also had croissants on the menu and Marianne asked us to lay the frozen croissant dough on a sheet pan and then place them inside the oven to bake.  I put some trays in and then accompanied a volunteer to put the rest inside the huge refrigerator.  She mentioned about how it would be to have the door shut when inside, and I said that at least this wasn’t as nasty as the walk-in freezer next to it, which is where people find dead bodies in most of the scary movies.  We had very light attendance in terms of guests this evening and since only one of the volunteers was new, Marianne gave an abbreviated version of her speech.  In terms of assignments, people have realized that juice serving isn’t quite glamorous, but someone still has to do it; though I was on plating as usual.  Since everyone was busy getting the food ready, she just said, “And pray for us”, without the actual circle.  “Speed Praying” indeed!

The croissants came out and they smelled amazing.  Marianne took one and I said, “That’s how I lose weight - By avoiding stuff like this!”  We had rice, on which went the pork – generous portions of that – followed by the croissant and 2 "Fortune Cookies”.  “A Chinese-French fusion”, I mentioned to Doug.  I also said that there shouldn’t be 2 cookies since there shouldn’t be 2 fortunes.  I said that I would pick one for myself and it said “You will benefit from a relative soon”.  Yeah, sure.  As we stood there for the plating to start, Doug mentioned that Phil, who usually plays piano, was earlier singing “I’ll make love to you”, a very interesting choice for this place. 

We started plating and there really wasn’t the need for as many plates as some of the other times that I have been here.  I took over the counting duties as the volunteers ate and then was joined by a volunteer who wanted to plate seconds, since she loved “take out containers”.  Even with takeout, there wasn’t much demand today and once the crowd had dwindled, I went over for stacking and moving the chairs.  It didn’t take long and before leaving I asked Marianne if there was a special event for Christmas.  She said that the Wednesday prior to Christmas they would hand out some small “party favors” and maybe a special meal.  But there would be the regularly scheduled volunteers and so no need for any extras.  I told her that if she required anyone to come in a suit and look good, I could do that!