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.