[Sca-cooks] al-Barran Midwinter recap and pix

[Kathleen A Roberts]

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.... I should
be Arnold Schwartzenneger right about now.

We were hit with new state regulations that amounted to
opening a restaurant for one day.  The building (per
usual) was not in good shape.  The inspector had the
fairgrounds remove all the cutting tables as health
hazards (pockmarked plastic tops - i had to agree on
that). We could only use the industrial diswasher to get
the big chunks off, and we had to then wash dishes with
the three sink method because the sanitizer cycle on the
dishwasher wouldn't get hot enough.  The walk-in barely
got up to acceptable temp.   The freezer did all too well.
We had a stove that held 4 half-hotel pans, 6 burners and
a flat top that was quite honestly, scary.  The convection
ovens were tempermental and the floor drain backed up six
times.   We cooked to feed 300.

I had a helluva kitchen crew, the "Vatos" we called 
ourselves, because of the hair nets.  Oh, yes... we had to 
wear hairnets and plastic gloves for the cooking as well. 
 And use bleach strips for the clorine dish rinse.  Tyron 
and I worked through Friday night til Saturday morning to 
make sure all the beef got cooked.  He shooed me off to 
sleep for about 4 hours and continued alone.  Everyone 
down to the dishwashing crew (the true heroes of the day) 
worked hard and played nice.



We did it.   I had to dumb down some recipes, ingredients
and the prep for some recipes but I think we did pretty
well.

The first course was appetizer-esque.  Salad dressed with
olive oil and pomegranate wine vinegar, sprinkled with
pomegranate seeds; beets with mustard sauce; marinated
cucumbers and fennel; hard boild eggs with pine nut sauce;
herbed cheese spread; celery sticks; olive spread; pickled
red onions.  The head table's salad plate was sprinkled
with edible gold dust.

The second course was pork with figs and honey; chicken
with herbs; beef with salt and honey; beef with mushroom
sauce; carrots and turnips in wine sauce and string beans
and chick peas with cumin.  We had all kinds of wonderful
homemade breads, THANKS TO BEAR FOR HIS RESEARCH AND
LOAVES OF MUSHROOM BREAD.  Fish sauce was offered on
request and six tables requested it.

Desserts featured the four corners of the Roman Empire and
Rome itself.  We had ricotta with honey and pomegranates,
dates stuffed with almonds and gilded; poppy seed tarts
with pistachios, anise cakes, sesame cakes, dried
figs/dates/apricots, candied ginger, stewed apples and
berries, baklava and the Colliseum filled with fruits of 
all kinds.
Desserts were processed to the head table from Germania, 
Brittain, Byzantium, North Africa and Rome in that order, 
finishing with the Colliseum escorted by dancing girls and 
drums.

I did not have time to make it, but my friend elle Astaria
and I talked about how it could be done and she took it
from there.

Needless to say it was a big hit in the
dessert processional and took three guys to carry it.  t
is made of graham crackers and royal icing.  Here are the
pics someone took (hope this works).

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6021400&id=708069369&l=8096354e04

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6021404&id=708069369&l=8096354e04

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6021401&id=708069369&l=8096354e04

People loved the food, the new decorations, and had a 
grand time from what I was told.  Was it worth all the 
stress worrying if the health inspector was going to pop 
up and close us down because someone's hairnet slipped?  I 
think so.   But I also think we should never use this 
venue again.  It is an accident waiting to happen.

This is my swan song.  No more huge feasts for me.  Go out 
with a good rep and while you are still having fun.  Of 
course, this doesn't mean that a feast for 80 is out of 
the question. ;)

Cailte


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which
sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
W. B. Yeats
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathleen Roberts
Coordinator, Student Admissions
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM
505-277-8900
FASTINFOrmation at your fingertips -
http://fastinfo.unm.edu/