The Day That Seemed Like Three Days

7:00 AM: Clock radio wakes me up — April Baer is listing school busses that are on snow routes. Get hopeful. Get up and look out the window — no snow. Lay back down for 30 minutes, then check online and TV. Yep — no snowstorm in Portland today. Dinner’s happening.

8:30: Load car with pans, pots, cranberry-orange relish, tongs, zester, garlic press, olive oils, and everything else. Pretty much 1/3 of my kitchen because I don’t think I can work with someone else’s stuff. Let car warm up.

9:15: Arrive at the house in Lake Oswego where the dinner is taking place. mj is already there and in pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt. Realize that was probably the way to go, rather than wearing nice clothes now. Carry all my stuff in from the car and almost slip on the floor and drop everything. Trim and pound chicken breasts — there’s only 27. mj says she will go get some more at some point today. Realize I forgot the goat cheese, arugula, balsamic drizzle and the appetizer puffs. Try not to freak out this early. mj gets a call and leaves to meet the home owner for coffee. Huh? Uh, okay. I will hold down the fort here… Yeah.

11:00 AM: The rental company arrives with the tables, chairs, dishes, etc. Drink a latte and eat a piece of lemon poundcake, that mj brought back for me. Arrange all of that rental stuff with mj. Hurt knee while moving a couch that is heavier than a six foot rock. Wrap 30 sets of silverware in napkins, while mj figures out who will sit where.

1:45 PM: Head back to Hawthorne and go to Fred Meyer to get more green beans (we only have about enough fo 20 people), an orange, and a disposable aluminum pan to store prepped chicken breasts. Generally, I really dislike buying disposable items — think about 30+ chicken breasts that need to be stuffed and rolled. Decide I don’t care about land fills and creating extra waste so much today.

2:30: Get back to my house, cook all the green beans (in 4 batches) 5 minutes each. Shock in an ice bath to cool. Store in zip lock bags. Print out extra nametags. Mix orange zest and fresh chopped mint into goat cheese. Load up car with everything including oven mitts, a couple of big bowls and other assorted kitchen items.

3:45: Arrive back at house. fh is waiting for me. mj asked him to buy the chicken. He bought double chicken breasts that are way bigger(even split in half) than the chicken breasts mj got at costco. Freak out just a little. They are so huge that I cut them into the two breasts, then cut each breast in half and pound that. Kill 30 minutes or so doing this. Start a chicken stuffing station. Take a pounded breast, lay it on cutting board, add three crumbles of goat cheese, 4-5 arugula leaves, roll up. One of the homeowners (Board Member’s wife) arrives. Hands are all chickeny — can only manage a “Hi, I’m Michelle. I’m making chicken,” and a quick wave. Repeat chicken stuffing 34 times. Wrap up aluminum, disposable pan and store in fridge. Wash hands. Preheat oven for appetizers. Get those in a 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Executive director arrives and starts setting up his projector for pre-dinner presentation. Pace back and forth while appetizers bake. Look over and see him watching me pace — give an insane little laugh. Not quite sure who’s more worried. He looks away.

5:30: Plate puffs. Adjust temperature and leave oven on for chicken. The oven is not digital, just a dial with numbers every 100 degrees and lines in between marking 25 degree increments, so actually I shoot for what I think it 425. Could be 450. Who knows. People start to show. It’s an open kitchen and everyone likes to stand in there. Why? Ask mj if I should cook chicken in two batches, as there are only two baking sheets and two oven racks — she thinks that’s a good idea. Put the first 16 or so on the two sheets. Brush each breast with some blood orange olive oil and balsamic vinegar mixed together, sprinkle with kosher salt and shallot pepper. Put chicken in. Start two big pots on stove (there’s only two burners!) for pasta water. mj makes me drink some cranberry juice and tonic water so I don’t pass out, as all I’ve had today is three coffees, a latte and the lemon poundcake. Not even hungry.

6:00: People keep coming. Teach fh how to use a corkscrew. Take first batch of chicken out. Check the temps — they all seem to be between 170-180. Works for me. Lift them onto my wood resting board that I brought. Pile them close together to keep warm, like Bridgett did on ATK. Cover with foil and get last batch into oven by 6:15.

6:30: mj asks me if we could start plating at 6:50 instead of 7:00. Say it’s okay for me but not sure about the second batch of chicken. Get pasta in water a few minutes early. Take chicken out and just wrap those sheet in foil to keep warm. Cook pasta in batches (it’s fresh, so each batch only takes about 4 minutes to cook). Toss with my pre-assembled chopped parsley, diced shallot, minced garlic and orange zest. Add olive oil, shallot pepper and salt. Cover with foil. Keep cooking pasta.

6:40: Heat pan to reheat green beans. It gets really hot and makes a lot of noise. People listening to presentation four feet away look over. Wave. Heat green beans in three batches and cover with foil.

6:55: Look at mj. One woman is still talking to group. Add more olive oil to pasta as it is starting to clump a little.

7:05: mj gives executive director a look across the room and tells me to start plating. They are married. “The Look” apparently works, people start to arrange themselves at the tables. I start the plating and it’s actually pretty fun! Table 1, 6 seats. Chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken. Relish (using an ice cream scoop so everyone gets the same amount), relish, relish, relish, relish, relish. Pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta. Green beans, green beans, green beans, green beans, green beans, greens beans, Balsamic drizzle, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle. mj’s son and a family friend take plates and serve tables. Repeat for three more tables of 7-8 people. mj starts doing pasta as I am falling behind a bit but it’s all getting out! Amazing! End up making an extra plate that sits on the kitchen counter for the next two hours. Don’t care.

7:20: Take my plate and sit at one of the no-shows seats. I’m not really hungry but hopefully try chicken. Wow, it’s really good. Awesome. People at my table say they really like it. The woman next to me asks about the relish and the balsamic drizzle. I get really happy while talking about the jalapenos and fresh ginger and lime juice. Executive Director tells Board Member (and owner of the house) during dinner conversation at our table, that when they interviewed me, they didn’t mention these dinners (especially after they found out about my food blog). Everyone laughs — ha ha. mj comes over and tells me everyone really likes it all. I am very happy but starting to crash. Feeling paranoid, I watch guests closely for signs of food poisoning.

7:45: Pie is being served. I ask mj if I should do anything. She says no. Works for me. I sit down and eat no-show’s chocolate. A grapefruit/chocolate ganache from Pix. Mmmmm. Make a mental note to vulture the rest of the no-show’s chocolate.

8:30: Everyone seems fine. Finally give up my paranoid fantasy. fh helpfully tells me that food poisoning can take up to four hours. Hate him just a little. I say that everyone will be at their own home then, so I don’t care. cj (co-worker talking with us) laughs. People are finally starting to leave. Realize I took no pictures all night. Don’t care. Written word will have to be enough for blog. Start cleaning up cups and plates and everything with fh, two server kids, and one of the home owners.

9:00: Only manage to grab one more pix chocolate. damn. fh has discovered them and has nabbed the earl grey tea one. Consider knocking him down and taking it. Decide against that (we share an office at work). End up giving the four other chocolates to one of the servers, a., because she was so, so helpful and pretty funny all night. Manage to get some brie to take home. Yum!

9:30: Load my car up and start home. The drive home is all rainy (but not icy). Listen to choral music on OPB. It’s kinda nice. Get there by 10. jwa has a glass of red wine ready for me and unloads my car. i love him. I talk about everything in the kitchen while I snack on some brie, drink my wine and stack my dirty pots and pans on the counter.

10:20: Put a load of dishes in. Sit on couch. Lose track of time.

11:06: Decide I am too tired to watch The Daily Show. (!) Get into bed. Fall asleep with glasses on. jwa comes to bed. Going in to work at noon tomorrow.

::snore::