Another "Meals on Heels" adventure in the can. It's been so fun to create these menus, produce dozens of gorgeous meals and boost our generally slow Fridays. Thank you D'Arcy for including us in this endeavor! And thanks to Lori for all the facilitation to make it easy on this end.
We worked pretty late last night so I didn't get to write last night. Woke up at 6am to go to the restaurant supply shop to get a few things that we had forgotten, then home to dive in.
Ridiculously rich, hearty Lasagna made with Willi's Italian Ragu and homemade noodles. Last night, he started teaching me how to roll out the pasta with the roller attachment. It's harder than it looks to get the noodles consistent and undamaged. I ended up having to bail on helping with it to do a reading of The Welkin with a bunch of amazing women. These Thursday night readings are such a joy to be a part of. Feels like normal. Sort of. A little bit anyway.
Willi also did a Grilled Ratatouille Stuffed Vegetable plate that starts with grilling vegetables that get made into a rich stuffing which went into rounds of eggplant, boats of zucchini and little tomatoes with their tops on. This morning as we were finishing up baking them, I had some of the filling for breakfast with an ear of grilled corn that had been languishing in the fridge.
My contributions were the sweet ones... Dark Chocolate Cherry Brownies and a really lovely Lemon-Semolina Cake, filled with lemon curd-cream, topped with icing, crushed toasted Pistachios and a strawberry. The cake is made by putting the whole lemon into a blender and adding the whole thing to the cake... so you get little bits of pulp and rind. The cake is not terribly sweet, but the filling balanced it out perfectly. If I do say so myself. I tasted it. Too much. 🙂
We were able to offer the menu directly to our customers after sales finished for the club, so a few folks came by to pick up this afternoon, and I ran a couple of deliveries as well. It was a very full long day. Topped by a last minute order and pick up from Kell Kelly. So fun to be able to see her on the sidewalk for a second and to be able to finish the day by serving up the last portions of Lasanga.
And then of course, the kitchen needed a wash-down.
Willi read to me as I cleaned (the best agreement on house-work that we have come up with yet!) from the book we are working though about the Donner Party. We are continually staggered by the hardships that they endured BEFORE they ever got to the point that we all learned about in school. And amazed at the strength of the women involved. And how young so many of them were. And how strong and determined and brave they all were. And how we are so whiny in comparison about the hardships that we are currently enduring... masks, Netflix, comfy couches.
I am pretty exhausted and so ready for bed. I have a couple of special orders going out tomorrow which is unusual for us, but it feels like a good idea given how busy today was.
Menu for Monday is below. Orders for Monday (SF and North Bay delivery) should be placed by Saturday evening/Sunday morning.
Sending all sorts of good positive vibes for my good friend Bob Dutton and all of the folks who are dealing with scary things on top of the general scary things we are all facing. Take care of yourselves. Get a little extra sleep this weekend. Eat well. Drink lots of water (can you tell I am saying things that I need to hear myself?). Sending all sorts of love and virtual hugs xoxo