Yesterday...the preparations...

Yesterday I found myself helping out in the kitchen at Church. We wanted to provide the dessert for the celebration...so I offered. When I heard that they needed help, I offered that too. Now, I know that these ladies work hard getting food prepared, but I never realized how hard and how many steps they take when they offer their services. We started by putting table cloths on all the tables. There is a funeral this morning at our Church, so that meant that we had to set up tables in another smaller room. Big bouquets of mini carnations were taken apart and put into individual bud vases. Silver was put at each place inside a folded napkin. Salt and peppers were put on all the tables. The many tables were done and now on to the food. Here are the hard working gals who do all the food prep for the many events at our Church....minus me. When I walked into the kitchen, I saw mountains of fresh fruits and veggies. They all needed to be washed, cut up, arranged decoratively, saran wrapped and stored in the huge frig. We did musk melon, honey dew, watermelon, berries of all kinds, kiwi, pineapple, then trays of hand rolled ham, beef, turkey, cheeses cut into cubes, bags and bags of chips and snack foods, bowls and bowls of dips, bruschetta. hummus, rolls and then last...cookies candy and nuts.

Here is our fearless leader. I think that she's going through everything in her mind at this point. When the Church thinks of food....Barb is always there. She does all the shopping for food too. She is so organized ....a wonder in the kitchen.

What a colorful platter! One of many in our now stuffed refrigerator. Remember all these melons had to be peeled. Barb kept rolling watermelons out of the frig...until we joked about it. Someone would say, "Hey Barb...got any more watermelons?" Very talented ladies...this bunch...adding parsley, berries, cherry tomatoes...to brighten up the trays.

This is one of the trays of the cookies that I made. Seven different kinds, 25 dozen in all. We also have bowls of nuts and candies. These will be a hit with the kids. We needed to make lemonade and get things ready for the coffee tomorrow.

This morning will find this small committee working on a funeral in the morning and then back again, in the evening, to work in the kitchen during the dedication. The funeral lunch will be served in another room down the hall. It will mean many more steps for these ladies. They personalize the meals for the grieving families. They ask what the individual families want for the meal...did he have a favorite meat, what is your favorite dish? Today, a little package of hot dogs is in the frig...just waiting for the little grandchildren (who requested hot dogs or pizza) Today's events will be just perfect, in part, because of the hard work of a few women in our Church. I was only there for a day...but now, when I see them standing in the doorway of the kitchen and running to get someone a cup of coffee, I will appreciate them more. Thanks for making this event more special...ladies.

Balisha