Its the day after a large outcatered wedding - 130 people, in a marquee at a Lodge. The body is feeling  a little weary - so much so  in fact, that Rick and I have eschewed our normal Saturday morning practise of heading over to the Mount, and stayed in bed to rest our bones instead. Had croissants for breakfast, read the paper and then mooched over to the restaurant kitchen to put together some salads that we were making for the morning after function, which is typical of most large weddings now.  They tend to run over 2 days. Ricks in the process of delivering them round to the parents house...

Outcatering is something that tends to happen most at this time of year - becos most people prefer to get married over summer, when there is a greater chance of the weather playing ball. Having said that, there are absolutely no guarantees, and we've catered weddings under extreme weather conditions.  Last nite I cast more than a few anxious glances skyward as we were getting ready to take mains thru to the marquee - the kitchen was set up in the garage of the Lodge, and the front staff had about 10 metres to walk in the open air until they got under cover, and there was a bank or black, ominous looking clouds looming on the horizon. If it had been raining and blowing as it is now, it would have been a whole extra layer of stress..

Most of the wedding catering we do  is for good customers, and being involved in someones special day, is a privilege that we take rather seriously, and which means that a huge amount of angst and work goes into it.  After getting everything organised and prepped in the restaurant kitchens, we have to physically lug it all from the restaurant to the function venue, unpack it, then repack it, and bring it back to the restaurant to be washed and stacked away. Investing in the chiller truck a few years ago, has made that process a whole heap easier, not to mention the fact that I am much happier with the notion of moving food around , chilled, over hot summer days. (Memories of chocolate ganache on a cake, starting to melt in the boot of the car as we changed a tyre, enroute to a wedding, many years ago, are the kinds of impressions you don't tend to forget )And of course you have to remember to pack everything - so lists, lists and more lists are crucial to the smooth running  of the event. It is not unknown for us to ring staff who are due to start a bit later to get them to swing by the restaurant on their way and grap a couple of things that somehow got overlooked. The restaurant kitchen staff are always pleased to see Rick and the other catering staff depart, so they can reclaim their benches for the restaurant prep. Yet another reason why we look forward to building the cookschool kitchen - it will give us more room...

Timing is always a major with weddings - becos I've yet to meet a photographer that will run to  a promised schedule, and speeches never, but never take as short a time as people anticipate. But thats OK. You learn to roll with the punches and be flexible.

So far this year the weddings we've been involved with have been for the children of extremely good customers of ours - people we look on as close friends, and I therefore regard it as special to be there for a celebratory time in the lives of people that we care about.

In no particular order I've downloaded some photos taken at various functions to show how we set up mobile kitchens in garages or, weather permitting, outdoors. Everything is upscaled becos of the number of people we're cooking for.

Its a challenge, and has its moments, but is a process that we've worked at over the years, and now find it markedly easier than we ever used too.

My approach to Valentines Day is pretty much the same as Scrooges regard for Christmas. However, in my case I don't see a major state of redemption coming down the line, becos as the years roll by, my sense of irritation at the whole overstated affair just gets stronger. And that is becos Valentines Day and the expectations imposed on it, seem to get more widespread every year.

We had a couple in last nite celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary, for which they come to us most years. Their anniversary is on the 14th, becos back when they got married, the date had no other connections beyond the fact that it was the 2nd Saturday in February, and suited their purposes. But now, more often than not they can't get reservations in restaurants on the nite of their anniversay becos restaurants are full.

We have been fully booked for Valentines Day for the last 2 weeks - and even Rhonda, who is formidable at being able to squeeze extra tables in, has finally run out of options . We have 18 tables at Somerset - and they vary in size. With the exception of the round tables they are either what we call '2's', or '4's or '6's'. When we did the alterations a few years ago, I got new tables made, so they were lighter and didn't have legs that people had to straddle - but we kept the sizing the same, becos we've found the flexibility that having a variety of table sizes has given us has been fantastic - rather than one generic size being made to fit all. What often happens then I find, is that its too big for a 2, and too jammed for a 4. We used to have four '6's', but with the new tables I got them made as 2 tables, so that joined together they are a nice sizing for a 6, but we can pull them apart to give us two '2's or two '3's' - and on a nite like tonite, when the restaurant is predominantly 2's, being able to do that is a godsend. It keeps our numbers up - otherwise we would be full with 36 covers, rather than the 65 we normally do.

I went over to the restaurant for lunch today, not becos we were especially busy, but primarily to be on hand to answer the phone, which has rung constantly and consistently ( and insistently!) over the last week with people wanting to book a table for tonite. If I stood and answered the phone, ( and sorted a wine delivery), Rhonda could concentrate on the customers...

I cannot quite figure the herd mentality whereby people feel under such enormous pressure to perform to societal expectations of behaviour - especially when such behaviour is entirely a commercial construct that has only been given credence in the last few years. We get complete desperation on the phone when we tell people that we are full and we can't do them early or late or at any time on the 14th.  I really am unable to get why it should matter so much.

But thats me! And is probably becos I don't like being told what to do. And that is what it seems to me has happened with Valentines Day. This whole expectation has built up around  the need to buy red roses, or take your partner out for dinner, on a certain day. Why? -I bleat. I don't need to be told when to tell Rick that I love him, and am very thankful to have him in my life. In fact I much prefer to do that in my own way  and in my own time - and I would be genuinely distressed if he thought he had to buy me something to keep me happy on Valentines Day. I like to think our relationship is underpinned with a little more realism than that.

However. Very dear friends of ours grow roses - the best roses you will buy in New Zealand, really - and Valentines represents a huge part of their annual turnover as you would expect. Ag borrowed our catering truck to do a run down to Wgtn on Monday, so as to make sure that the flowers were there in time for the Flower Market first thing Tues morning, becos the financial consequences for them if they didn't make it were too dire, to trust to a courier.

There is nothing wrong with buying roses for someone you love. My problem is with the people that do it once a year, simply becos they're told that they should. Why not show true independence and do it on a day unique to you and your loved one - and share something special and unique.

Read this...

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2008/02/09/diner_returns_35g_fake_bottle_of_wine/5005/

its an article on a bottle of wine that gets returned in a restaurant in London, by a diner who doubts its authenticity.