HERE WE GO ......

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! 

 And here we go!!  It was HOT HOT when I raced to the lodge in record time on Saturday.  I'm sure I told everyone we would start at 9:00, but they were there at 8:00.  It's a good thing I'm always ready to go an hour early.  

But first ... let's check out the garden.  Other than the tomatoes, this is it.  Actually there is one more just down the rose parkway to the left.  I have a feeling I'm going to be dumping zucchini on my neighbors porches late at night.  It's a good thing I know which ones have RING.

The project for the day was an embroidery test drive.  My oh my ... what a waste of fabric.  I should have found some fabric I hated, but just in case it came out okay, I used the red.  It took a couple of hours to just program the machine.  I've never done this before and have absolutely no clue.  It appears I only have three choices.  L, M, S.  The large was too large for the space, so I went with the medium.

I started out like gangbusters and slowly fizzled to OH CRAP.  No, this is NOT going to work.  Lessons for this little section of operation will run me $200.  Oh yes, I asked, thinking it might be cheaper than having these done by someone else.  

SO ... maybe heavier backing material and finding out how to enlarge the lettering and I'll be in like Flynn.  I'm not holding my breath.  

What about the Mother's Day PREP you ask?  Well ... it went okay, but instead of two hours, it took FOUR.  I try not to micromanage too much, but good grief.  Instead of taking those sausages out three at a time to place on a restaurant sheet pan, how about dumping the entire bag on the pan!!  OH ... OKAY.  

Since the ham slicer is a beast to clean, our Ham Slicer was our Lodge Chef.  You cannot believe how he sliced up four huge hams into the perfect slices.  I asked him just how we could cook it, or at least heat it up, without drying it out and burning it like usual.   Autosham is my new word of the day.  It's what cooks prime rib to perfection.  He will put the ham in at 6:00 this morning.  That's one down.

Next up we filled the boxes of shredded potatoes with water in preparation for hash browns.  We now have 12 pans of sausage, 4 restaurant pans of ham, 12 pans of hash browns and 6 pans of "panned" fruit cups.  That means they are on the pans and ready to bring out to serve.  

We covered the tables with plastic tablecloth (the easier to clean) and donned the serving tables with white tablecloths and SEVEN ... count them SEVEN ... chaffing dishes.  Salt and pepper went out ... the dessert table was set up ... the coffee and juice table was set up, and amazingly, just because I was being nosy, we found the coffee cups, waffle syrup and salsa in the parlor.

The menu?  Pastries, fruit cups, scrambled eggs, cooked fresh this morning, Denver omelette casseroles, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, ham, sausage, waffles with strawberries and syrup, followed by three HUGE Costco cakes.  No one will walk away hungry.

EXTRA good news, our Chef will make the Italian sausage gravy ... the best you've ever tasted.  It's going to be an epic Mother's Day at the Lodge.  Please say a little prayer that I don't burn anything!

Even with all that food, we purchase and give away roses to every Mother and Grandmother.  A slight kink there ... I asked the Club Manager if anyone had ordered flowers.  He said no, so the bookkeeper ordered them.  They came in yesterday.  This morning, one of our long time members came in with 250 roses.  Ooops ... maybe everyone will get TWO.  

Way back in the back of the fridge, we found two separate bundles.  One had my name on it.  Our sweet bookkeeper gave me this bouquet for Mothers Day.  She is just the BEST!!!

Luckily I was in the walk-in fridge admiring all those flowers when I asked the Chef to move the butter, whereupon he found the cash box money I need for this morning.  I forgot all about it.  So did the VERY young Chef with a VERY young brain.  Ha!!!  I'm not the only one who forgets.

I spent the afternoon with Mr. Cooper, sleeping of course.  It's going to be a madhouse this morning as I start slinging screaming hot pans in and out of the ovens.  We are expecting 400 ... yes, FOUR HUNDRED people for brunch.  Amazing, isn't it?

So here's hoping you all have a Happy Mothers Day.  If you haven't gotten her flowers or candy, you better take her out to lunch or dinner.  No use being in hot water for the next couple of weeks.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY