friday means cafe day

We had another cafe day today with some new and some old items on the menu.  One new thing we made was a vegetable frittata. Frittatas are sort of like a quiche without a crust. It has eggs and cheese, as well as lots of fresh  veggies like tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoes. We had some fall harvest veggies from the farm that we sauteed and served on the side, including delicious brussel sprouts. (Even the people who don’t like brussel sprouts liked them.)

There was also a creamy pumpkin/turnip soup. Before the cafe opened, Alix tasted the soup and thought it was too bland. She added and tweaked and spiced and mixed, and it ended up coming out great. She was a little nervous about it, but everything worked out fine. She sends her thanks to everyone who helped with the spicing.

Lorraine said that the soup calmed her down and filled her up. No complaints from her!  We served the soup with fresh bread from Sullivan Street bakery, which was a treat too.

As usual, we also offered fruit salad, granola bars, and muffins. Jason seems to be the only person  who has uncovered the secret of making granola bars because when he was out of the unit we attempted the peanut butter ones, and they came out all crumbly. Yummy but crumbly. Healthy but crumbly.

 In terms of preparing for cafe day, we’re starting to get a good organizational system down for making and serving the food. We start on Tuesday  by deciding on the menu and making our grocery shopping lists. We fill out purchase orders and get the signatures we need. On Wednesday we tackle the shopping and granola bars, and on Thursday we do the muffins and soup. By doing the cooking on a few different days, it seems pretty manageable on Fridays.

We’re still sorting out the way we serve food – and clean up. We’ve been serving food from our little back kitchen, where the stove and oven are. It’s also where the dishwasher is, so sometimes we end up stepping on one another’s toes and bumping shoulders. Over the coming weeks, we’ll keep figuring out new ways to team up on serving.

Pookie felt that the day was a success, and Lorraine seconds that. Wilson was a huge help and powered through stacks and stacks of dirty dishes. Our trusty cashier team, Angela and Akeem, got some help from Pookie, and they took care of business. Lorraine and Hamid were champs in the bussing department, and we were able to seat and serve many people thanks to their hard work.