In the Twilight of a Year

How many more plates do we need? I shout at volunteers in the front of Bread & Roses Cafe as we try to plate the right number of meals for our clients. Why I am cooking egg fritatta for 120 homeless people? is the same question I keep asking myself.

The previous Friday, my supervisor Kristen, calls out of a session with a client to talk to me. Our gourmet chef's wife has just had a baby she tells me. Would you mind just filling in for him on Monday? and as an afterthought, You cook, right? I nod my head. Although I've been eating lunch at Bread & Roses for almost a year, I've never seen what happens during a meal...

So, at 7:59:50am on Monday morning, I step through the back door of Bread & Roses, into The Inferno. Actually, it wasn't that bad. The director of the homeless programs got us off to a galloping start as I ordered three chefs in training about the kitchen and let another office comrade organize the volunteers. We rotated massive cookiesheets of buttered bread (flipping once) through the ovens, cracked over 200 eggs, sautéed mushrooms and tomatoes and onions and zucchini, chopped the fruit, and baked the sausages.

Apart from a few hiccups, my morning as replacement chef went smoothly. We had some overflow (extra clients who had to wait until seats were available) on the third meal, the toast was a little slow, and we had to make a trip to the grocery store for butter, but otherwise everything went well. No fights, little food throw away, no major problems in the kitchen. I think my heart was racing the whole time, but I absolutely loved it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.