Caterings In My Blood

One of the perks of marrying a woman who owns a catering business is that you can utilize her skills for throwing parties for the rest of your life. One of the perks of marrying a really smart and driven man is that you don’t have to be a caterer any more.

Catering was a side business I started in college. I lived off campus and one summer when I stayed in Carlisle to redo my new off campus house because it was an old house that needed painting, tiling and general deep cleaning I knew it was a job that would take all summer. Since painting my own house was a non-paying job I had many part time jobs to make up the difference in eating and not eating. Selling Electrolux vacuums door-to-door, college tour guide, and college catering office manager were just a few.

But when I was asked if I could cater my history professor’s daughter wedding personally and not through the school of course I said yes. How hard could it be? That wedding led to another and suddenly I was a caterer. Probably the best skills I ever developed in college. Even though I got a “real” job when I graduated I continued catering because the money was just too easy and the work was fun, as long as I liked my clients. The joy of a side business is you can pick and choose which jobs you take based on how much fun the people are.

A couple of months ago Russ asked me if I would have all his employees to our house for dinner during a team meeting of course I said yes. He passed the number one rule; I like the client. The number two rule is not an issue; make sure to make money on every job. Well, since the company is paying for the food I figure I owe Russ the labor for free; after all I have been on permanent vacation for about the last fifteen years.

But being out of the actual catering game means my skills are dull and I am without my best resources, they guys who used to work with me. I don’t have the same refrigeration capacity now as I did in the olden days. This means I could not do major shopping or prepping too far in advance. My hands are orange from peeling and chopping ten pounds of carrots. I have sauces and dressings made in advance, but all the major cooking is going to have to wait until tomorrow right before the party.

The biggest difference in catering now versus then is that I now have a child who takes precedence. So tonight when I came home from two back-to-back church meetings, rather than make the desserts I had to take care of a medical issue for my child. Timing everything for the party tomorrow night is going to be tricky since I have to pick Carter up from school and take her to the barn to get her stuff ready for the State Fair Horse show this weekend. Life was much easier when I was just balancing catering someone’s’ wedding with 250 guests and closing a million dollar mail opening machine order at the same time.