Behind the Scenes

Hi everyone, Just thought you may like to know how my weekend pans out. We have a busy Railway weekend so I will probably be in the kitchen most of it. It's 6.00 am and I'm sitting here contemplating the work ahead. The day will start with wiping all the kitchen work surfaces and a general tidy up. I have started a precedence for home-made cakes as afternoon tea on both Saturday and Sunday, so I'll think about them first. This weekend we will most likely need 4 cakes in total. My Lemon Sponge seems popular, and my Sticky Chocolate Cake also goes down well. Along with some Bran Fruit Loaf, we should have enough. Sometime over the weekend we are bound to need some pastry so I will start with the rubbing of that. I've found that the mixer doesn't do it as well as I do, so it is a very 'hands on method'. As we have a vegetarian on the workshop I must make a concious decision to use margarine and as I'm not a trained cook will have to consult the recipe books for something for their evening meal.

As we don't have a village pub (we did have one, but it closed down and it is now a house), I usually end up making an evening meal too. Thinking about it we do 'Full Board'. I say 'we' as I don't do the breakfasts. Phil now has quite a reputation for his Breakfasts. Egg, Bacon, Sausage, Tomato, Mushrooms and if any potatoes are left from the night before he fries them. If not, sorry but its a Hash brown. We don't usually do Baked Beans, but will if asked. The side effects are to be avoided in the workshop environment.

We say on our website that we provide a light lunch and have been told that I don't know the meaning of light. We ask every 'student' to fill in a registration form which covers food likes and dislikes and also allergies. I usually make a quiche on one day and in the winter months do a home -made soup on the other. I do assorted sandwiches to go with these and hope no-one goes hungry. We have built up our reputation on the food and service and would like any unsatisfied customers to let us know where we are failing. We have had a couple of people who didn't put a dislike on their registration form and ended up with just a sandwich, but sorry I'm not a mind reader. If I know your needs I will do my best to work around them.

When lunch is over and the clearing up has been done, I maybe have a couple of hours before I have to start thinking about dinner. We do charge for this, but think we give value for money. People do come back, so I must be doing something right. Dinner is usually about 7.00pm and consists of either a roast or a casserole, with potatoes, a root vegetable and a green vegetable. It is followed by a pudding. My fruit crumble usually goes down well. I spent a couple of hours yesterday at a local fruit farm picking soft fruit. I used to grow my own, but haven't the time these days. However we have 2 of the most prolific apple trees and I am able to freeze apples to last 12 months.

After the clearing up has been done, I am well and truly ready to put my feet up and relax as on Sunday the same will take place, and the beds will also have to be changed and the washing and ironing is never ending. If anyone says I sit on my bum and do nothing, I may just hand in my resignation.