Cooking Adds Up (2/3)

Part One

Part Three

One empty stomach arrived, then another, then the next until the food to hunger ratio finally evened out. The bags of groceries were no longer only ornate with each of the foods life expectancy quickly ticking down. First up were the snacks for everyone before the formal meal was served. A beautiful display of shrimps, with cocktail sauce in a quaint cup to the side, arrived onto the patio. We then scrounged through the refrigerator to find the truly scrumptious cheddar and goat cheese we had bought previously. Putting some nice bruschetta crackers in a bowl, and the cheese on a smooth wooden cutting board both followed the shrimp outside. To finalize our fashion show we set out upon opening the simple tortilla chips, adding just a bit of spice to them with some nice salsa. With the show finally in motion, our judges sat down to choose what they liked best. Step one of four complete. Or so would we think. It turns out setting up some simpler morsels for pre-dinner food is a lot quicker than actually making each course of dinner. Our heads though would stay clouded for just a bit longer, as we quickly and successfully started right away getting on the Tomato Bisque and Quesadillas.

Chopping up some carrots and onions was easy. Getting a pan covered with butter, and then putting some cheese in quesadilla to cook was also simple. Both of these started off like they would in our dreams, any naysayers outside would falter in the path of our insatiable meal. The first real obstacle came with the tomato bisque. Part of the cooking process called for forty-five minutes on the burner, which compared to our other hot dish, quesadillas, was much lengthier. Three of the six quesadillas were already made, each taking around six to eight minutes, with two being able to be cooked at once. To remedy this problem we came up with the idea of letting the soup cook for some time, while we did stuff like make the salad and get the bread ready, and then when it was close to being done we would cook up the other three quesadillas and try and heat the three already made ones on the stove. This seemed like a good idea, and so we concentrated on other tasks while the bisque continued to cook. Some people came into the cooking area and graciously started to help clean some pots and pans. This was only the beginning of the unexpected help, but it was immensely important in opening up more spaces within the ever-shrinking table areas. At this point, I focused on making the caesar salad, while my friend jumped into warming up the bread. Both these tasks were quick, and so during this intermediate period of the soup cooking, we occasionally ventured outdoors to our guests partaking in a little small talk, and a lot of glorious cheese. When the tomato bisque was close to ringing up, I started again on the quesadillas while my friend partook in finishing the tomato bisque. Both of us were working diligently, with only one hiccup in me forgetting to make a gluten free quesadilla, but this was quickly fixed as there was still time before everything was to be served. The bisque had finished cooking, and after cooling for some minutes it was ready to be pureed. With everything seeming okay, the timing having somewhat worked out, and stuff starting to be dished disaster hit the kitchen. When the pureeing was done, and the tomato bisque was lifted out of the blender, unknown to us the container holding the bisque in the blender did not have its bottom screwed in. This caused a massive lava explosion to occur once the bisque was lifted out, and all of the hard work my friend had put into it to melt away. This disaster smoldered, as we had three orders of bisque that now needed a new substitute, hot food that was slowly cooling, and an insanely messy kitchen that we needed to clean up. First, we tackled the kitchen, grabbing piles of paper towels to try and sog up the bisque that coated the counter and floor. After finishing a roll, and starting a new one, we finally polished off all of the splattered surfaces to their original color. Next came thinking cap time, as we had to figure out what we were gonna serve instead of the bisque. Thankfully, my friend brought out a quick and easy solution to our problem. We had gotten a lot of fruit, and so we could make a fruit salad for the three people who had ordered bisque out of it. It was quick to make, tasty on a warm summer night, and was our last option so we took it. The fruit salad turned out nicely, and slowly we got everything on plates and ready to go. As we were about to serve the table though we learned three of our guests had left to pick up a friend for the event, this threw another curveball in our way, but we decided to just serve the first course with the people there and give the group that left had their food when they got back. As we stepped onto the patio with food in hand we heard modest cheering, as finally, after around double the estimated time, the food was there. People seemed pleased enough with our dishes, but we could not hang around because, after this experience, both of us knew we had to get cracking on the main course.

Part Three Soon...