for a great cause...

I am going to go ahead and say that most of us will never see 40 gallons of Brunswick stew in one place in our lifetimes, another first that I was able to witness today.

The Catering Company is gearing up for tomorrows Project Homeless Connect at the Norfolk Scope. We are donating 40 pounds of stew and volunteering throughout the day. The City of Norfolk along with the United Way of South Hampton Roads hosts the event twice a year as a way to reach out to assist single homeless adults and provides services that are available throughout the community. Participants are able to receive medical screenings, find employment, look for housing and of course enjoy some delicious hot food. This year they are expecting 1400 participants and all involved are looking forward to making a positive impact.

Plus don't the buckets look great?

The questions that one asks oneself....

Often times over the course of day to day events Lauren and I are occasionally asked to run errands out and about town. It is often on these random excursions that we begin to question things that we often take for granted about our surroundings. For example the office we work in is just like an explosion of random. There is actual important, professional office equipment that sits sides by side next to a v. realistic looking vulture and portraits of brides from the nineties.

One of whom I am pretty certain is wearing white heeled boots and I judge her a little bit everytime that I have to fax something.

Anyways, we have become comfortably numb to our surroundings and the chaos no longer phases us the way that it does new visitors. Similarly we have become numb to the concept of living in a 'Colonial' area that people actually want to come visit, people actually travel from all over the world to come here. That concept still amazes me. So driving about town today we started to reflect on the significance of the 'pineapple' to colonists and why iT signified hospitality. We began questioning it because pineapples are literally all over town. Like everywhere.

To me personally if someone brought a large, awkward pointy fruit to my house as a gift I would be slightly offended. They are hard to cut, and you can't drink them. Rude.

So why does the pineapple signify hospitality to the rest of the world you might ask? Well the answer is really long and involves alot of history but basically it is because they were rare and valuable and houses that had pineapples had money to entertain and were stylish and welcoming. I mean for a much more historically acurate answer you could google it but if you had thought of this before now you would have done that already so I am guessing you don't really care about the signigicance of the pineapple.

Its fine neither do I, its just one of those questions that I never thought to ask until today. I will say though I do feel better for knowing the answer. Oddly enough despite all of the random stuff in our office, there is no colonial pineapple. I think that we should adopt one. Everyone probably thinks we are not stylish or hospitable which is a total lie. None of us own Vera Bradleys and we are always willing to share our cheese cubes. Actually maybe not willing but I will I suppose.....
if you really wanted one.

Thats it we are getting a pineapple. But not a real one because in this office odds are it would become either an object of mockery or a centerpeice.
So thus begins the quest for the perfect fake pineapple.
Wish me luck :)

and after all that....

So one of the most amazing things about working for The Catering Company is that I am constantly surrounded by amazing food. However, there is a flaw in the system - sometimes I am not actually physically surrounded by amazing food but rather the concept of amazing food.
After a day of looking through event pictures and reading through menus sudden and urgent cravings are prone to attack without warning and often refuse to be appeased with pretzel sticks and yogurt.
Damn those cravings. I am only writing about this because today the craving was appeased in a most white trash but delicious way...
While planning an upcoming menu for an event in Hampton food ideas were being tossed around for a 'traditional bar food' menu. Which would include potato skins, chicken wings etc. I was doing fine, happily anticipating my daily luncheon salad when the idea of a 'nacho fondue' station was brought up. From that point on it was all over. Can you even imagine being at an event with a free standing fountain of nacho cheese and all of the tri-colored tortilla chips that you could eat?!?
It was just way too much to handle. I tried to shrug it off and ignore my nacho craving, but it was to no avail. By lunch time it had gotten to the breaking point and calls were made to the local mexican restaurant to see if they did take-out. After speaking to several confused waitors Lauren and I decided that it would be easier and more efficient for all if we just did Taco Bell.
Yes. Taco Bell.
That my friends is the dangerous path taken by two young and impressionable girls who work in an office surrounded by delicious treats and all they want is fake cheese and questionable meat.... it really is a tragic story. Whatever those nachos were amazing, and there is nothing quite like waiting in line for lunch between contractors and stoned William and Mary students... really Taco Bell brings us all together. Someday when the heads of the world all join together to acheive world peace my guess will be that there will be some chalupas involved.
So now salads for the rest of the week, at least until somebody starts talking about curly fries...
dang it there I go again:)

marshmallow wars!

Now this story totally happened last week but it is a true one and I have yet to tell it so its new to you....
Casey Reeves the eldest daughter of the Catering Company has recently begun participating in the gloriously nerdy rite of passage that is a science fair. Now her family are not ones for doing things 'half way' or 'simply' so in true Reeves fashion her science fair project was a real life working marshmallow cannon. This cannon ( which was painted pink and white and totally cute) was stationary and when blown upon a marshmallow would shoot out often v.v. far. She was testing whether or not the various ages and sizes of the people who blew in the cannon would affect the distance the marshmallow travelled. Either way it turns out the marshmallow travels very far.
Anyways, since they were making one the logic stood to reason that they could just make an arsenol while they were at it so all last week there were random moments of sporadic marshmallow gun fire throughout the office. We are still finding marshmallows in the most random spots and probably will be indefinitely. The glorious part is that the entire office was covered in camoflague fabric in netting to prepare for the 'kisses for the troops' theme so it was actually at times like being in a war zone. While it does not hurt to get hit by a random projectile marshmallow with enought spit involved they are prone to getting a little sticky and that is just really gross. I speak from experience.
So in the case of a suprise sneak attack from the medical supply company or the roofers down the way our office is totally and completely fortified. By guns that shoot bullets made of sugar.
We are so screwed, oh well at least they make a great snack. Just not the ones that we found behind the printer. I have a feeling those would not be tasty.
Call it a hunch :)

Eww rude *sigh*

So despite all previous pledges I have once again been neglecting my blogging community. I really do apologize for a complete and total lack of updates but I have been v.v. busy trying to make 2008 an amazing year and so far it is working :)
We have been actually really busy around ye olde Catering Company this winter, we recently held a very successful tasting at the William and Mary Alumni House and then this last weekend both the Spitfire Rotisserie and The Catering Company were out in full force at the third annual Chocolate Affair. This was my first Chocolate Affair and it was absolutly incredible. The theme was 'kisses for the troops' and the whole tent was done in camoflague and pink, guests were able to kiss cards and write notes and messages and they will be mailed to soldiers in Iraq, its always fun to get Valentines even if it is a little late.
Valentines day was fun in the office my amazing partner in catering crime / office Valentine gave me my own 'perfect man'. He is a very small and stocky fella who when submerged in hot water grows up to four times his regular size. He has been very slow to grow though and he truly did not blossom until over the weekend. Apparently he can only thrive when I am out of the office which is totally the story of my life :)
Between slimy sponge men and nights of endless chocolate things have been pretty exciting! I wont promise to stay in better touch because everytime I say that then I just fail and feel all guilty and gross so instead of lies and deceit I will just do better. Seriously.