My refrigerator looked like this, morning of 24th of June. :) My friend's sister who's going to get married today (I think) had her bridal shower last Wednesday. I bought the necessary ingredients the day before (the menu has salad in it so I have to buy it the day before). It's for 25 people and I have six different menus, since she wants it light and not heavy, I gave her these stuff to choose from: Sushi, Oriental Chicken Salad, Tuna Tea Sandwiches, Deviled Ham Tea Sandwiches, Egg Tea Sandwiches and Broccoli Cheddar Dip. :) Well, she ordered everything so there..
A week ago, I got to get a hold of her.. then I asked her if we'll meet up somewhere around Quezon City and gave her the orders but then she told me the Condo-hotel they're going to reserve doesn't allow trays of food to get inside their establishment, I can do it there. That's what she said. So I told her yeah, I can just go over there and prepare some stuff that can be prepared beforehand, then I'll just set it up there.
I decided to marinade the chicken breasts for the salad, made the tuna, egg and deviled ham and the dip and placed it in an airtight container after I've bought all groceries. :) It took me two hours to complete everything. I'm just thankful that I have the necessary stuff to complete it without confusing myself. Yeah, the costing chart in excel that I made for this project really helped me a lot and I've done the other stuff before, just for home use, but not for 25 people. During this time, I kept on thinking is this enough for 25 people? Then answering it.. I hope so. :| It's my first time doing this so I'm kind of scared! :P
I woke up 6 am, not for this because of my annoying father. I was planning to get up at 7 am to start everything. Unfortunately, my dad literally bugged the four of us out. My sister's classes were suspended so they were planning to sleep some more, but then my dad woke us up by nagging us and opening the stupid lights. Yeah, if you think mothers are the ones who nags a lot, well in my life, my dad is the one, and he nags 25 hours (I'm exaggerating but it feels like 25 hours). You know what's more annoying? After waking us up, he goes back to sleep and woke up around 9 am. Stupid isn't it?
I ate breakfast and drank a cup of coffee (I really need it, I'm still so sleepy). After that, I took a bath and you know what's next. I went back to the kitchen and grilled the chicken with our electric griller, let it cool and started doing the sushi. At first 30 pieces looks a lot for 25 people, but then I was thinking what if someone else wants to eat more? I decided to double it up and informed m friend which she agreed to add more sushi. So I made a total of 60 pieces. The extras? Well my family ate it lol. I told one of our made to shred the carrots, and fry the vermicelli (for the salad) while I chopped and let the Romaine lettuce dry. I placed everything in separate containers and tried to rest for a while since our meeting in the condo-hotel will be around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
The picture above are the sandwiches I made. I was in the Condo-hotel then. In Astoria Plaza in Ortigas... :D The place is pretty decent. :) I took a photo of it before slicing it. :) I arrived at Astoria around 4 pm it was raining and well we're expecting signal number 2 here in Manila, well it rained a little. So I immediately started since I want to get home as soon as possible.. during this time, I'm kind of sleepy since I woke up really early that day. My brother was with me since we met up in Megamall, while making these we were talking and joking around. My friend and her cousins went to the grocery to buy some serving trays for the food and drinks for them. One thing I hate in the condo-hotel. They said they have complimentary sponge and dish washing liquid. But I couldn't find it. It's pretty annoying and they sell a small liquid sachet for 65 pesos. Well it is a hotel after all.... oh well..
I've finally sliced the sandwiches... Tea sandwiches meant you eat them with a bite or two. So there I've sliced the egg tea sandwiches in triangles, the tuna in squares and the deviled ham in rectangles. I didn't have the tray yet, but then I didn't get to take a picture of my work since I'm kind of shy asking them if I can take a picture of it. :) Yes, I am shy. :P
Sorry for the messed up picture, the egg sandwiches started to fall of so I lazily placed it like that. ^o^
This is the sushi I made, it consists of ripe mangoes, cucumber and crabstick (I bought the one that's in good quality). I was starting to plate them. So I took it out from the fridge. :D I made them again yesterday since I have a lot of leftover ice. :D
I finished around 6.30 pm then my brother needs to buy some illustration board so we stopped by in SM Sta. Mesa. We got home around 8 pm. We ate dinner (we had taba ng talangka fried rice! yum!) then I took a shower and played in the net a little bit then went to sleep early, I slept around 10 pm. Woke up around 8 am, but then I still felt tired. Haha.
It was a good experience, catering. I guess it's my first time and I think I did it pretty well. I was scared, especially with the sandwiches since when I tried slicing them at home, the fillings kept falling off, but when I was doing it there they were behaving pretty well. I also thank PAG-ASA for declaring the classes are suspended that day, since I'm able to borrow one car and driver. I have no idea how to go home after that. Since I brought out my cooler, plus one big paper bag and another bag for the bread. Yeah, thinking about it, it would be awkward bringing home a big cooler with dirty stuff inside while riding a train. :|
I pretty much learned a lot from this experience. I just realize I can handle multiple orders at once, and just by focusing at everything I'm doing I can finish it pretty quickly. I really appreciate all my chefs who taught me everything, I think it really helped me out. And I think I credit myself for being attentive and being a hardworking student back then. :) I listened well and applied everything. Tired and sleepy, I think it's worth it. :)
