An Easy Service

It was a relatively slow service at the Wednesday Community Meal today so dining room volunteers Martha, Amanda and Carol even had time for a short salad break.

It was a scramble pulling together today's Wednesday Community Meal since we chose to make a pasta dish which is always labor intensive because of the noodle cooking, but luckily the service was easy. We weren't too busy and the guests really liked the food.

I especially have to thank volunteer Andy who worked nonstop over a pot of boiling hot water for more than two hours, cooking pounds and pounds of pasta in small batches. It was a hot and sweaty job and he never complained. I told him, "at least you've got clean pores today, " and he laughed. I'm so lucky to get to work alongside the nicest volunteers. They are always positive and work so hard.

We tossed the pasta with a homemade cheese sauce, ground beef and diced tomatoes and created a dish that really pleased our guests. It wasn't anything fancy but everyone said it was delicious. Alongside the pasta, we served slices of flank steak, baked apples and roasted carrots and beans.

Slices of flank steak. We cooked the steaks in a hot oven, let them rest and volunteer John sliced them.

High school student Sydney was on Spring break and came in to help. She made the cheese sauce for our pasta dish and helped with the plating.

A meal almost ready to be served. It just needs some roasted carrots and beans and baked apples.

A guest stopped to tell me, "You guys did great today. This is delicious." It's the simple comfort foods that always seem to be the best received.

We also served soup, salad and dessert and in the end served 232 meals today.