A hot plate and an easy bake oven. That’s what we have to work with. But with those primative tools, we pulled off a dinner for 68 people in the store!
What a blast!
A little background…
Four or five times a year, the company sends out the Fearless Flyer loaded with scores of fun products being highlighted. And four or five times a year we have put together a “Flyer Tasting” for the crew. We take 40 or so items from the flyer, cook them up and have them available for the crew to taste. It gives them an idea of what the products are so they can (hopefully, anyway) offer an intelligent opinion when asked by a customer.
The down-side to tasting so many items at once is they tend to blur after a while. Which sauce did I like a lot?!? Do I even remember tasting that chicken?!? It can get overwhelming, sometimes.
But not this time. This time, we did a bit of a sit-down dinner. Tables of 8, cloth napkins, china, and glassware. Hors d’oeuvres passed by full-time staff… A real dinner. Cooked on a hot plate.
We started off with assorted cheeses, salmon pinwheels, curried chicken satays, crudite with dips, breads with tapenades… Silver trays, crystal bowls…
On the table were bottles of S Pellegrino, Blu Italy, and red and white Ariel wines, garlic flatbreads and olive tapenade. The guests were served salad – organic “A Salad to Remember” – a spring mix with pine nuts, feta, dried cherries and figs, and a pomegranate dressing.
The buffet tables were set up with Beef Bourguignon, Scallops and Mushrooms in a white wine butter sauce, and vegetarian Beef Strip Stirfry with a Black Pepper Sauce, Sweet Potato Frittes, Rice Pilaf, and White and Green Asparagus with Pistachios.
The dessert table included Chocolate Lava Cakes and Coffee and Chocolate Mousse.
Did I mention we did this with a hot plate and an easy-bake oven?!?
What a great time we had – and proof that you don’t need a $100,000.00 kitchen to put out a great meal. A hot plate and a good attitude will work just fine. (Although i really wouldn’t mind a real stove and a real oven…..)