Sorry.
Just needed to let it out. The weather here is enough to turn a happy optimist into a chain-smoking emo chick with a bad Franzia habit and a notebook full of existential haiku.
Doom Woe Misery
No sun warmth light or green
Die Mother Nature Die
(Ok, so it's not technically a haiku. If you have one better, feel free to share it in the comments)
Goodness, we've had a lot of winter. It's sleeting-snowing-icing-Lord-knows-what outside. We haven't seen the sun in nearly 2 weeks. It's April 14 and we still have winter snow piles in our front yard. We haven't had a day over 50 yet. You thought I bitched about the weather in January? Right. I now reserve the right to gripe. Enough is enough. None of our trees are budding, nothing is coming up yet, the grass is barely turning green. The only thing green is the moss growing on the north side of all our trees. Yeah, that's a real harbinger of spring.
I need to change the subject. This is way too depressing!
We had our big Catering Expo and Open House at work on Thursday. This is a huge house-wide dog and pony show that I organize and coordinate. We don't do it every year, the last one was in the fall of 2010. Our catering numbers are down a little and we're finding we field a lot of questions from Admin assistants who are new so hosting a big event like this is a great way to showcase our services, our rooms, our food and our friendly service.
OF COURSE, there was a terrible ice storm Thursday morning so schools were closed. Fortunately all of our staff made it in, but our attendance was affected about 15-20% from what we expected. The feedback forms were all really positive and on Friday, our room reservation person said she was already getting calls for bookings.
I enjoy putting on big events, but it's always a huge relief when they're over and put away. We had 9 different tables set up with place settings, centerpieces, color schemes and assorted rental items to showcase what we can do. Our sampling buffet included a couple of new salads, three hot entrees, a side dish and two desserts. There were other nibblies available in other rooms along the tour. When in doubt--feed people!
Didn't have time to do a lot of cooking this week, made a big batch of homemade chicken and noodles and had that several nights. Last night I made spaghetti with an Italian sausage and zucchini sauce that was pretty good. Just brown half a pound of bulk hot Italian sausage til done and crumbly. Drain and wipe out the skillet. Add a little olive oil and saute a 4-5 coarsely chopped mushrooms, half a diced zucchini and a chopped wedge of red bell pepper til slightly softened. You can add onion and garlic if you wish. Add one jar of your favorite marinara sauce (I used Prego Heart Smart) and add the sausage back to the sauce and vegetables and simmer about 5 minutes. I added 1/2 t. Penzeys' Italian Herbs to this. Toss with spaghetti with some freshly grated Parmesan and a salad and you've got a nice easy dinner.
Today I'm making an Eye of Round Beef Roast. It's sitting out at room temperature right now tempering before I put it in a 500 degree oven. Then you immediately knock the temp back to 475 and roast it just 7 minutes a pound (mine's 4.8#) and then turn the oven off and let it sit in the hot oven for 2 or so hours. The reviews I've read on this method all rave so I'll let you know how it turns out. I've had a taste for a good roast beef...with mashed taters and gravy. NUM!!
Here's hoping to fair weather, warm breezes and a change in attitude.
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