stars

i want to go back and tell you about that party i went to at the end of september.

part of that deal was a potluck supper in the community center in eustis, maine.

the potluck is worth telling you about not just because the foods that get brought to table are so good (which they are), but because of what goes on behind the scenes.

the community hall is equipped with a full industrial kitchen and the party is equipped with kitchen ladies. to give you an idea of what the kitchen ladies do, i'll tell you how it worked when i showed up.

i had come in the morning to bring my quiches and my pie and leave them in the fridge, and i came blowing in the door in the afternoon with my new friend TAT kind of on the late side and a little bedraggled.

so i'm standing there with my bags of little quiches, starting to ask the question if there is some kind of sheet i can put these things on to warm them up in the oven, and the kitchen ladies took them right out of my hand  and put them in trays and into the oven and i went about the business of getting out the pie and the kitchen ladies swooped in and asked me if i wanted it cut.

i went off to write little label cards to identify the foods on the buffet line and before i knew it the kitchen ladies had taken care of my foods and put them out on the line.

and while we filed through the line and had dinner, the kitchen ladies moved, dishes, removed, empties, and consolidated plates.

by the time we were done eating, the kitchen ladies had FINISHED THE DISHES.

i'm not kidding. we brought our dishes in with food and our dishes got magically warmed, organized, and placed and when we were ready to pick up the empties and take them with us, we were handed CLEAN DISHES.

i am a veteran of a great many potuluck suppers, and i have been on the business end of a fair number of industrial kitchens and dishrooms.

i do not think i have EVER seen such an efficient, well-oiled machine in the kitchen. those kitchen ladies are STARS.