Weekend before last we started our annual men's retreat on that Friday night. I was suffering with a bad hack that I just could not cough past or get better. Unbeknownst to me I was developing or already had pneumonia. It was a rough weekend but a great time!
It was the standard menu (as in almost identical to last time)...man food. We started Friday night with grilled ribeye steaks and loaded baked potatoes. Yes, we had some veggies. Broccoli. And some real nice yeast rolls. Followed by apple and pecan pies served with vanilla bean ice cream, some of that 'all natural' stuff.
Saturday morning we used the leftover ribeye's to cut up as tips and cut & fried the baked potatoes from the night before. Also served bacon, eggs, biscuits, sausage gravy...had butter, jelly, jam...you know all the extra stuff with coffee, milk, and/or orange juice to drink.
Lunch was pretty simple, meatball or kielbasa sub sandwiches with chips.
I was going to do nachos mid afternoon but everybody was still so stuffed I just added them to the dinner menu. We had a late dinner that night about 730 or 8pm I think. We had Nachos, hot wings, and homemade pizzas! And of course anything else left from all the other meals were thrown out there too! The remainder of pies And ice cream came out again afterward.
The funny thing about the equipment there in the kitchen is sometimes the ovens are a bit quirky. Last time we did pizzas it was a two step process...the oven was hot enough to cook them but left the bottom soggy, so we threw them on the flat top grill for awhile and it seemed to remedy that. But, my right hand man last time (PW) was not going to be there for the dinner this time!!! So he went around telling everybody about how I was going to make my homemade pizzas then he split on me!!! LOL
BUT I figured out a way to do it and pulled it through even a little easier than last time and with crispy crusts! I started making all crusts that afternoon after all my dough balls had ample time to relax. Then I started shaping my crusts and par-baking them on sheet pans to a light golden color/crust. Later that evening I just sauced and topped my par-baked crusts and they had enough structure I could finish them straight on the oven rack which produced a nice crispy crust on bottom without another step in the process. Success!
Sunday morning is always simple, homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee...then cleanup and off to church service!
Everything came out great!
This year my sous chef, Roberto, was there attending the retreat but he still helped out! And thanks to several other men at the retreat who helped! ~ Always a great group of guys.
I am trying out a few introductory videos from the work kitchen and maybe even my home kitchen. They will be short and to the point. If you would like more details of the video in each post, please be sure to comment!
People, feed your children good food. 
Things have been moving right along at the academy...last week we had Red Beans & Rice and I feel it was a 'keeper'. Some of the staff were surprised that the smaller kids knew what it was, they liked it, and ate it up. We served it with Kielbasa.
My wife came up with a cool idea: We put antibacterial hand soap on the left, and Dawn dish detergent on the right. The bottles are on the window sill right above our kitchen sink (at our house, not at my work...in case there was confusion).
Our first inspection does not get a score since it is the first time to be permitted. An inspection is done and you get a food permit and a paper like this one with no score on it. Then within 30 days they come back to give you a 'scored' inspection. During this time they will look at everything they asked you to do, or suggested that you improve, change, or fix.