Roasted

[snousle]

Heading off tomorrow for the Golden Gate Guards run, where I will be cooking for 50 people, then to Badger.

Of course, fate conspired to make today the hottest day of the year. A hundred and seven degrees. I had to do about $800 worth of grocery shopping (four massively overflowing carts) and it was totally miserable. The van has no thermal insulation at all, so it was hard to keep things cool, and loading it up in the parking lot was pure hell. I really dislike the shopping phase of things to begin with - even with a comprehensive list, I tend to panic. Something about buying, say, thirty pounds of chicken at Safeway seems terrifying and wrong for reasons that are hard to pin down. All these fresh ingredients are a huge responsibility, and properly caring for them is extremely stressful. The heat makes it that much harder. This must be what it's like to be Octomom, LOL.

We gave up on passive cooling and turned on the AC today, including in the commercial kitchen. First day this year we had to use it. This is expensive unto itself, about twenty bucks worth of power, but with a night-time inversion keeping the heat on the mountain, it hasn't been cooling down enough at night to keep the house tolerable during the day.

The run will go fine and it won't be all THAT bad. But I think this will be the last year for this particular gig. It's just too much, and it's hard on the whole household.

Besides, it's likely to be so freaking cold at Badger that today's heat will seem like a touch of paradise...

Comments

[chefxh.livejournal.com]

Can you buy wholesale from FSA or some such? Even on orders of one case you have to save money over Safeway. Assuming you have a resale number, all the wide-line distributors (they're not all SYSCO) take will-call orders and if they deliver anywhere near you they might even come to you for a small fee.

[snousle.livejournal.com]

Trouble is that it is a whole lot of little things, like one jar of dijon, ten pounds of zucchini, etc. 85 different items on this particular list. Do you think a wholesale place could do that? If they packed it tightly into boxes, separating chilled from dry goods, that would be quite useful.

[chefxh.livejournal.com]

They do it every day. You pay more to break cases, but still less than retail. You get a sales rep, you go online and submit your order, they pick it, pack it, and either you pick it up or they deliver. Anyplace there's a restaurant, pretty much, you'll find at least a couple of companies competing to deliver wholesale groceries.

[broduke2000.livejournal.com]

The recent egg recall has made me think alot more about buying things at places like Safeway. Safeway doesn't carry local eggs or local milk. In fact, it would appear that they specialize in mass-produced goods, that at times may be of questionable quality.

I guess as long as everything's cooked well, it's OK.

[jstregyr.livejournal.com]

At Lakeshore, CA (the closest town to Badger Flat I could find to get weather) the high Sunday is expected to be 23°F lower than the high today/Wednesday.

[snousle.livejournal.com]

Not even vaguely close. Huntington Lake is the closest town, and the weather forecast there is somewhat alarming. Badger Flat is quite a bit higher up than that.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Sunny, no precipitation and mid to high 60s high temps Tuesday through Friday is "somewhat alarming"? I suppose one could argue the 37-39F nighttime lows would qualify... but those of us who've been to Badger know it gets cold at night.

[snousle.livejournal.com]

Huh, when I looked I thought it was a 31 degree low, which would be more like 25 at Badger. Well, I'm not going to complain about a mild forecast.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

I have to admit - I'm definitely bringing a new propane canister for my tent heater. ;)