Monroe County Community College Holiday Party
Posted on 21 December 2007 under Catering etc., Eat This Blog, Holidays, Special Events
I didn’t put this plate together. Neither did one of the many chefs working on yesterday’s holiday luncheon for the 240 staff and faculty at Monroe County Community College. This was just some guy who’d made up his own plate. I stopped him for a few seconds as he went by, and shot this photo before he went to sit down to enjoy his holiday lunch on his last day of work at the college prior to the holiday break.
Catherine Cousino of the college’s Frog Leg Bistro had asked me to be there yesterday specifically to shoot photos of both the food and the proceedings, and I was all too happy to simply look for decent shots, and stay out of the way! When I got to the dining room at the college at about 9:30 yesterday morning, Catherine and her staff had already been working for almost three hours. I’d barely gotten into the door and hadn’t even taken my coat of yet when I lined up this shot of the tables in the dining room. Of course right away one of the school’s administrators came up with the first instance of the seemingly common phrase, “Can I help you with something??” I explained that I was there at Catherine’s request. He was happy with that, and was on his way. This happened at least three times that I remember, possibly more! For next year’s festivities, I think I should probably wear a nametag …
Back in the Bistro’s large catering kitchen, one of the busier prep stations was where Molly and Alicia, both current students in Monroe County Community College’s Associate of Applied Science Degree program with Specialization in Culinary Skills and Management, were putting together a few hundred desserts. From Molly’s iced-and-decorated sugar cookies, to Chef Cedric’s rich chocolate cake medallions, to Alicia’s cherry pies, chocolate pecan pies and fresh apple pie with caramel, to Cedric’s beautiful Buche de Noel, along with smaller desserts such as a pecan mock baklava and chocolate brownies with shaved white chocolate, Molly and Alicia took care of each dessert individually. Once the desserts were ready, loaded onto a speed rack and taken out to the dining room, the girls built an amazing dessert table, with each piece arranged perfectly for a mouth-watering presentation to a large crowd. I lost track of how many pieces of how many types of desserts the girls prepped for this incredible dessert table, and the work took them almost the entire morning to accomplish. Alicia actually insisted I wait before taking any shots of the end result so she could position each and every dish just so, so each dessert would stand on its own within the photo you see here. The whole of it, each and every dessert, and various levels on the final table, was something I think the girls were quite proud of.
Returning to the kitchen while Molly and Alicia finished the dessert buffet, I found the various other dishes for the holiday lunch were taking shape. Chef Tad made about four gallons of Alfredo sauce for the multi-colored farfalle, or “bow-tie”, pasta, while a chunky marinara sauce was also made for those diners who would prefer it with the pasta. Towering over the rest of the crew, Michael took care of the redskin mashed potatoes, which was coming together alongside a number of huge sections of slow-roasted roast beef. Chef Cedric concentrated on the steamed al denté vegetables with butter and 15 Million Spice, while Catherine and Claudia ensured each of the slow-roasted hams, custom cut for the occasion by a local butcher, were glazed to perfection and piping hot.
The college’s faculty and staff were more than punctual for this lunch! People started showing up shortly after 11:30 a.m., scoping out their tables, checking out the dessert buffet, and talking to the Bistro’s staff as final preparations continued. Two serving lines had been created in the room behind the culinary program’s kitchen, with five ornate chafing dishes on each line, along with a carving station at the far ends. The line of guests in the hallway outside the serving room started forming at about five minutes before noon and grew rapidly as more-and-more guests arrived from across the campus. The anticipated number of guests was 240, and it seemed as though the final number was quite close to that preliminary estimate. Once the guests were finally able to enter the serving room, lines formed on either side of each of the serving lines and, with Chef Tad and Chef Cedric carving the roast beef, all the guest were able to work their way through the room and back to their tables rather rapidly.
Along with the massive dessert buffet in the dining room and the two serving lines in the smaller room off the Culinary Arts kitchen, the dining room also contained two smaller tables. Here were large bins of various types of dinner rolls, along with huge bowls of freshly-made Ceaser Salad topped with mounds of shredded parmesan cheese. The drink counter in the dining room had also been commandeered. Available drinks were coffee, ice tea, and a made-from-scratch punch made of a mix of orange and cranberry juices. All the guests seemd quite happy with what was available for their holiday meal, many of them thanking the Bistro’s staff and exclaiming about how wonderful the food was.
Finally, after most of the guests had finished their meal and the immense stack of china plates and dirty utensils were on their way to the dishawashing room, the staff of the Frog Leg Bistro were finally able to break down one of the serving lines, and then enjoy their own work at a stand-up meal at one of the Bistro’s prep stations. When I was growing up my mom had taught me the cook always eats last, regardless of how hungry they might be. This hard-working crew is proof of how much this statement still holds true today. It was after 1 p.m. when they were finally able to have their own lunch, having started work on the meal about 6 hours before. There was simply no time to do otherwise, given the scheduled time of the lunch for the guests. This is just a small part of why these kinds of folks deserve considerable respect.
I had grabbed a couple small to-go containers and headed to the remains of the dessert buffet when I found Alicia staring at the beautiful Buche de Noel her guy Chef Cedric had made. Without extra plates at this buffet, and without anyone thinking about cutting this amazing dessert … as seen below, the darned thing was still in one piece while most of the guests had already left! We felt so bad for Ced, who had literally spent hours creating this dessert. Alicia and Ced took the flowery left end for themselves, and I cut off about the next four inches to take home. A couple more pieces were then cut by some of the guests who’d stayed longer before Catherine decided to save the rest of the dessert for another event.
This was an amazing meal. Kudos to all the folks at the Frog Leg Bistro at Monroe County Community College who worked so hard to make it happen.
Read Comments
XHTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
* Required. Your email will never be displayed in public.
Sponsors
21 December 2007 @ 8:44 am Posted by Salena
That beuj du noel looks awesome, I wanted to make one for Christmas. The recipe I have is from foodnetwork. (i am an addict :}) It was spelled different too & you chop off the end & put it on top so it looks like a fallen log. It also has a coffee buttercream icing. But after seeing this pic I think I will tweak my recipe & try it. I hope you & your family have a blessed Christmas & keep up the wonderful blog.
21 December 2007 @ 10:59 am Posted by Dave
Thanks Selena … I knew I’d spelled that wrong!
The Buche de Noel recipe over there looks extremely detailed. But I guess if you’re “addicted” then you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Good luck, I hope it turns out wonderfully. And Merry Christmas!
21 December 2007 @ 4:42 pm Posted by JEP
What a nice event for the staff! Alot of love went into preparing that meal
BTW, great photos!
21 December 2007 @ 4:50 pm Posted by Dave
That’s why Mary and I like this bunch so much. They make people feel like family.