ramps and rails . . .

although yet to open for lunch, we have been extemely busy.  from november to present, cast iron has catered an announcement party for 200, numerous bank board meetings, a wedding reception with 400 guests, thanksgiving and christmas special orders, an office christmas party, 2 bottles and brushes art lessons, another wedding reception for 400, and as of last week, a garden club meeting.   lots of food was prepared, delivered, served, devoured and in some cases vanished.   

announcement party

palmetto garden club

palmetto garden club

 the larger wedding receptions took us to the downtown monroe area to ouachita grand plaza and aubrey hall.  beautiful historic buildings with lots of character.  if you know me well, you know that i am a real scaredy cat!  one day i went to the grand plaza venue which was once an old school.  part of the building is now a nursing home that is connected to the plaza.  i went to the nursing home office to get the key to the plaza building so i could check out the kitchen and its equipment.  the secretary explained that she could not accompany me to look at it because she had to answer the phone and could not leave her desk.  i should have known when she then asked me, “will you be okay going by yourself?’  “sure, i’ll be fine,” i answered.  so off i went down the hall past several of the residents doors, down another hall and into the plaza.  from what i could see with a little sunlight, it was beautiful!  so off to the basement to check out the kitchen.  the slow elevator doors opened into a completely dark, barely visible basement.  i could not find a light switch in the place.  i was opening doors to even darker rooms.  i did not know how scared i was at the time until i exited the plaza and got back into the nursing home wing.  as i walked down the hall, a motion-controlled christmas decoration on one of the residents doors sounded off and sent me running down the hall, out the door, across the street, back in my car where i immediately locked my doors and sat there for a while before bursting into laughter!

mitch and i are tweaking our catering jobs and strengthening up on staff.  i have finally resolved that no catering job will ever come out the same, and all venues, clients, and guests are unique. we have learned alot about service and execution, and i now have some hired help in serving the foods to the guests.  last week’s wedding reception we had four extra hands on deck to keep things running smoothly.  they looked great in their white shirts and black pants.  and as we all know college kids need money!  they did a great job.  mitch and i had four employees who served the crawfish bisque, shrimp and grits, and po-boys to the guests, while we kept the food coming to them.  hunter brown was the “po-boy” man serving roast beef poboys on ”imported” bread from a bakery in houma, la, along with the traditional dressings of lettuce, tomato, and pickles.  thanks to this client, the anitpasta table was stunning because she had her dad build a platform to give different heights to display the marinated cheeses, olives, artichokes, etc on.  the tables were draped in beautiful sheer fabrics and had stunning displays of flowers with hanging candles and crystals.  i wish i had pictures, but i never have time to take them.  i may have to start hiring my own photographer to photograph our foods for my website.  this last job was especially challenging because we had no use of a kitchen and no running water.  all of the food was prepared at the restaurant and transported to the building up to the third floor and placed in hot boxes with trays and sterno.

this week, my contractor, BRACO returned to add on some rails on the front and back steps and an ADA compliant ramp for wheelchair accessibility.   after that, we should be close to opening this place for lunch!  there is no set date yet, but trust me i’m ready to serve y’all some good lunches!

my first saints game

my first saints game was a treat from mitch’s mother.  it was her birthday and she wanted to celebrate it together at a saints game.  all of the family: mark, annette, alan, dodie, mitch and i had a blast together in new orleans for the weekend.  we sat on the second row on the 40 yardline!  it was amazing and i will never forget it.  who dat?  since then i have read both sean payton’s book and drew brees’s book, which i highly reccommend to y’all.