My father very generously bought the following “promise” at the auction we organised back in the summer to raise money for a South African school and then gave it to me (probably knowing full well it was going to be carnage):-
Boy’s promise!!
To serve a three course meal (starter, main, dessert) to you and your guests (max 8 people). The meal will be prepared beforehand (ingredients at your cost) and cooked on arrival and served by a team of five students.
My son is one of the five students involved. The evening is happening tonight at my house. It unfortunately isn’t quite going according to plan. I’ve been asking my son for weeks to decide what to cook and to delegate the duties. Earlier this week he suggested Thai green curry. I was slightly worried about how and when they were going to be able to cook everything and therefore suggested to him that maybe everybody should cook a portion to the same recipe and bring it along. ”But mum, that’s really cheating, it’s fine, we’ll do it on Saturday after rugby”.
So here I am on Saturday. As it turns out I now have 17 people coming for dinner (plus the five boys who will need to eat) because when I asked the parents of the boys who are serving they all (slightly unexpectedly) accepted saying “wild horses wouldn’t keep us away from seeing this”. Because the boys are part of the same rugby team they are all playing an important away game today. They will back at school at around 6.30pm and with me by 7.00pm. They are proposing to arrive, start cooking the main course, prepare the starters and make chocolate brownies. In an hour. Before 17 people arrive. They are also meant to be setting the table, sorting out the drinks, getting everything cold and doing all the other numerous jobs to do before guests arrive.
Bollocks.
Guess what I’m going to be doing with the rest of my day?
November 28th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
ha ha ha, you fell for that one didn’t you! I’d have a few frozen pizzas in just in case.
November 28th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
good idea….just rushing off now to do ENORMOUS shop Lx
November 28th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
this is from scratch right? not a thai green jar…I have gone this down to a 30 minute meal now…and it is realyl fab but then I have been practising all year…I can only imagine you will be wanting to repaint the kitchen… bless..
November 29th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Yes, from scratch. Nightmare. Doesn’t take long,but still a big mess now. Nevermind. It all worked out and we had a great evening. I am just horrified by how much there is left to do and I”m going to leave it till morning in the hope that little elves might appear to help Lx
November 28th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Mug. He should have been allowed to fail and learn about responsibility IMHO. You would still have had a fun night and the boys would have learnt a lesson.
November 29th, 2009 at 1:26 am
Yes, you’re right. MUG. BUT no way I could have let them fail. They wouldn’t have given a shit and my guests would have had no food…..what sort of lesson is that? Lx
November 28th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Dont you wish you could be one of those laid back Mums, (I am not one) who could say “right your promise you sort it” and deliberatly make herself scarce till the last moment????? no I can see you now multi tasking like made and doing everything so that they just have to heat a few items, under your sotto voiced instruction, and then they will bathe in approval. I am a strong believer in lots of wine on these ocdasion then they dont notice the quality of the food……well it works for me. BUT make sure they wash up before they leave. Hope you have a good time think of it a stored story for the future
Chris
November 29th, 2009 at 1:17 am
You are so right and I have made that fatal error of letting them leave before the washing up and now you should SEE the mess my house is in……Lx
November 29th, 2009 at 2:12 am
And you’re blogging???
November 29th, 2009 at 9:45 am
yes. Good point. But as ever blogging allows me to do stuff I’d much rather do…..just way too tempting to sit and blog than tidy up – although now it’s morning and I’ve got to start the clean up I’m wondering whether I could have put that time to better use…..No. I don’t think so. Lx
November 30th, 2009 at 11:04 am
i love, love, love your new header.
As for that pudding … well.
x
November 30th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Thanks v much – you probably know where the photo was taken – they’re Zambian elephants – I know. What a pudding Lx
November 30th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Sorry. Pudding was next post.
See how it distracted me.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Love the picture of the fruit salad (can’t comment there – the link to the comments doesn’t work – perhaps that’s deliberate?).
November 30th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Thanks – no wasn’t deliberate – don’t know what was wrong with comments – think sorted now. Lx