I want to share with you why, “I Love Living the Laptop Lifestyle.” over the weekend Angela and I attended my little brothers Chris’s wedding, where I had been drafted to help with running the banquet dinner for 45.

You have to love family, even when you get asked to run the kitchen for an event that is being held in another city in a small kitchen witch I was told had an Electric Household Stove.

Only good news turns out it, the stove was Household Gas, better, but not the best option. Had it been an electric stove, then no one could have eaten before 6 pm.

Reception started at 4 pm, and because of a Local Bike Race the Langley Yacht Club was behind the barricades to protect the riders from people in cars on River Road, it was after three pm before  we could get inside and light the stove and BBQ, that I was cook on.

Imagine it; here I am two hours to dinner with one stove with four burners and one Five burner Gas BBQ.  Two large spiral hams to go in the oven at 450 degrees and I started praying that others were slowed down by the race, to give us more time to cook it.  Turned out we had 85 people attend the wedding.  Now we just had an enough Food and no spare time.  

Right side shows the three youngest of my four brother and the next woman to be joining the clan Sharon, Chris, Matthew Sheralyn, John

It took about an hour and a half to heat the hams thru, so then I pulled the hams out and put the 20 kgs. Of sirloin tip that had been slow roasted the day before, cooled and then sliced that morning.  So i started to heat up with beef stock in the bottom of the pan to slow the possible overcooking and Put the scalloped potatoes in on top. after filling the hotel pan with hot brown sauce that i had just made up with 8 liters of beef stock and the pan drippings from cooking the roast.

The hams went in the BBQ with the second pan of scalloped potatoes on top to start warming it up, because I was out of oven space. once the gravy was boiling in the pan in the oven, I was able to move it to the holding pan to stay hot, till the rest of the food was ready to eat.  it was now five’o’clock and only one of pans was bubbling, so I turned on the top broiler to H-1 and moved those spuds right under the direct heat to burn it, Au Gratin style. That is the correct way to serve scalloped potatoes. When the BBQ was free, we turned it wide open to cooked the vegetables in the hotel pan on top with one of the helpers stirring it the whole time, so it did not burn.

My three helpers where amazing, the four of us fed all 90 guests in just over three hours. They started eating at 5:30 with the last being served about 6:15 except my brother John, “the lucky one” had been tasked to take pictures because he was the one with the thousand dollar camera, he ate around seven when we were cleaning up the food.

Four family members cooked food for 90 in 3 hours with about 5 hours of prep by each of us the day before.

Angela and Meagan my Niece did the dishes Vicki the brides aunt was amazing her Daughter helped a lot keeping the sauces stirred and make sure nothing got burnt in the mad rush

Having family make the dinner saved Chris and his new wife over $4,000, when you have two kids at home and are purchasing your first family home, every penny counts. I know for a fact if I was still cooking 50 hours a week, first I could not have taken the entire weekend off with only a weeks’ notice, that Chris gave the family in the busy summer season. I Love my family tons even If i had been able to get the time off, I still would not have signed up to work eight hours cooking and prepping food for them.

I Love the Laptop Lifestlye…

Freedom is being able to do what I want, when I want too, with whomever I want.

Leave a comment about what your definition of personal freedom is?