Dear Feastlings,
While there’s no doubt in my mind that any number of you are going full tilt right now in whatever way the pandemic requires of you, I can tell you that it’s demanding a fair amount of me today. I just returned from dropping off another 150 meals at Sister Jose Women’s Center, a remarkable place full of remarkable people (you can learn more about our donation deliveries there and learn more about the center if you follow this link-)
and dashed back to the restaurant as I talked, hands-free, with my new friend Kim at the Pima County Recorder’s Office. I’m working with Kim to set up our next donation run to the people at the Recorder’s Office from administrative personnel to ballot counters to drivers and so on, and as I type this, on I’m on hold with the Election Office to figure out how to get meals to the people volunteering to staff the polls and haul ballots to their destination. So there’ll be more about that as we get things worked out, but Kim had to get off the phone to get police to ballot dropoff locations- you, since there was someone with a gun at one of them this morning. Nothing like being threatened with a gun when you drop off your ballot.
Anyhow, I’m getting this dashed off before my kitchen staff meeting, where we’ll discuss the same thing we talked about in our dining room staff meeting the other night: what Feast is going to look like when we finally start seating people in the dining room again. Do we have enough staff? Can the people who’ve had to take additional jobs to make ends meet still fit in the schedule? Can we fit all the carryout boxes we’ve been using on the line if we go back to having plates and bowls there as well? Do we have to limit our menu? Do we have to limit the time our guests can spend at a table? Plus whatever minutiae come up during the course of the meeting. Then there are menus for the Learning Curve that I’m trying to get finished, though we’re already needing to get the end-of-the-month wine tasting menu done- that Last Sunday tasting comes with food pairings, and as excited as I am to have Josepha Concannon from Louis/Dressner in the virtual house for our Trust Your Importer series, it means coming up with four dishes that will go with the wines but also travel well and be easy to heat up on the other end. And the rapid approach of the last Sunday of the Month means the first Tuesday of next month isn’t far behind. So with that, I’ll get off the computer and get to work. a couple of very quick reminders, first, however:
First, you’ll need to order today if you want food (and/or drink) delivered to your Oro Valley or Marana neighborhood tomorrow-
and you’ll need to order by tomorrow if you want food (and/or drink) delivered to your Green Valley, Sahuarita, Vail or Academy Village neighborhood on Sunday-
and you still have time to order your wine tasting for this Saturday at 2:00 pm.
or just a snack, or a cocktail or two.
Okay, wish us luck in our meeting.
Love,
Doug, the kitchen staff, the waitstaff, and the catering staff, who’s particularly lonely right now. Sad face emoji.