Crunch Time

Wow, the time has arrived. After trying to push all of our obligations out of our mind, the moment of reckoning is surely upon us. Today is Friday, and this weekend begins the madness that has become our lives. The local farm festival begins this weekend, and I'm responsible for helping out with pizzas, though I'm still not clear exactly what I'll be doing. The baking master will lead the charge, I believe (hope?), and I'll just roll the dough, though it never works out so simply. I'm supposed to pick up the firewood for the oven, and was told the pieces are too big so some splitting may be in order. Then I'll help man the booth, though again, I'm not sure what I'll be doing, and how much of a presence JH will be. Still not clear how money transactions will take place, but we shall see.

Then, next week, the fun really begins. The farmer's markets begin, and we're supposed to be selling dumplings at two of them. Can you believe that? What exactly did we get ourselves into? We just learned that as long as we keep our sales below a certain level, we can slide without a catering license of fair license, both of which require a state inspection of our preparing facility, i.e., our home. At least, that's how it works for Vermont. Not sure what the whole deal is for NH.

We needed to get a ton of supplies for the market, and we have knocked off most of them, if you can believe that one. Our friend said we can borrow her tent, and we found a nice table at Mr. Gs. The New England Kitchen Depot is a great store, paradise for anyone who likes to cook, and they carried a lot of the stuff we'll need to keep the food hot. We learned that we're supposed to keep the food at a constant temp when we sell it. That means it has to either be prepared hot and maintained hot for sales, or prepared cold and sold cold. We can't bring frozen dumplings to the market and cook them and sell them hot. Is that crazy, or what? In a way, it makes it easier because we can cook them at home and just bring them over, but still, we lose out on the cooking effect. The only way you can cook them there is by having a complete kitchen set up on location, like a big truck.

Now, of course, we just have to make the dumplings on top of all the household work and let us not forget being parents. I feel like Charlie Brown on the day of his big exam, laying in bed with a stomachache, not wanting to get out of bed.

He never had it so easy. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Pedro Simao for the pic.