Another International Dinner in the Books
Do you have any idea the amount of work that goes into making an international dinner happen? You may think you do. I sort of though I did, but even after helping with today's version for a single day, I can say that I hardly have a grasp on the scope. Like any big event, it takes a lot of people, a lot of time, and a lot of hard work for things to get done.
In one sense, preparations for today began a decade ago in Palo in a sixth grade classroom. In another sense, they began months ago with all the planning. Now that the event has been done for so many years, many of the recurring tasks are quite familiar. The stable of East Lansing restaurants hasn’t changed much in all that time, though it did today and probably will even more when this happens again next year. Many of the display posters have been used repeatedly, but other new ones were also shown for the first time this evening. And although the kids who do so much of the work to run the event age and are replaced by younger faces, the core planning group that really makes it happen has been doing it for some time.
That core, as I understand it to exist, is primarily my mom, Lynda, and Karen, with strong supporting roles played by Pam, and Olga (apologies, of course, if I don’t know other principal players; surely there are some). These ladies get together frequently for meetings over coffee to plan out all the details like where the event occurs, a budget for food, lining up staff, acquiring merchandise to sell, and publicizing the dinner so people will come. There are some people who have come every single year and wouldn’t dream of missing it. There are others who have every intention of showing up, but when the big day comes, they somehow have other plans that take priority. Like any event, you can’t force or trick people into coming. They have to want to come then they have to make the effort and actually show up. Tonight, not as many people did that as last year, resulting in fewer funds being raised for the different organizations.
This afternoon was when almost all the food from restaurants had to be picked up and transported back to Ionia High School in big insulated boxes. In one car were Dad and I assigned to collect from Altu’s, Sultan’s, and Sindhu. The other team was Mom and Sydney Cody heading to Thai Kitchen, Cajun Kitchen, Oriental Mart, and New China Buffet in Portland. Although not a competition initially, I made it into one when I knew we were going to easily win.
Our first stop at Altu’s to get Ethiopian food was smooth until it came time to pay. The people working assumed the food was donated because no price had been left. We assumed we were paying because we always pay. After a call to the boss (Mom), we settled on paying for the food but not the tax.
The next stop at Sultan’s was more confusing because the first two guys we spoke to knew less about what we were doing there than we did. They didn’t think they had any large orders prepared, but as is always the case, if you ask the right person, you get the answer you’re looking for. They carried it out and loaded it in for us and everything. That was all donated.
The final food stop on our route, right next door, was Sindhu. Sindhu is an Indian restaurant. They give no discounts, ever. They also don’t bother to have the food prepped and waiting for you to pick up when you tell them you’ll be coming to pick it up. I think they suspect you wont’ actually come (despite a 9 year precedent that in fact you will), so rather than risk cooking and boxing up food that might not be purchased, they just wait for you to be there, then they make it. We waited. And waited. It finally came out. Then we were given an additional pick-up not on the original schedule.
In going through the merch boxes this morning, Mom was unable to locate any Nyaka necklaces to sell. Later in the day, while unpacking, we would find them with all the other baskets and pamphlets and books, but because we were already in Lansing we just swung by the office and picked up some more. We were still right on schedule while the other team was trapped at Thai Kitchen absorbing the news that it had just been sold to some Chinese guy and therefore the reliable source of Thai food for the international dinner was now in peril. And the food hadn’t yet been cooked as expected. That threw them off their game plan and had them at least an hour behind us. We stopped for coffee in Portland while they were just making their final stops on the far side of East Lansing. We were unloaded and helping set up the cafeteria before they finally arrived on site. We scored bonus points for not forgetting to pick Amelia up on the way to get food (we didn’t pick her up either, but that wasn’t on our list).
The core group I mentioned also has a critical ally in Elena who runs the kitchen masterfully and truly ensures the food side of the dinner works correctly. Over the years, she has learned all the tricks of the trade, like labeling each food tray clearly by name, restaurant, country, and continent. She also groups them geographically in the oven for easier placement on tables when service time comes. It’s a hot, hectic atmosphere in that kitchen and Elena’s a real pro.
People started arriving before 5pm, the official start time, and they lounging around at their tables while we laid out the banquet. Besides the countries already mentioned, there were also dishes from Japan, Korea, Mexico, Italy, Pakistan, Germany, and more. 4-H club members did all the serving. I managed to have something to eat early in the evening and was able to sit with Amanda, Ken, and all the kids. Almost all of them drink coffee, which seems strange.
Other people I had extended chats with: Katie Dingerson, Kay Connor, Nancy Haight, Roger Warren, Sydney Cody. When the night finally wound down, much of the food still remained, particularly the Chinese stuff. Everyone took big boxes home. Clean up took longer than set-up and of course was less enjoyable. Our van was stuffed full of food and all the display and merchandise items. The Prius was fairly full too.
We got home around 9, well worn from the day, then had to sit and watch the Tigers lose to the Yankees 8-12 after coming back from a 0-7 deficit. We started work to eat some of the food not filling every available space in the fridge.
Tomorrow is my last day of vacation. I fly out of Lansing in the late afternoon and three very productive, busy, enjoyable weeks of something quite different than rest and relaxation, but also nothing at all like the drudgery that is work. Am I looking forward to heading back to Seattle? Meh, not really. I do want to get back on the bike and into the gym but that still seems so distant right now. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends, of course, but the ease and convenience of having a car on demand and having family members either retired or on vacation during the summer and able to hang out whenever will be sorely missed. Is the grass greener on the other side of the fence? Naturally. Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I’m back in Washington for the one heat wave of the year.
In one sense, preparations for today began a decade ago in Palo in a sixth grade classroom. In another sense, they began months ago with all the planning. Now that the event has been done for so many years, many of the recurring tasks are quite familiar. The stable of East Lansing restaurants hasn’t changed much in all that time, though it did today and probably will even more when this happens again next year. Many of the display posters have been used repeatedly, but other new ones were also shown for the first time this evening. And although the kids who do so much of the work to run the event age and are replaced by younger faces, the core planning group that really makes it happen has been doing it for some time.
That core, as I understand it to exist, is primarily my mom, Lynda, and Karen, with strong supporting roles played by Pam, and Olga (apologies, of course, if I don’t know other principal players; surely there are some). These ladies get together frequently for meetings over coffee to plan out all the details like where the event occurs, a budget for food, lining up staff, acquiring merchandise to sell, and publicizing the dinner so people will come. There are some people who have come every single year and wouldn’t dream of missing it. There are others who have every intention of showing up, but when the big day comes, they somehow have other plans that take priority. Like any event, you can’t force or trick people into coming. They have to want to come then they have to make the effort and actually show up. Tonight, not as many people did that as last year, resulting in fewer funds being raised for the different organizations.
This afternoon was when almost all the food from restaurants had to be picked up and transported back to Ionia High School in big insulated boxes. In one car were Dad and I assigned to collect from Altu’s, Sultan’s, and Sindhu. The other team was Mom and Sydney Cody heading to Thai Kitchen, Cajun Kitchen, Oriental Mart, and New China Buffet in Portland. Although not a competition initially, I made it into one when I knew we were going to easily win.
Our first stop at Altu’s to get Ethiopian food was smooth until it came time to pay. The people working assumed the food was donated because no price had been left. We assumed we were paying because we always pay. After a call to the boss (Mom), we settled on paying for the food but not the tax.
The next stop at Sultan’s was more confusing because the first two guys we spoke to knew less about what we were doing there than we did. They didn’t think they had any large orders prepared, but as is always the case, if you ask the right person, you get the answer you’re looking for. They carried it out and loaded it in for us and everything. That was all donated.
The final food stop on our route, right next door, was Sindhu. Sindhu is an Indian restaurant. They give no discounts, ever. They also don’t bother to have the food prepped and waiting for you to pick up when you tell them you’ll be coming to pick it up. I think they suspect you wont’ actually come (despite a 9 year precedent that in fact you will), so rather than risk cooking and boxing up food that might not be purchased, they just wait for you to be there, then they make it. We waited. And waited. It finally came out. Then we were given an additional pick-up not on the original schedule.
In going through the merch boxes this morning, Mom was unable to locate any Nyaka necklaces to sell. Later in the day, while unpacking, we would find them with all the other baskets and pamphlets and books, but because we were already in Lansing we just swung by the office and picked up some more. We were still right on schedule while the other team was trapped at Thai Kitchen absorbing the news that it had just been sold to some Chinese guy and therefore the reliable source of Thai food for the international dinner was now in peril. And the food hadn’t yet been cooked as expected. That threw them off their game plan and had them at least an hour behind us. We stopped for coffee in Portland while they were just making their final stops on the far side of East Lansing. We were unloaded and helping set up the cafeteria before they finally arrived on site. We scored bonus points for not forgetting to pick Amelia up on the way to get food (we didn’t pick her up either, but that wasn’t on our list).
The core group I mentioned also has a critical ally in Elena who runs the kitchen masterfully and truly ensures the food side of the dinner works correctly. Over the years, she has learned all the tricks of the trade, like labeling each food tray clearly by name, restaurant, country, and continent. She also groups them geographically in the oven for easier placement on tables when service time comes. It’s a hot, hectic atmosphere in that kitchen and Elena’s a real pro.
People started arriving before 5pm, the official start time, and they lounging around at their tables while we laid out the banquet. Besides the countries already mentioned, there were also dishes from Japan, Korea, Mexico, Italy, Pakistan, Germany, and more. 4-H club members did all the serving. I managed to have something to eat early in the evening and was able to sit with Amanda, Ken, and all the kids. Almost all of them drink coffee, which seems strange.
Other people I had extended chats with: Katie Dingerson, Kay Connor, Nancy Haight, Roger Warren, Sydney Cody. When the night finally wound down, much of the food still remained, particularly the Chinese stuff. Everyone took big boxes home. Clean up took longer than set-up and of course was less enjoyable. Our van was stuffed full of food and all the display and merchandise items. The Prius was fairly full too.
We got home around 9, well worn from the day, then had to sit and watch the Tigers lose to the Yankees 8-12 after coming back from a 0-7 deficit. We started work to eat some of the food not filling every available space in the fridge.
Tomorrow is my last day of vacation. I fly out of Lansing in the late afternoon and three very productive, busy, enjoyable weeks of something quite different than rest and relaxation, but also nothing at all like the drudgery that is work. Am I looking forward to heading back to Seattle? Meh, not really. I do want to get back on the bike and into the gym but that still seems so distant right now. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends, of course, but the ease and convenience of having a car on demand and having family members either retired or on vacation during the summer and able to hang out whenever will be sorely missed. Is the grass greener on the other side of the fence? Naturally. Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I’m back in Washington for the one heat wave of the year.