My best foot forward!  In May, I successfully executed a dinner service for a large fundraising gala in Loudoun County, Virginia – one that would challenge and leverage the best culinary and management skills that I possess.  It was the largest event for me yet – and the first meaningful opportunity as an LLC.

In February, my friend and skilled photographer Andrew Sample approached me about the need for a chef to support a fundraiser that will host up to 110 guests.

My eyes widened.  I couldn’t believe it!  I was both excited and energized, and considered this gala to be a the perfect event to showcase my relationship with food and flavors.

Kimberly Shane, the host of the event, was a delight to work with. We connected well and I felt her drive and passion to make the event a success. She knew exactly what she wanted for meal options and I was happy to feel her out on the food that I would provide.

Cooking for a hundred people was a huge lift! I spent hours planning and creating a strategy for the best way to execute the massive dinner quickly in a standard kitchen. Good strategy and planning made the experience a smooth and fun one.

The whole affair involved two full days of work with the help of my mother, shopping and preparing the ingredients. Chopping, dicing, and creating a play-by-play timetable of execution.

The experience was memorable because I discovered what a great team my mom and I make. I’ve never worked with my mom in such a capacity and quickly found that we work well together. I’m happy to have that memory with her.

The day of the event was smooth and fun, starting early at 5am to allow for plenty of time to prepare for dinner service. The kitchen at the venue was basic, with an old-school oven and not a lot of counter space. With a table installed, we made the space work.

Suddenly it was dinner service time and the pressure was on!

The hour flew by quickly as we plated dinner for 12 tables – eight sets of plates per table. My mom was in charge of the plates and plating the vegetables while I was busy keeping the sauce going and slicing, plating, and saucing the chicken.

The kitchen was hot! Earlier in the evening, I adjusted the air conditioner to compensate for the heat that would be blowing out of the kitchen. At some point during the evening, someone decided to adjust the AC settings back and the venue became an inferno. No matter, I developed a good working relationship with the servers and sent one off to tend to adjust the temperature in the building.

The highlight of my evening was in the middle of dinner service, when a wave of strong positive feedback started making it’s way to the kitchen. My ears were ringing. Most of all, Kimberly was praising me strongly. I was pleased.

We kept working, never breaking our stride. After about an hour from start, dinner service was over and everyone, including the servers, were happy.

There were some significant challenges that I could not overcome, like the issue of heating the plates before plating, and keeping the food hot as they get to the tables. Also, mistakes in the delivery of food to the table by the servers and newcomers (guests) to the event that we didn’t prepare for. These were obstacles that I could not control so I just kept plating and cooking up the sauce.

My mom was an excellent ringmaster to an agitated chef and I feel like I did a good job keeping my cool for the most part. I learned a lot about myself on that night.

After dinner service was over, the servers enjoyed the leftover food and we bonded in ways that we couldn’t beforehand.

Overall, the experience was exhausting, good, memorable, and significant for me. Would I do it again?  Yes! I live for this.

Sincerely Yours,

Chef Angela Smigel