Last night I had the coolest experience. I went with a group of women to a place called The Full Plate. In two hours time, I prepared for my family eight main dishes that will serve up to six people. So for our little threesome, that means nearly sixteen different meals.
The place is a giant kitchen with prep stations. At each station is everything you need to make one recipe--chopped ingredients, spices, measuring spoons, bowls, etc. The recipe is posted at each station, with easy directions, and you simply move from station to station until you have prepared all of your meals. (You order and pay for the meals ahead of time online so they have the right amount for everyone.)
After the meal is prepared, you place it in a ziploc bag (sometimes two) and set it in a refrigerator with a shelf set aside for you. At the end of the two hours, you have a week (or two) worth of dinners. When you take it home, you put it all in your freezer. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.So here are some of the dinners I prepared last night: Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Picata, Calzones with Sausage, Chicken Satay, Salmon Cakes. We had some of the Tandoori Chicken tonight and it was fabulous.
Oh, and to top it all off, D is off picking up a pint of Ben & Jerry's for me right now.
I am a happy girl.
6 comments:
That is such a cool idea!!
Welcome to RevGalBlogPals!
oh, here I am again. I just looked at your profile, and it seems we have lots in common... the whole religion thing (obviously), but also: bell hooks, knitting, politics, dostoyevsky, and I just saw eastmountainsouth in concert last year. Nice!
There are a couple of places like this in Houston called The Village Table. I've been to a couple of "hen" parties at them--superfun and you go home with several day's worth of dinner for the freezer. We're excited because we just learned that another one is opening up in our suburban area near our church.
Someone had a BRILLIANT idea. Wish I'd thought of it!
And welcome to RGBP!
I've heard about these places, and there's one near me. I've never tried it, but to me the best part is you don't get your own kitchen messy!
Hi Katherine, you're right! We do have a lot in common! I see you have a link to the Innocence Mission on your blog. My husband used to know the folks in that band. We used to go to a Christmas party together every year in Lancaster PA. :) Are they really recording again? That's great news. (The Full Plate is in Walnut Creek, btw.)
Quotidian, yes, I thought the same thing--brilliant idea. Brilliant.
Yes, no messy kitchen, Al. In fact, you step away from the station and a worker bee comes in and sweeps everything away in seconds. It's a cure for existential angst. Not even a footprint remains. :)
Yup, The Innocence Mission is still alive and kicking. How cool that you've hung out with them (at the same party with the hot tub and cigars...?;-). Their newer recordings are lovely, though very different from their early work. Befriended is gorgeous, a near-perfect album.
I can't imagine that it will be too long before the Full Plate is franchised everywhere. Such a good idea.
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