Well, I did it. It was really fun and not stressful. I had lots of help and we grossed $187 for the Fellowship. This makes it not worth doing from an economic standpoint. That's without me putting in for any reimbursements for ingredients, or Pat for the decorations, and would value our labor at about a dollar an hour. The question still remains, though, if it would be possible or desireable to try to open a dessert restaurant.

Yesterday, I baked a couple things early in the morning: apple-peach pie and lemon squares. That is my prime time; they were both cooling by 9 and it was painless. We had breakfast and went for a walk, bathed and dressed, and packed everything in the car: all the frozen goodies and all the things I would need at the Fellowship. Thankfully, Ray did all the heavy carrying.

He drove me to UUFA and unloaded everything a little after 10 and then headed to work. I unpacked things, read my list, talked to Shaye, gathered my thoughts, set up the music, and started cutting up fruit for the fruit compote. Pat arrived and we chatted. She left again to look for flowers and I asked her to pick up some strawberries and a pineapple, which she did excellently.

I peeled and cut up kiwis and cantelope and put dressing on them. I checked my email and sent out a notice about the event and listed it on Patch. Susan C. came to help and I put her to work slicing and baking butter-nut cookies. The oven worked very well and the kitchen began to smell great. Pat came back and I washed and cut up strawberries, some for the compote and some to serve with balsamic vinegar. (that was the only thing no one ordered, so now we will have to eat them all!)

I took a break a little after 1 and had lunch with Becky, while Pat and Susan were decorating the tables. They were lovely! I enjoyed my lunch (shrimp quesadilla with spinach at Loco's).

When I came back, they were leaving. They had cleaned up after me and the "restaurant" looked wonderful. My Dad called and said he had locked his keys in his car. He did find a key to the truck, so he drove to UUFA and got my key to his car. I got him to peel the pineapple for me while he was there, in his gardening overalls...There were a couple things left to do, but I had to wait a little longer. Pat came back, Julie arrived straight from work, and Ray got there with the ice cream. I put them to work, cutting up the lemon squares and the pie. I cut the carrot cake and put in some more cookies. I cut up bananas for the fruit compote (with lime dressing). We reviewed the menu and Pat made some notes about what had nuts, etc.

Our first customer came, Aleta, and we all descended on her, hurrying her to order. She had come straight from work and hadn't had dinner. After a few minutes, I realized I was hungry too, so shared some of my curried chicken with her. The next person to arrive was my Dad! He ordered the peach-apple pie with ice cream and enjoyed the company as well. Talking with Julie, I told her it was fine for her to go home. All told, there were less than twenty people there. Some of them ordered more than one thing. Kay took $30 worth to go.

Then Ray did the dishes, Pat and Barb L. cleared and put away all the tables, and I packed up the food to take home again. We were done by 10, but Ray and I were really tired. Then we had to carry it all in the house. We have loads of goodies left to eat. I put half of the brownies back in the freezer, they hadn't really thawed, and some of the ginger cookie dough. People urged me to bring them back on Sunday to sell after the service; I'm not sure I want to. We'll see.