Had a great weekend in Carlisle. It was the wedding anniversary we’ve been planning for some time now. For those not in the know Maggie and Ken are old, old friends of mine and they just celebrated their 30th anniversary!
Lots of people were invited so it was always going to be a big celebration. It’s a bit different when it’s someone we know not that we aren’t as professional because we always are! But it’s a bit more relaxed and we get the chance to try some new things out. For example this was a suckling only event and we had 3 of them. All with different glazes. One honey mustard, one horseradish and one very experimental apple and cinnamon. We arrived fairly early at the Westfield lodge and started to get set up on the patio. It was a stunning place. Heaps of room for us so we started roasting. All three were little crackers actually. The actual party was to be in the adjoining function room with a licensed bar. That was handy as we didn’t need to provide the refreshments. I had a chance to speak to the lodge manager who was really happy to have a well established business catering there. He asked if we’d mind if he popped a review on their site. Of course I didn’t!
We set up some serving tables in the room with all our fresh baked breads and sauces. Brought our special gravy and an assortment of stuffing’s for the event too. That’s always fun and tastes great we call those kind of sandwiches ‘moist makers’ …fresh crusty bread…hot pork. Stuffing and a generous lashing of gravy. Absolutely delicious.
Anyway people started turning up all dressed up to the nines and looking fabulous. Had a great catch up with Ken and Maggie when they arrived. Everyone had brought gifts which was nice. I told them if do them a free small event for free at some point in the future. They were really pleased with that!
We started serving up and the pigs were fantastic. The crackling was great too. That always goes down well with people. They sliced really nice and everyone wanted to try the gravy sandwiches. I only brought a small team with me this time as we weren’t providing a waitress service. Just let people come to the buffet and help themselves! The apple cinnamon glaze one was really tasty, not quite perfect yet. That glaze needs a bit of refining to bring it up to our high standards. Still it was a great opportunity to try it out. Because the event was mostly people we already knew Lisa and myself had a chance to relax a bit and catch up with people which was great. I even managed to sit down and eat too which made a welcome change! Strictly no alcohol still on the job though!
We started to clear away as the event wound down. When the van was all packed Lisa very kindly offered to drive back so I could stay on. She’s really great I might even start paying her! It was a good night afterwards and many drinks and stories flowed! Fantastic day and a wonderful event. Here’s to the next 30yrs guys!