Z did the washing up

I arrived at the shop at 8 this morning, which does help as there’s a lot of plants to get out at this time of the year. I went out at 11.30 to do some shopping for the doo this evening, bought some chops for the Sage and Ro’s dinner and a ham and salad roll for my lunch from the bakery. As my bike panniers were crammed full, I was glad to see the Sage (with car) outside the shop and handed it all over for him to take home. Dilly arrived soon after Tim left at 12.30 and she served while I bunched up asparagus (if you leave it loose, customers break it as they handle it and a lot is wasted) before my meeting.

We left the Chairman of governors with a lot to do, I’m afraid, but in a supportive sort of way 😉 and then I went back to the shop, advised Dilly (yes, she did ask first) on the contents of a regular fruit box and went home. Al was going in to help pack up and the Sage and Ro would look after the children, while I prepared food.

First, I put on eggs to hard-boil, then I made a batch of scones, then I sliced a cucumber into quarter-inch slices, then I whipped cream, then I took the eggs off the stove, then – nearly too late – I removed the scones from the oven. I decrusted and buttered a small loaf, mashed the eggs with seasoning and mayonnaise, packed panniers and left for the church. There, I switched on the water heater, topped bread with smoked salmon, more bread with egg mayonnaise, cucumber slices with Boursin cheese, scones with cream and strawberries and, as other food arrived, put it on plates. I’d brought biscuits, crisps etc, but didn’t open them as there was loads.

The bit that nearly scuppered me was having been asked to play for a hymn at the start. But it did give me a sit-down, and I had a quick swig of port at Communion time and belted back to make coffee. I’d already put out cups and saucers. Sue and I put out the food – we had put that outside, as chairs were in the meeting room and the hall isn’t big enough. I put milk outside too, to force people out.

45 people emptied 4 cafétières, 3 teapots and nearly a litre of milk. Afterwards. they went in for their meeting while I washed up. At the end, I stood bearing foil plates and plastic dishes and asked people to take more food with them. As it was a meeting of religious types, I pointed out that it would have to be thrown away otherwise, and by the end very little was left. I finished washing up and left for home at 10.15.

I’m glad I won’t be doing it again tomorrow.

14 comments on “Z did the washing up

  1. Dave

    Thank you for my emoticon.

    I’m trying to think of a suitable reply for the weed, but nothing witty will come. No doubt you’ll have something to say, in your own inimitable style.

    Reply
  2. Z

    Worthy of more food of course, Dandee. Dave, it’s time I met you again I think, as at the moment I have a mental image of you with a roguish wink, which isn’t really your style at all. Although once you’ve lived in South Norfolk for a few months, it may be.

    Yoga Gal, I’ll look it up and send it. I don’t think scones are quite the same over here as they are with you.

    Ed, today will be much quieter. Al is better, so no shop before this morning’s meeting, only Pugsley to look after this afternoon and a parents’ meeting to attend (as a governor) this evening. Some gentle gardening is a good idea (a bit too windy out there to lounge around).

    Reply
  3. Z

    Darling, you reread the post – not a busy day then? The scones took less than 5 minutes to make (yes, from scratch, but the butter was soft, and I used up some of that damn fat free plain yoghurt in them too), the cucumber – well, it can’t have taken more than a minute or two and not much longer for the cream. I had a lot to do, very little time and I’m surprisingly efficient if I need to be.

    Reply
  4. Dandelion

    5 to make, and 12 to cook (more if you overdid them), plus the two minutes for the cuc and the cream, that’s about a 20-minute hard-boilt egg. Can that really be right?

    Busy, yes, but at least I’ve got my priorites right. What can I say, scone posts do it for me…

    Reply
  5. Z

    No, hang on, I took the eggs off before I took the scones out and I was describing the order things were done in, not saying one thing followed instantly on the previous one. A rough time plan:-

    Put eggs on – 5.15
    Put scones in oven – 5.20
    Slice cucumber and whip cream – 5.20-5.25
    Take eggs off stove 5.26 (bantam eggs, don’t take long, even starting in cold water)
    Run cold water over eggs, leave them to cool while I fetched the mayonnaise, peel them, put them in a bowl ready to mash them up – 5.26 – 5.31
    Realise I’d forgotten the scones – 5.31. They were small scones so only needed 10 minutes.

    Reply
  6. Honey

    oh I do enjoy your timeline in the comments.
    what a full and fullfilling day?
    hope you will rest well and got a scone to eat yourself.

    Reply
  7. Z

    All my scones were scoffed, but I did get the last one of a nice batch of buttered fruit scones. I also got three fingers of smoked salmon sandwich and a delicious little cheese tartlet with caraway seeds.

    Dave, that is certainly worthy of comment.

    Reply

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