Tania welcomed me to help her to serve lunch today - I hasten to add that I arrived too late to be much help with the actual cooking but I did a good job blending lunches for residents with special dietary needs and made a cheese sandwich - my culinary abilities obviously know no limits!
Meet the team on lunch duty today - Tania was chief chef ably assisted by Veli and Gavin who between them cooked and prepared a menu to be proud of:
Sliced ham in parsley sauce
Vegetarian Chilli Con Carne
Rice or mashed potato and roasted vegetables
Selection of salads and sandwiches
Rice pudding; ice cream; chocolate mouse; fruit salad; jelly
Residents can choose to come to the dining room for lunch or to have their meals in their own rooms. One of my tasks was to load up the hot trolleys with the residents' meals so that the care staff could collect them in time for lunch. It was so interesting to see how the residents' meal choices and dietary needs are managed so carefully and efficiently by the whole team - not just in the kitchen but by the dining room staff and the carers who all work together so that each resident receives the meal of their choice at every meal. This is a huge undertaking to prepare and deliver 60 individualy chosen meals at every meal time, every day - and to give a positive choice which is served hot and on time. I struggle to make and serve a main meal just for 2 people every day! So I was really impressed with the dedication of the staff team and the creativity they showed too.
Once all the residents had been served there were meals to be plated up for staff .... and then came the clearing and the washing up!
Tania decided to get in the picture but she didn't have time to do any washing up - just kept bringing more washing up for me to do!
Do you like the yellow gloves - quite fetching along with the hat and the pinny?
I was so pleased to spend time in the kitchen today to witness for myself the care that goes into preparing and serving the meals. There was an obvious commitment to meet the needs of every resident with systems in place via the menu choices to communicate clearly what has been selected by the residents. Tania said how much she enjoyed using her skills to create interesting and tasty meals demonstrating her culinary competency as well as her organisational talents too. I admired Gavin's courage and perseverance in tackling the mountains of washing up which accumulate every day - those pots and pans are heavy and messy but all end up sparkling to be used again. Overall, I would say that the compassion for every resident translated into how well their food was cooked and served with love. Thank you kitchen team - you are wonderful!