Page 75 of You Chive Me Crazy
I was lucky to be one of them.
And I was a complete and total wreck.
Although I usually remain composed under pressure, the food festival was the most crucial moment in my career and in the success of my family's potato farm. I couldn’t afford to let anything go wrong, and I was determined to make sure every detail was perfect. Although the investors would not arrive until the third day of the festival, there was no margin for error. It was imperative that everything went smoothly.
Start with a bang, end with a bang.
That was the plan.
Luckily, Lucas, Rolando, and Savannah offered to help after Brianna texted to tell me her car wasn’t fixed yet. I normally had backup employees, but it made little sense for them to work an out-of-town event since they would have to use most of their earnings just to pay for gas.
Todd, the Teriyaki Guy, waved eagerly as he walked by. “Hey, Zoe! It’s good to see you!”
I waved back. “You, too! I hope you sell a lot of chicken skewers today!”
“Thanks! I hope you run out of potatoes!” He winked, then disappeared around the corner near the bathrooms.
I grabbed more potatoes after the first round finished in the roaster. “The trick is to stagger the batches, so I have freshly baked potatoes coming out every hour or two, depending on the size of the crowd. Then we baste them halfway through the roasting with my secret weapon, the marinade. That’s what makes the potatoes really stand out.”
“This thing is amazing.” Lucas studied the giant stainless-steel roaster. “How many potatoes can you roast at a time?”
I added a few more to the rack. “It’s got thirty-three racks, so technically, I could cook over three hundred potatoes per hour if I wanted to, but I only do that for large catered events. Three hundred people per hour at a food festival would kill me.” I laughed and added a few more potatoes, then glanced back at Rolando and Lucas. “Are you two ready to do this?”
Lucas nodded. “You bet.”
“Yeah, baby.” Rolando tried to spin a red and white paper food tray on his finger and ended up dropping it on the floor.
I smirked. “That’s coming out of your paycheck.”
He winked. “Sorry, boss.”
The plan was simple: Savannah would hand out menus to people waiting in line, so they knew the exact toppings and sauce they wanted when they got to the window to order. She would also make sure the napkin, utensil, and condiment bar were always stocked.
Rolando would take orders and payments.
Lucas and I would prepare the potatoes, starting with me, then him finishing them before calling out the customer’s name at the pickup window. He was a natural in the kitchen, so I was confident of his abilities to help me in a pinch.
I let out an anxious breath and glanced at the line already forming in front of my truck. “Okay, let’s do this. We are officially open for business!”
“I’d like the parmesan ranch potato with caramelized onions and cheddar cheese,” said the first customer of the day. “Oh, can you double-up on the chives?”
“You got it!” Rolando said, writing it down, then passing the order form to me before swiping the man’s credit card.
I poured melted butter on the potato, then add a generous amount of cheddar cheese. “Your turn, Filo.” I slid the potato toward him.
Lucas glanced over at me, a big grin on his face. “I miss this, you and me working together in the kitchen. Just like the good old days.” He promptly added the parmesan ranch sauce, doubled the chives, and then finished it with the caramelized onions.
I nodded. “Me, too.”
Lucas and I worked well together, we always had.
“Hey, gang!” Betsy said when she got to the front of the line with Marty. “We can’t wait to try your potatoes, Zoe.”
“Thank you for coming,” I said, always touched when someone is so excited to try my food. “It means a lot to me.”
“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Marty said. “But we need to take the potatoes back to the Inn to eat them there.”
“No problem. We’ll cover them with foil for you, so they will stay warm for a while.”
