On cue for dinner
Cooking again in public wasn’t something I had in mind when all I wanted was to play a couple of frames of snooker at the Athenaeum. I must’ve passed that old building on the corner of Church and Lynn Streets a million times in the thirty-five years I have been in Hartlepool and maybe a few more before I opened Krimo’s in Seaton Carew.
Mind you, when it came to snooker, before I joined the Athenaeum Club, the closest I ever came to a table was from the comfort of my TV chair.
Two persuasive members of the Choir suggested that, since I enjoyed a game of pool before our Friday evening rehearsal at the Corner Flag, I could join them for a game of snooker at the Athenaeum where they are keen fellows. One of them even provided me with a cue and the obligatory chalk.
Within weeks, I was pressganged into becoming a member. The committee suggested a fundraising evening where I could do a cookery demonstration, feed a few people and raise a bit of money for the club. And this is how the evening of Saturday, 29th February became a reality.
One of the committee members, Steve Breward also invited his young son Jonathan, a chef at the Wynyard Golf Club, to help out.
We quickly decided on the menu. A soup for starters and a chicken dish with rice for main course. The dishes are featured at the bottom of this page.
The news spread very quickly and over forty tickets were snapped up. More could’ve been sold but, after a twenty-year sabbatical from the kitchen, I felt that my fading skills could only cope with so many hungry diners.
I begged and borrowed a few large pans from Portofino and Café Rappor on the Marina. I wore an old Krimo’s T-shirt which I was pleasantly surprised, still fit me and a brand-new apron lent to me by Noel and when I looked in the mirror, my mind nostalgically raced back to my “cheffing” days.
By Friday, I had bought all the ingredients needed for the dinner. The leeks for the soup were kindly provided by club member, Ron Nixon from his allotment.
On Saturday, at 5pm I clocked in to my first shift in years. Jonathan and I began organising and sharing the tasks. As the club cooker was only big enough to accommodate one single large pan, Jonathan started making the soup early.
The next time we looked up, it was already 7.30pm and people had begun to drift in.
The gas rings provided for the stage weren’t very powerful but we improvised and, by 8pm, we began the demonstration. I filled in by going through my catering history while Jonathan made the soup which we served to an orderly queue of hungry diners. I then made the chicken dish and served it with the 7-minute rice. We were all done and dusted by 9.30pm and I was pleased to sit down to a plate of food and a soft drink. The diners’ feedback was generous and favourable. Mind you, it isn’t every day that one can enjoy a two-course meal for a fiver cooked by a retired chef.
I got home at around 10.30pm. A similar time as when I worked. On this occasion, although I had to put my feet up to relieve my aching knees, I was happy to have survived the evening and would not be averse to repeating the experience in future.
