OH LAWD chapter 33

A Good Bye Dinner for the Brass
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For a while everything went along well.  - - - That is until the thing I feared happened. 

A Lieutenant stopped in and tasted the mess I prepared for the cooks.  Then tasted what was being fed to the rest of the trainees and he wanted some explanation for the big difference.

All eyes turned to me, and I started turning red. I wanted to try to lie my way out of this but I didn't dare.

I confessed that I had bought a few spices, and picked through everything before I cooked it, and the result was what he just tasted. I also left out the saltpeter, but I didn't tell him that.

He dumped out our food, and told us to eat the same thing as the rest of the men.

Shortly after I had been caught spicing up my food the order came down to find someone to cook for the officers.  The Lieutenant remembered that I seemed to know something about food preparation, so he ordered me to come and prepare the officer's mess.

I had a day or two to get ready to take over, and I immediately ordered what I would need to prepare some very tasty food. It didn't come near what I presented at my restaurant, but it was better than anything they had eaten before me.

After a few meals the Colonel came and asked me where I learned to cook like this.  I just said my Ma has a restaurant and she is a great cook. It was she who taught me as well the other cooks who worked there.

He said this is better by far than anything served here before. I was feeling pretty satisfied with everything, and I was eating fairly well also.  When I could I would fix myself something special. 

 

Again it wasn't as good as in the restaurant, but with what I had to work with, it turned out fine.

The Colonel had bragged on me and my food to his wife, and she said she wanted to taste what he had been boasting about.

When I found out she was coming for lunch I thought, “What the heck.”

I would fix her something that would cause her mouth to drool.

I made a trip to town, and picked up what I needed, and served her meal separate from the officers, and waited.

She came back after she was finished and said, “Alright, what’s going on? You are not an army cook. I have eaten at the finest restaurants around the world, and this compares favorably to all of them.”

I told her I had a little training.  She said, “Cut it out! I want to know where you learned what you know about cuisine, and how to prepare it.”  It was time to be honest, so I gave her a run down of - - well actually my life story as it related to cooking.  

She said, “I want you to come and prepare a special meal for around thirty guests. Do you think you can handle that?”  I replied, “Certainly I can, with a little help.”

She offered, “We are being transferred to the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and I want to say goodbye with a nice dinner.”  She continued, “Come by in the morning and we will work out the menu.”

The next day we went over the menu, and she gave me quite a bit of leeway which made it a lot easier.  

 

I started early on the day of the dinner fixing things that could be prepared in advance. The couple of guys I selected were a great help to me, and by the evening everything was ready.

She had gotten a couple of maids to serve, and I kept an eye on how the meal was going so each course was served at the right time.

After dessert the guests retired to the living room for coffee, tea and of course they had some brandy to finish off their meal.

With everyone out of the dining room, the cleanup began and in a couple of hours everything was clean, and put away, and I was completely exhausted.

Oh Lawd.       

 

To be Continued