April 18, 2024

Hi folks!  I know, I missed a week.  Let me tell you all about last week, and hopefully forgiveness may be given.

Let’s start with Tuesday.  Tuesday is our normal prep day.  However, we knew that we would be on the food truck during the day on Wednesday, and then at a special event at Eastern Mennonite University Wednesday evening.  So, double the prep.  We were invited to serve at a baseball game at EMU.  Wednesday was a big day there because it was a big fundraising day.  There were lots of alumni and prospective students.  But the student government was giving $5 vouchers to students (and prospective students) to spend at our food truck.  And they asked if we could come up with some $5 menu items.  We did.  We had a whole chalk board of items.  As soon as we arrived at the game a line formed…a long line.  For the next two hours there were about 30 people in line, constantly.  We had never had THAT before.  Of course, with a $5 menu, most items were quick to make (tacos, beer brats, wings, soft pretzels, potato ribbons, etc.).  Leigh Anne was taking orders, and I was throwing food like a 25 year old line cook…which I no longer am.  It was the culinary version of the “Fast and Furious.”  In some ways it was fun.  And, being paid at the end of the day helped ease the joint pain.

After Eastern Mennonite, we decided to bring the trailer back downtown to our normal spot so we could open the next morning.  We needed to plug in to our electrical source so that all the food would not spoil.  Then…the nightmare began.  While backing the trailer into our spot, I hit the curb, a little.  That was part of the problem. The other part of the problem was our haste.  Once we parked and plugged in, we opened the door.  Inside we saw a complete disaster.  We had not secured the doors to our heating cabinet, which allows us to keep food appropriately warm.  Everything was on the floor…chicken wings, ground beef, pulled chicken…well, everything.  Then, a left-hand turn lets us see down to the other side of the trailer where, for the first time, the refrigerator door had come open.  Yup, most everything was on the floor…eggs, sauces, cheeses, iced teas, lettuce…everything.  As you might imagine, I was very close to crying.  Such was Wednesday.

We didn’t even unhook the trailer from our truck.  We just took it home.  We rescued what we could and put in our fridge.  The next morning, Thursday, I went out to clean.  There was a broom, dustpan, a roll of paper towels, a pressure washer, degreaser and more items involved.  Needless to say, we did not open on Thursday.  And not only was the food truck in need of cleaning, but it was also another prep day!  Friday morning, we needed to have 60 boxed lunches for a friend’s 70th birthday party.  Such was Thursday.

Friday morning, we awoke to a clean food truck and finished assembling the boxed lunches.  Then, it was a mad rush to do NEW prep.  We needed to get to Charlottesville, Virginia Friday night to set up for a two-day quilt show (Saturday and Sunday).  We are extremely fortunate to have wonderful friends in Charlottesville who let us stay with them.  So, we prepped for the weekend menu, packed the food truck, and SECURED everything.  (Lesson learned!)  We drove to Charlottesville over a mountain in separate cars.  I was in my truck pulling the trailer, and Leigh Anne was in her car following.  Travelling Friday involved seriously high winds.  The faster I went, the more the trailer swayed.  So, we couldn’t be in a hurry.  Interstate 64 crosses Afton Mountain and displayed signs saying  “High Winds Next 10 Miles, Slow Down.”  When we got to the venue, Leigh Anne came up to me and said, “That trailer was swaying back and forth like a hula girl!”  We parked the truck and trailer, got into her car, went to our friend’s house, had wine and food, and we collapsed.  Such was Friday.

Saturday actually went very well.  The high winds continued.  We worked with the windows and doors to see what we could open and what we could not open because we didn’t want stuff blowing around in the trailer.  At one point, our tip box blew right off the shelf, hit the parking lot pavement, broke into pieces, and money started flying!  Very nice people helped to recover most of it.  But, I’m sure someone was excited to find a dollar or two under their cars.  All that aside, we had a really good day of sales.  We went back to our friend’s house, took a quick breath, and went out to dinner at a fabulous restaurant called South and Central.   https://www.southandcentralgrill.com/menus  After some wine on our friend’s patio, we collapsed…again.

Sunday the winds FINALLY diminished.  It was another great day at the quilt show.  The wonderful woman who was responsible for us being there let us in before the general public to see the quilts.  As most of you know, Leigh Anne and I both make quilts…well, Leigh Anne has been doing this for a long time and is very good.  She taught me a few years ago, and now I can thread the sewing machine all by myself!  Just kidding…I can now make some quilts, too.  So, it was another good day of sales and now it was time to go home.  We packed up the food, SECURED everything, and started our way home.  I did mention a mountain, didn’t I?  It seemed that my 2015 Ford Expedition got a little tired of being a sherpa for the trailer.  As we started up the first incline, I got a message on the dash, in bright red, “Pull Over, Coolant Overheating!”  Uh…ok.  A rest area was just ahead, thankfully.  I obediently pulled in and Leigh Anne followed.  After a few minutes of deep breathing exercises, I got out and told Leigh Anne what was happening.  After letting things cool for a little while, I checked the coolant levels.  It was fine.  So, we decided to give it another go.  This time, I watched the temperature gauge like a hawk, as well as the RPM’s.  The more RPM’s, the more heat.  I felt like an 18-wheeler driver getting up that mountain.  I needed to stop one more time before reaching the top.  But, once there…” it’s all downhill from here!”  We took our time the rest of the way and got back to Harrisonburg safely.  We were able to get parked and got home without further incident. 

Monday was a big planning day.  We have a LOT going on this week, and there are different menus going out all over the place.  We managed to get almost everything planned out.  Tuesday was a rather large shopping day.  Then we put together our first tasting!  We had never done one of these before, so we were nervous.  But, it went very well. Then, we got a phone call from a neighbor that her husband had passed away and she wanted to know if we could cater a small reception at her house next week.  Of course we will. Wednesday morning, we set up biscuits and coffee for the Virginia Quilt Museum as part of a fundraising effort for them.  We worked the truck as normal.  Then we met with the neighbor about what foods she might like.  Today would seem to be the most ‘normal’ day we’ve had for a while…except for the days to come. 

Friday, we will be in Mount Crawford to feed a builder’s association 55 boxed lunches.  Saturday, we will be at Brothers Craft Brewing for their Cigar and Barley Wine Festival.  Sunday, we will be at the Alpine Goat Brewery in Weyers Cave.  And Monday will be the reception for our neighbor.  Tuesday will be a prep day.  Wednesday will be a busy day at Melrose Caverns serving a few hundred people who are part of a statewide garden club.  Thursday and Friday are regular truck days.  Saturday we will be back at Brothers Craft Brewing for another event.  Such is April.  And May is filling up fast.  I knew having a food truck would be seasonal.  I did NOT know how extreme that would be. 

I had a few people ask me today, “Do you remember what it was like to be retired?  Sitting on the porch enjoying wine?  Watching the sunset?”  Yes.  Yes, I do.  Maybe we will get back to that one day.  Meanwhile, Ott Street Eats is starting to get a life of its own.  We are once again starting to get a little help.  As spring and summer progress, I hope we need lots of help, because there are people we miss having around! 

“Enough of all that dribble, teach us something!”  Ok.  Welcome to this week’s culinary tip.  I graduated with honors from Le Cordon Bleu. I worked for many years as a Chef.  And, with all of that, I am still learning!  This week’s tip is a brilliant shortcut that I had never heard before, but a friend turned me onto it last week…Easy Egg Salad!  We all know egg salad.  Take some eggs, boil the heck out of them. Remove the shells.  Cut them up into bite size pieces.  Add mayonnaise, etc. etc.  Not anymore!!  Take some fresh eggs, crack them open into a bowl.  Take a stick blender with a whisk attachment, or a good old-fashioned eggbeater and whisk them to a frothy consistency.  Cook them in a pan like you would an omelette to the point of just being cooked.  Remove them and put the eggs in a bowl.  Use a rubber spatula or spoon to break them up.  Add your mayo, seasonings, spices, and however else you like to flavor your egg salad with, and you are DONE!  Make egg salad easily and quickly!  This little trick certainly changed my paradigm of egg salad. 

I know that I usually spoil you readers with being able to see what we are serving the following week, before anyone else can see it.  I apologize.  Things have gotten so crazy, we have no idea what we are doing next week, yet.  We are just trying to get through the next few days with a little sanity left intact.  Again, we will be at Brothers Craft Brewing on Saturday from 12-7 serving special burgers and smoked pork belly sandwiches. And we will be at Alpine Goat Brewery on Sunday from 12-8 serving German/Austrian inspired cuisine!  We hope to see you somewhere this weekend.

Thank you, sincerely, for all the support.

Johnnymac