We're having a shindig at our place the last Friday of the month.
We're expecting about 55-60 people. It's to be an open house for her
department (academic, that is) and mine, along with several guests
from Dallas. D just informed me that the function she's accepted
responsibility for is traditionally a dinner.

Now I like cooking. I'm pretty good at it, in fact. But a dinner for
60 people is beyond anything I've ever attempted. So she suggested
having the event catered.

One option is a barbecue man over in Delta County name of Murray.
Murray quote: "You get into barbecue, you get good, or you get out."
He's well regarded hereabouts for his catering. I've had his
barbecue, and it's quite good.

Another option is Zack, a man we know who ran a small truck stop out
by the interstate till recently. He's looking to move on and recently
interviewed with a hotel in Puerto Rico. But he's still here so far.
He does catering and is also well regarded by people whose taste I
respect. I know him better than I know Murray and like him. He's the
one who gave me advice before last spring's chili cook off where I got
whupped. That I was whupped so badly is no reflection on him. I
liked his cooking at the truck stop. He's Cajun, by the way, and has
been in food service and cooking professionally all his adult life.

The last option is that I cook it. I've been eyeing a new smoker pit
at a welding shop over by the county seat. It's a big un. I have a
brisket in the freezer and the market here in Cow Hill has them on
sale right now. With the new pit (ca. $350) I could smoke a couple of
briskets, a chicken or two, and some veggies (eggplant, e.g.) for them
as don't eat meat. I could make salads -- fruit, green, marinated
grilled veg -- and rice, bread, and taters.

Now what should I do? Cook or hire a cook? I'm asking for advice,
but in the end, I'll make my decision and I'll die by it.


modom

"Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes."
-- Jimmie Dale Gilmore