Don’t Confuse Your Love Language With My Love Language

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz

I’ve never been shy about sharing that my husband is a kind and generous soul, but he might just get carried away at times. Especially when those times involve me.

Five months ago one of our lovely young employees became engaged. She’s a great person that goes above and beyond, so when she asked Coach to make some food for her wedding reception he said YES. I’ve blogged about his love for smoking meat and feeding a crowd before; it’s his love language.

{vegetarians look away!}

A random smoking event in our driveway from 2020; feeding the masses

He told me a month ago that He was going to cater the entire affair.

A few weeks later I asked some questions, you know, details, because the event was getting closer.

Me: How many people for Brooke’s reception? 30? 40?

Coach: Well it was 50, then 80 and now 120.

My eyeballs popped out of my head wondering who was going to help with this not-so-little shindig.

ME. It was to be me.

He had also enlisted our dear friends TW (who loves to cook), and his wife Mo.

FOUR non-caterers, catering.

The Coach and the bride put together a menu including three proteins, two salads, two vegetables, a starch, bread, iced tea, infused water and of course appetizers for the cocktail hour. (they did have a bar with a bartender that wasn’t one of us)

We shopped (& shopped) the two days prior. I would look at the receipts and think: I could have easily HIRED a caterer for the amount of money we spent and then I could have been a Guest. What a novelty.

Coach and I did prep work on Friday night and again Saturday morning, then we all met up at the venue at 2pm.

Note the cute bridesmaid in the burgundy dress sampling some food; she might share DNA with the caterers. 😉😜

I’m not really complaining because The Coach did the brunt of the work, but we all worked our biscuits off. Mo and I made 175 caprese skewers, we set up the chaffing dishes, tea and water, bread station and apps. (see my signs? I’m a PRO)

Mo and I ran all the food in and out and left the men in the kitchen, where they belong.

I wanted to take a photo of the buffet line, but by the time I had it all set up guests were showing up (rude) and I didn’t want to look unprofessional by taking pictures of my own work.

Ya’ll, we ain’t caterers, but we pulled it off beautifully. People raved. Our yelp page was on fire. 😳

I was personally asked at least six times what the name of our catering company was and I’m so mad I didn’t think of something sassy ahead of time. Like You Can’t Afford Us Catering. Or We Cook and Bitch. (only Mo and I were bitching; that’s our love language)

We arrived home at almost midnight and our feet were killing us.

Here’s the worst part. They only had 85 people show up, which is still A LOT. But it could have been much less food purchased and prepped.

We’re booked through December 2023.

One of our appetizers was Sausage Melts with Pico, but it was a version of Shit On A Shingle. Growing up we also referred to this as Pelican Turds. Have you had either?

I wanted to write one of the Inappropriate names on the little chalkboards but Coach poo-poo’ed my idea. Wait until he reads MY Yelp review.

XOXO

29 thoughts on “Don’t Confuse Your Love Language With My Love Language”

  4. lyndawh

    Your family is amazing! I was admiring those signs before I knew you created them. Once again, you all pour Lots of Love into others – – – making beautiful memories for everyone. The good news is you were healthy that weekend! Flu Type A is making the rounds in our area. It is hitting even those vaccinated.
    I used to enjoy cooking for lots of family – – but not anymore. I will do it for my kids and grands for a couple of holidays and that is it. However I do cook nutritious stuff for my husband and me daily.
    Our “shingle” topper was creamed tuna and green peas. We didn’t hate it but I never want it to eat it again given a choice.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I didn’t know about the Flu going around. Yikes! Yes, we are fortunate to have all been healthy that weekend, and knock on wood, a week later, we are all still feeling well.

      I feel like it’s a lot of pressure feeding a crowd, but it must be done on occasion. Fortunately, the Coach loves it and never stressed about it while I’m waking up in the middle of the night worried about what to make. I will admit, that I’m much better now than I used to be. Thank goodness.

      Tuna and green peas. Hmm….so like tuna salad? I don’t know that I’d hate that for lunch, or a snack. I’m not a big ‘pea’ fan, but when it’s mixed with tuna you hardly taste them.

      Like

      Reply
      1. lyndawh

        Actually Creamed Tuna – – – like a milk sauce that has been thickened – – not as thick as gravy. You add the tuna and the English peas. It is eaten as a soup or poured over toast. It wasn’t bad that I recall but we had it too often because it was economical with four kids.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  5. Holy moly, you guys went above and beyond! I’ve only hired caterers once for an event but trying to hammer down firm attendance numbers can be a real nightmare. Still, 120 invitees versus 80 attendees is a HUGE discrepancy. That’s too bad.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Where do I apply to work for Coach? Those are some seriously amazing perks. The perks I get at my job are cute pics in my phone and loads of snuggles.

    You are amazing. Goodness. This was a ton of work. Bummer the numbers weren’t more accurate. Love your signs and the sassy names for things killed me. I never heard of shit on a shingle. The only creative nickname for something edible in my childhood was ‘bug juice.’

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Bijoux

    Fellow Ohioan with Bean above . . . Our ‘SoS’ food was creamed chipped beef on toast, which is absolutely delicious. I cannot believe you guys pulled that off. Early in your post, I was thinking, yeah, my husband likes to smoke meat, too. Then, I saw your smoker! LOL! As far as costs, I’ve often thought I could just use a caterer for the amount I’ve spent on parties!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The last few years (prior to covid) we started using a local caterer for our Christmas cocktail party; so nice to have people set up, serve and CLEAN UP.

      Like

      Reply

    1. I like the way you think: Busy Bee Catering.
      But no. That’s too much hard work for me at this point in my life. I’d prefer to be Catered To than To Cater. 😜
      Talk to the Coach about smoking meat, he’s a pro. To Quote Sgt. Shultz: “I know nothing.”

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. Wow! Hats off to you for pulling off such a successful catering job. The little signs you made are works of art and very professional looking. My son loves smoking meat, too, for large family gatherings. Not anywhere near as many guests as at your wedding reception, though. Well done!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. I get worked up just cooking for my own extended family, so this would have put me under completely. Wow! And the food sounded awesome. What a generous gift.

    What happens now when other employees want the same deal?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  14. Melanie Galliano

    Wow, that’s awesome!! The menu sounds fabulous also. I know it was a ton of hard work. There is a general percentage the catering/party planning people use that is usually spot on for no shows. 20% I think it is…?? We used to have biggg 4th of July parties and it was usually right!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  15. Pat Birnie

    Wow – just wow! I am so impressed. I’m comfortable cooking for 20, or even 40, but NOT 120! Of course my husband doesn’t cook so having Coach on the smoker would make a big difference. Well done! (I’m hosting a baby shower in a few weeks, going to look up caprese skewers”, but I think I’ll make somewhat less than 75!).

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s