China GP Training Weekend
On the weekend of March 11-13th, The Central field China Global Partnership met for the first time as a team for a weekend of teaching and training. My friend Dave, IV Staff at OCAD and U of T St. George, is directing this Global Partnership and the meeting was hosted in the home of an IV ISM Staff.
I was talking to Dave as he was preparing for the weekend, and found out he was stressed out about figuring out meals for 17 people. Since cooking for large numbers of people is something I’ve done a number of times and enjoyed; I offered to help with the meals to free Dave up to focus on the teaching time.
It worked best for me to come and cook lunch and dinner on Saturday, as Friday would be a simpler meal time, and Sunday would be leftovers. I asked Dave if he wanted any Chinese meals during the Saturday, and he asked for dinner to be a Chinese meal, but said lunch could be a simpler more generic meal.
It was here, that my ambition kicked in. I decided to undertake making a Chicken Fried Rice for lunch (which I thought would be easy) and then a 6 course Chinese Feast for dinner. I also chose a bunch of recipes I hadn;t tried before and wouldn’t have time to test before Saturday. I made the list of ingredients for Dave to buy, and came early on Saturday to make the meals.
I’d never been in the house where the meeting was held, so I didn’t know that there weren’t many barriers between the kitchen and the space the team was meeting. I also didn’t know there was a gas stove (until this point, I’d never cooked on a gas stove). I found out about these factors immediately, and had to make some modifications about how I’d be in cooking in this space (mostly, i couldn’t have background music playing, and couldn’t verbally freak out if something went wrong). I also had to learn to use a gas stove. Despite these initial hiccups, the rest of the meal preparation went well. It was good to be close to where the team was, as I overheard their scripture study led by IV York KCF Staff, Dan.
I managed to finish lunch relatively on time. And the students thoroughly enjoyed it! There were no leftovers! However, I was running behind on my meal preparation for dinner. So, I called my friend Amber, who I had plans with later that evening to ask for help. Amber is one of my best friends from Ryerson and one of my go-to cooking friends. She came over and helped me with my ambitious dinner preparation.
Together we made:
– Sauteed Beef with Snap Peas
– Vegetable Stir Fry
– Pork Wontons
– And the filling for spring rolls (we ran out of time to make them)
– Egg Tarts for Dessert
I was worried that Amber would be upset about getting enlisted in my ambitious meal preparation, but she had a great time and was excited to learn how to make all these dishes!
We finished all the components of the meal, and served dinner at 6:30. We stayed to clean up and left around 7:30 pm. It wasn’t until we were heading to a movie theatre that I realized that I’d done a full 8 hours of cooking!
I really enjoyed cooking the meals, but my favourite parts of the day were the times when I was able to meet and chat with the students on the China GP team. I was excited to hear about their excitement and fears about going to China. I also had a few moments of getting to spend time with the staff on the GP team, it was fun to partner with them this way!
The Arch 