Getting Ready - Nuno Felt Retreat on Whidbey Island

Groceries for the Retreat (yes there are 14 bottles of wine!). Let the cooking begin!

A few tips when preparing large quantities of food for large groups of people:
1) list out everything you need to make and when best to make it to avoid missing things (like the toasted pumpkin seeds that go into Sunday's kale salad)
2) make all of the dressings, marinades and sauces ahead, at a time when you can fully concentrate (I'm best in the morning) and label them with details (like marinade for black bean cous cous, make thurs for Saturday dinner). I even mix dry components in a bag and wet components in a jar for baked goods to be mixed together and baked right before people arrive.
4) soups are great for making ahead and popping into the freezer
5) once all the heavy duty measuring (above) is done, crank up the music and chop, slice and mince
6) keep work area tidy to avoid overwhelm (I'm not always great at this).
Right here I'm making mushroom stock that I will use to create a Bresse Mushroom soup tomorrow then reheat to serve on Friday. Spicy Red Lentil soup is simmering on the other burner.

Someone's ready to start Nuno Felting!