You might have noticed that I have not been posting any cooking for the shelter. I haven't cooked for them in over a month. This has been a tough decision for me.
After my ovens died along with my cooktop, I had to do some real thinking. It cost me a small fortune to replace my appliances not to mention the inconvenience.
I finally realized, that even with new appliances, I could not do restaurant type cooking with residential appliances. It does not matter that they are brand new, they can not handle the capacity of the cooking I was doing. In the same amount of time, I would destroy the new appliances as well. I did continue to cook for them after I replaced my ovens and cooktop, but it was not the same. I completely had to change what I was previously doing.
Also, having experienced the time off when I was waiting for everything to be replaced, I could not believe how I was enjoying not having so much to do.
The shopping alone took up every bit of extra time I had when I wasn't cooking for 60-100 men 3 times a week. I think I cooked myself out! It's been like having a full time job.
I also realized, I could do this endlessly. Hungry homeless men are not going away. The shelter does have a lot of cooks and volunteers, all I was providing was a better quality of food.
So, I am not saying I will never cook for the shelter again. I just won't do it the way I was doing it. And I just needed some time to reconnoiter and decide where to go from here.
I also threw myself into my gardens unlike I have in years. It is time to attend to things I had put on hold.
And I have a new huge project that I am throwing myself into which might just be the best thing I have ever been involved in. I will fill you in on that later.
I loved my time being involved with the shelter and I loved those guys. But maybe I can help out even more somewhere else.
