multiplication of the loaves and fishes

Now that I have clarified for you all that this is Not a Food Blog, I am going to talk about food for a bit.  I'm going to talk a lot about food.  About a lot of food.  Food for the masses.  Every year for the last quite a few years, ourselves and several other families go on a Catholic Homeschooler's Camping Trip.  It resembles camping little, apart from the fact that we sleep in the out of doors.  Or RV's or tent trailers, but not in our homes.  We don't sleep in our homes in our cozy beds.  We do not sleep in hotel rooms.  We sleep in tents, RV's and tent trailers, just like real camping.

At this point, we depart from anything that looks like real camping.  We eat real and tasty food, prepared by Costco or other hired help.  We drink only excellent french press coffee, made fresh every 15 minutes or so from 6 am until noon.  We sit around in our pajamas with our friends with our children of all ages talking and playing with us and around us in the morning and talk theology over good coffee.  We sit around with our children and friends in the evening and have glasses of wine and play scrabble or charades.

We (not me but most of the other we) run around all day playing silly outdoor games such as Capture the Flag and other games which cause injuries.  And sometimes we play Bocce, even me.  Well.  I did once. 

So, a few years ago, when our family, along with some other mammals decided we would take over the organization of camp on the retirement of the original camp planner,  I had a Great Idea.

It is sometimes hard to have Great Ideas a lot of the time.  Because, if one wants to see Great Ideas come to fruition, one must be willing to do a lot of work.  So, the Great Idea.  I thought that hiring a cook for our family camp, instead of everyone making their own meals would make camp run smoother, would allow us moms a bit more of a break, and give us more time at camp for fun and socializing.

So, upon the presentation of the Great Idea, I had to be willing to do the planning.  So, four years into the Great Idea, I am planning again this year food, three times a day, for one week for 75-95 people daily.  It's fun.  Actually.  You just take my family, 9 people of varying sizes, and multiply it by nine or ten. And then you work out how much money you have to spend on food a variety of ways, including a per person cost, a per family cost, a per day  for 80 people cost, a per meal for 80 people cost, and any other way you can think of and then you pray to the Holy Spirit (a lot)  and it all works out.