Friday, February 26, 2016

Peru 2016 - Annual Pancake Breakfast

On Saturday, February 13th 
(the coldest weekend of the winter so far) 
we held another of our famous pancake breakfasts at Calvin. 
This year it was the Peru 2016 group that was participating to raise funds for their Learning Opportunity.  

This time around, there are five members of John and Annette's family attending, and we always hold a Friday night prep time, so I figured, hey, why not have them do the prep time.  
I came out to get some pictures of them, and I'm sooooo glad I did. : )  



We prepare lots of fruit to make a fruit salad of sorts to either place on the pannekoek or on it's own.  


Ella being shown the ropes of peeling and cutting apples. 


Samantha cutting grapes and John oranges.  


Keep going Ella.  



Not the apple of your eye, for sure Samantha.  : ) 



Nice colour.  


Sooooo, they brought music along.  
And I was treated to a group sing a long to various songs.  


I should have gotten video of this, but I was to slow on the draw.  Shoot.  


They are a crazy family that's for sure. 
I saw how much John and Annette loved these songs too. 
NOT! : ) 


A crescendo of voices....


Ending...finally.   If John had more hair, he'd be pulling it out about now....now wait....maybe that's why he has no hair...bahahahahaha


...Now BACK TO WORK!!!  : ) 


Time to get to mixing the fruit together. 

Again, I love the colour.  


Tobie, what are you doing? 


Right...singing another song about a watermellon. 


Nice face...  : ) 


The finished product.  
It was truly a pleasure spending a couple of hours with this family.  
I enjoyed the bantering back and forth with Lucy.  
She thinks she won, but I did........  : )  

Up and at 'em.  
We all arrived at 6:30 a.m. to get things moving. 
And boy, was it COLD out.  - 30 something Celsius.  



Table set up time.  


And time to divide people into set up, kitchen, serving, and dishes crews.  


Taking shape.  


Miriam and Annette getting the donation envelops ready for the donatee's.  I think they did more talking than actual working.  : )   


Peter and John (don't confuse them with the disciples : ) ) ended up heading up the kitchen.  


Tables are set.  


Leah.....smile.  : ) 


Samantha making batter for the pannekoek.   It's a family secret recipe.  : )  


Peter and Lauren getting the fruit dishes ready.  


Leah doing the Blueberry pancake mix.  


Katrina and Ella getting the whipped cream ready. 
Lucy decided she didn't want to serve it this year, but did want to greet everyone as they arrived, so the trade off was that she had to teach Ella and Katrina how to make the whipped creame.  The passing of the torch.  : ) 


Samantha, where are all your helpers?  


Oh, there they are.  : )


Colin brought his camera along too.  



Colin and Andrea relaxing before the rush of people.  


Time to do a sample run to see if the griddles are hot enough.  Very important.  


Nice face Leah.  


Leah did an awesome job in making the blueberry pancakes.  


So did Peter.  : ) 
I, once again stayed OUT of the kitchen.  


Except to take pictures of John hard at work. 


New frying pans this year.  
We have a couple of these frying pans too. 
Nice to know we are using quality equipment.  


John test driving the pannekoek.  
Got to be PERFECT  : ) 


Almost time, eh Miriam and Colin.  


We worked Daniel too hard already.  : ) 


Oh, he woke up.  : ) 


Annette tending to Samantha's working wounds.  


Andrea ready for anything.  


Now Miriam is helping with Blueberry pancake preparations.  


And before we knew it it was 8 a.m. and our guests arrived...actually Steven and family arrived early.  


And they beat Nathan and Margaret this time.  : ) 




Soon more people began arriving. 
I was actually impressed because it was COLD out there. 
I guess John's pancakes are more powerful than the cold.  


Family table.  


Phil and Kevin.  Spouseless today.  : ) 


More of the family at the table. 
Next time we need a set of rectangle tables for them.  : ) 


Everyone settling in for the first 8 am shift.  


Hey Carmen and Hac.  Nice to see you out.  


The kitchen is humming....so much so there's no one making anything..........hmmmmmmm




Hey there Sid, Brenda and family.  


Each sitting usually has about 50 ish people.  
Noisy and happy. 
I love the atmosphere.  



Now, Thomas comes each year, and each year he hopes we will bring back those beloved breakfast sausages. 
Each year he's somewhat disappointed that we don't serve them.  : )  They do cost a good chunk of $$$ but I was in a giving spirit this time around and I made a set of sausages JUST for Thomas.  The look on his face was worth the $$  : )  He even shared.  : )  
I expect a tip from you next year Thomas.  : ) or you can just keep calling me by that wonderful title you use.  That's fine too.  : ) 


Ella serving the whipped creame.  Always a hit.  
On pancakes,  pannekoek OR in the coffee.  



Cheers to you too David.  


Megan, Wilma, and Amy awaiting the pannekoek.  


A shot of the early shift.  


It's always nice to see who comes out for this breakfast. 
Different people each time, and the faithful as well.  
A great day of fellowship and food and fundraising.  

Hmmmmm...maybe it was a wee bit too early for Peter to come to the breakfast this morning. 
WAKE UP!!!  : )
or maybe he's gargling his coffee...hmmmmm


Shift change time.  
Reset the tables.  


Some love to linger and linger in the first shift. : ) 
I leave them alone for as long as I can, and then have to politely them to either move to the benches and continue their conversations, or move on.  Right Annette  : ) 


Second shift.....Awe, Hannah came home for the weekend. 
Sister bonding time.  How sweet. 


Looks like 9:15 am, second shift, is a bit better for our more "mature" folk.  : ) 


Colin being a wonderful server.  


Hannah and friend brought their own water..
What...Ottawa water isn't up to snuff???  


Ella serving her sister whipped cream.  Hannah....you look.....rather privileged at the moment.  : ) 



Hey there Ed. 
One of our standard participants each year.  


Families intermingling.  







Hey Corbin. 
Cold enough for you outside? 


Mother and Daughter....
relaxing AGAIN!  : ) 


hmmmmm, time to clean up a bit I think. 


The kitchen is still humming. 


My fam..... with some people I don't think we know.

Session #2 group photo.  Another 50 ish people. 

Coffee is very important on mornings like this, as you can see.  


Young Adult table.  


Such expressive conversation.  :) 


We decided to put an aisle down the middle this time, and I think that worked well.  


Family with extended family.  
Hey Olivia......how's the food  : ) 


Samantha is in the kitchen pretty much all by herself AGAIN. 
What's with that!!!!  Way to show that good work ethic Samantha.  

Ella, no eating with the customers.  : ) 


Oh, it's only Cindy and family.  : ) 


Joycegina entering the dishes fray.  
She came at the tail end of things to help clean up. 
Good thing.  She was happy and ready to work....the others were tired.........


A well oiled system we learned from the Friendly Hands.  


Hannah...you going to help??? 
Didn't think so.  : ) 


Finally time for us to eat.
I actually forgot to get whipped cream. 
It was an early morning after all. 


John, Annette, and Tobie sampling their wears.  
It's always better when you cook it yourself....
so I hear.  : ) 


Andrea getting those dishes done.  


And now it's time to clean everything up. 



I usually just stand there and answer all the questions as to where everything needs to go.  


And we had great help in cleaning up. 
Thanks to all who did help.  
Things were done pretty quickly.  


Thanks again John for your work in the Kitchen. 
You too Peter...and yes....the rest of John's family..oh, and the rest of the Peru 2016 team. 
Thanks to all who came out and donated. 
We did our best year ever, raising just over $2,700.00 before expenses, and $2,350.00 after expenses. 
I thank you, and the team thanks you. 

Until next year....D.V.  


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