The Alumni Studio Italia meal

Planning an opening party – the food that is… gone, gone, gone!

by Nancy Brandsma

Last year I volunteered to take care of the opening party for our class show called Re-inventio at La Nouvelle Scène with Yves. We expected 150 people but we received 300 guests! It was stressful and to be honest I never though I would do this kind of work again. The good thing is that it went so well that in September 2010, when Yves decided to plan another similar event with his alumni Studio Italia participants, he gave me a call. This time he asked me if he could hire me to do the job, but that this time I needed to be ready for 600 people! I said yes, I know – I am crazy! Basing myself on the last show, I moved ahead and started planning for Kangaroos, Beavers and Gorgonzola!

Seven trips later totaling 200 kilometers, 5 different stores, 2 special orders, $1000, 20 e-mails, and 30 phone calls, my car was full, my dining room was full, my fridge and both my freezers were full. I felt my energy level lowering. The day of the event it took me and my sister Jenny over 1 hour to load and unload the car in the pouring rain. We got to work right away and so did the guest, eating and eating so much so that we just could not keep up. At least we had guests, 400 of them and as far as I can understand no one left hungry. When everyone was gone and the kitchen was cleaned up, my sister and I took some time to look at all the wonderful art work while sipping our glass of red wine given to us on the house by our friendly bartenders. We could finally breathe.