On Tour with Blue Stars (aka where we were all summer)

This post has been long overdue. I explained awhile ago in some detail what drum corps is and about the Blue Stars in general. If you missed that one check this out to get some background info. 

Clear as mud now? Excellent. 

So I ended up spending about 20 days on tour!!!! There was one point where I had been away 16 out of 20 days in June-early July. And here's the thing--some people (like our lovely admin staff and head cook) didn't take ANY days off this summer. I cannot imagine. 

So here's a crash course on what it's like to be on tour. It's exhausting. Emotionally draining. Hard, hard work. Fun. Rewarding. Life-changing. The people you meet and friends you make and sense of satisfaction you have from knowing you helped the corps get down the road and these kids' summers become a success is irreplaceable. I'll be the first to admit it was hard to get back to the corps for finals week. I had been settled in at home for about a month and I was not as eager as before to get back to work. But it ended up being a great end to the season. 

First, the summer went SO FAST. I thought our anniversary was yesterday, and now it's the middle of August. (Side note, I'll share the hilarious story of how we spent our anniversary in a separate post.)

So, I spent my time working on the food truck. Here it is, in all its glory: 

It's in the back of a semi!!!

One side has doors that open. Screens on the top. Shelves on the bottom so we can slide food out to servers at a normal height and don't have to carry all the food around the truck. 

And the inside! It's pretty creative how these things are constructed. There would be 4-6 of us working on here at a time. You get to know your cook crew very well--mostly because you're standing within 2 feet of them for 12 hours. And when you're not standing next to them you're bumping into them and rubbing up against them to get to another part of the truck! 

One side is 3 huge stainless steel sinks and cabinets above that hold all the spices, vegetarian special food and gluten-free food. 

The other side is a long stainless steel counter that we chop on. Here we were making broccoli that was steamed and mixed with sauteed shallots, garlic, lemon juice and basil. Delicious!

There is also: 

An 8-burner gas stove (the oven under it is broken but technically there) and a huge convection oven (My best friend. That thing is killer!!)

We have a "regular" fridge, industrial fridge and industrial freezer (industrials seen on left and right below):

Dry storage is in the back. 

More dry storage and a washer and dryer on the other end of the truck.

Being the Blue Star Diner and all, we had lots of blue stars to decorate!

And there you have it! 4-6 of us cranked out 4 meals a day for 200 people and did a damn good job of it. It was just amazing cooking with so many hard workers and our fearless leader Bob. I'll have to do a separate post about how one actually LIVES while on tour. It's an experience! 


Go here for part 2.