North cove marina

5 of a crew of 9 have walked off the boat this morning. Yesterday I agreed to a dinner party for 30. Finally at 2pm I have a thousand bucks, the luxury of being driven and thehardest part of my job begins.


The eccentric investor has requested a few things but mostly the menu is left up to my discretion. I need to have appetizers ready for 8pm, serious time problems, green market in the rain no thanks. So Chelsea markets for all I can carry in one trip. In the fish store a fellow customer asks me how i am going to cook the 10 pound of striped bass I am buying and I have no idea. Umm.. dunno, simply...ur in butter... whats that called pan fried, damn i am sure chefs have a better term for that. Tuna belly for a tartar and scallops for cerviche, done fruit and veg time.
I remember my knives are in Chile and the boat only has spoons. What the hell am i going to make for dessert, gotta be quick easy, impressive and not need any equipment the galley lacks, no inspiration here and my basket are full.
In the rain on the curb of ninth ave my cellphone decides it doesn't want to make calls. Reformed smokers feel my anxiety. I have time to appreciate being an observer in the battlegrounds of the nyc cab wars.
Ok gotta start cooking, half an hour in the city's quietest whole foods and back to the boat before 430, now i receive a text requesting h&h bagels and deli sliced salmon. Sorry you have no idea do you! these rich people!!! A few curses later i have my meat and decide on the 10 egg, half kilo of butter choco cake recipe.
Stuck in traffic you can feel my distress as each precious minute of cerviche marinading time disappears. Although I need this time to try get some people to come serve the food that is going to be late and possibly my first complete disaster.
5pm on the boat with most of the essential elements to pull off a nyc dinner party. Now I am lost in a world i know, i have to cook faster than possible with no help, my method is present at times, dessert and apps first. All elements, ovens and heat sources are blazing. A sink full of dishes gets done for me, but by 730 i am on the verge of breaking. Getting servers is impossible so i have now enlisted my girlfriend to bring anyone, experience useful but just need anyone!!! The cakes are baking, the cerviche marinating and the pots of water boiling.
Company arrives just after 8, i still don't have the apps ready but having a green haired girl ready for silver service stewardessing metamorphoses my worries into some form of enjoyment. Dishes get washed, cherry tomatoes halved and i almost have a menu coming together as the first brave guests arrive. My appetizers go out, of course the ones i put the least effort into, have the least of and think are the worst are the most popular and my beautiful scallop cerviche becomes crew food.
The lollie pop lamb chop are bland, maybe because they saw a marinade for all of ten minutes but it is going. The difficult owner barks a few orders at the inexperienced servers with the biggest compliant being his drink got taken away before he finished. Note - wouldn't you have plenty of glasses when holding a dinner party? probably at least one per guest? yeah so you would think a multi million dollar boat. No not enough of anything, serving plates, cutlery, glasses sometimes even booze, nothing not enough of everything.
After main courses made their way to the buffet table, the specific dietary requirements are relayed to the kitchen. Perfect time, deep exhale "rich people". The kosher guest seem happy with the few vegan offerings available. I feel like it is time to ring, or somehow inform all my chef mates about this feat i just pulled off. We leave and drink tequila.