Survived, barely. I haven't even been close enough to the pool to get wet from splashes, had no time to read, draw or lucet. Of course I could have taken some breaks but next to cooking there was a lot of cleaning/tidying to do (which I can't ignore) so now my feet are complaining and I'm not going to sports tonight.

It was quite an experience, though I don't know if I'd do it again. The kitchen was really good with enough pans, sieves, large cooking isle, great dish washer and trolleys for transporting the food. I don't think I would've been a happy camper with any less than this.

It all started on Friday afternoon. We planned on leaving at 13:30 but of course some last minute printing made it 14:00. No sweat, we had enough time (though I already started fretting about the groceries and all the pancakes) and arrived somewhere around 16:00 in the middle of nowhere in Friesland.

We were called while on our way that Sna had a flat tire and would be later. Unfortunately Laurens was also in that car. Laurens would be the second cook and coordinator of the kitchen and he would be late. Even later when the spare tire turned out to be flat too.

I asked Nokey to help me do the grocery shopping, since he would be cooking for the vegetarians on Saturday and needed some supplies for that. Together we went to the supermarket where we spent about 2 hours getting only the stuff for Fridaynight and Saturday morning. Fortunately a helpful manager personally packed all our groceries into banana boxes so that we could tetris it all into the car easily. (I love my car!)

We had only been back 10 minutes when Laurens arrived and we quickly went into the kitchen to get to work. Later than planned of course. E voila, first problem arises. I had not gotten everything that was needed. There was no butter on the shopping-list, I forgot all of the ingredients for snacks (didn't look further on my list than Friday dinner) etc. Fortunately Peter and Jo were nice enough to drive to the supermarket for us to get the remaining stuff while we started cooking.

Working strategy: unpack what is needed for dinner, put everything else somewhere in a corner to unpack later and get to work. I did most of the baking, some people helped cutting paprika, onions and mushrooms and Laurens took care of the appetizer (soup with baked bread) and the heating of the prepared pancakes in the oven. I was really really glad I'd made those 40 pancakes on Thursday.

Lots of dishes of course (thank heavens for the dish washer), and the occasional person popping in for some of the last pancakes or a soda/beer. Vampires don't eat, so there could be no more food in the 'field'. We unpacked the rest of the groceries and prepared a food-trolley in the hallway for people to get some refreshments.

We (mostly Laurens) made some fresh midnight snacks (chocolate cake) and prepared a breakfast trolley. Went to bed at 06:30 because the room I slept in was also the 'spelkot' and in use.

Saturday saw another run to the supermarket in the afternoon. However, we had prepared a decent list this time, grouped by category and that worked so much better. At dinner we concluded that we had not made enough potatoes to accompany the stew, so we threw in some bread. Which meant two things: we had probably not bought enough potatoes for the Sunday ('stampot') either and bread was going faster than planned. It was 20:15 and most supermarkets were already closed. Matthijs looked up a supermarket that was still open (30 minute drive to Assen) and I jumped into the car and drove all the way to there (the navigation system telling me that it was in an unreachable area... nice) and had 8 minutes left to do the shopping.

That got my stress level up allright. Had a small nervous breakdown in 'my' bedroom and then went back to the kitchen to pick up work again. I made salt-pepper sticks from puff pastry and we did some more salty snacks and some more cake. It was all received very well.

Sunday 'stampot' with for desert ice and (freshly!) whipped cream. Way too much 'stampot'.... Then a plan to get as much foods and drinks consumed so that we would not have as much stuff to take back with us. It really helps when you expose people to the food and drink (instead of having it in the fridge) and occasionally even bring it to them. Went to bed 'early' (02:00).

Monday morning breakfast and then cleaning everything up and leaving. Matthijs and I went to Terherne to scout a possible location for Exodus but that one is not going to be it. Too far away, not enough space and soon non-exclusive. Tonight some improvised macaroni dinner and an early night, tomorrow evaluation.