Fire & Ice at Old Poway Park

We got our tent in place into a what I felt was a good spot on the end.  Our booth was right by the restrooms of the Heritage Museum at Old Poway Park.  There were probably close to fifty tents out there, peddling other hot foods, drinks, crafts & merch for the holiday season.  

It was Poway Christmas in the Park, a couple Saturdays before Christmas but, like the Poway farmers market, it drew hoards of people.  Kate & I came in with a renewed attitude after the wildfire cancellations & & had plenty of buttered Sourdough to go through.

If only I could get the grill lit.  We had a little bit of extra time before the start of the event, but the either  one of the burners or the lighter weren't cooperating.  

"Hi there, is this Mad Munch?" a woman with a clip board asked.  Kate acknowledged her & said that we were.  "I'm with the health department & I'm here to inspect your booth."

Just great, I thought.  The timing couldn't have been better.  

She looked around, marked some things down with a pen & then went for the cooler.  Now, we spend most of our time at home emptying the ice machine when it's full & stashing the frozen cubes in our deep freezer.  But, there's never enough ice for the health department.  They want you cheeses & meats to be buried with ice.  

"Your cooler here is at 47 degrees, you need to be below 41.  Is there away you can get more ice?" she asked.

"Sure," Kate said.  She knew I was in a bind with the grill, so she left to track down some ice.  Add more to our overhead costs for the day.  It was either that or the health department lady could shut us down with zero in sales. 

Kate was back in no time with two bags.  That seemed to please the health department lady & she handed us our yellow copy of the report.  We passed.

"Where the hell you get ice so fast?" I asked when the lady was out of ear shot.

"Doggo's Gus over there," Kate pointed.  "Said he had extra."

Kate had told Gus about this event.  I don't remember how we found out about it, but Kate shared the info with some of the other vendors we knew from OB, Sony & Scripps Ranch.  Vendors helping vendors.

His nice gesture seemed to give me good luck.  I was able to get the flame going & keep it steady by twisting one of the manifold burners just a quarter inch.  It had warped over time & needed to be replaced, but that would be a chore for another day.

Once the sun went down the event started to take off.  Families & strollers were everywhere.  We had a line & about a 45 minute wait for Cheezers that continued for over an hour.  I had to relight the grill a handful of times but we made it work.  

That big pile of Sourdough had dwindled to only about 4 or 5 sandwiches by the end.  It was a great event for us & we would return the following year.

Kate & I were pretty beat by the time we pulled the Escape out of there.  When we got back home I checked my phone & saw a message from my mom:

I talked with your Dad & sorry but we won't be able to loan you the money to buildout the shop.  It's just too much money.  

Kate & I would have to borrow money from somewhere else.