Day 7/8 - 28Dec - Sick as a parrot

Today it's a full stocktake of the larder to see what fresh food we have left for the last lunches and dinners before we close on Monday morning with a final hot breakfast for our guests and they return to the streets of London.

Waiting in our larder are spuds (6 crates), parsnips 40kg, Aubergine 30kg, Cabbage whites 30kg, onions x2 crates, butternut squash x74, broccoli half trays x15, old cauli x10, a tray of carrots, white Mushrooms x 5 trays, Vine tomatoes x70, Lettuce Romana x20,  fennel x2boxes, celeriac x5 large and so on ....

Our kitchen has a 40 gallon "tilting braising Bratt" pan that makes light work of braising or frying, Jules has been driving it hard this week turning out his signature stews.

Chef is back from secondment, today it's two tajines, meat or veg, with spicing that let's us use a variety of remaining vegetables, fresh or tinned. There is still a lot of Harrod's purple broccoli waiting to be used, so that's for a fine chop  for both tajines, looking at the boxes I see they are from Egypt which is near enough.

Ultimately any unused food within sell-by dates are donated to charities that run street kitchens or food-banks. The local council has a food recycling policy for remaining food that is unfit for human consumption.

Part of the tradition of Crisis at Christmas is to stage an international set of football matches between the various centres that can muster a team and taken to Arsenal F.C. who host these games inside their amazing stadium.

The Gate is the only centre specialising in addiction so we go into the tournament with a natural handicap, neatly summed up by first time volunteer and let's face it our unlucky new football manager, Matt.

In this post-match report he wrote "Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone. It's our Christmas as well and I had a great time spending it with you all.  This year was challenging as I haven't been with The Gate before but I'll be back next year to make sure we win at least one game of football I even got a certificate for my manager video”

Our goalie concedes he might not have been the best man for the job but he thoroughly enjoyed wearing his Man U hoody and chanting Man U songs whilst getting a tour of the Arsenal stadium, after the game he was seen celebrating an excellent day out with a few more cans!

Whilst this match was taking place at Arsenal a large choir visited The Gate and filled the large dining area with uplifting music, at one point inciting everyone to join in and raise the roof with their Village People YMCA chorus.  

Some shifts and kitchen teams are perfect and this was one of them, and makes me smile and get teary just thinking about it.

I had put my workstation with board and knives on a trolley so I could work at the serving hatch and enjoy the full uplifting force of the choir.

Later on in the evening a lone guitarist sang familiar christmas songs and modern tunes entirely in Spanish often finishing with a mandatory "¡Olé!". It's that strange experience when you know all the words but then you don't at the same time.

It was fun to be at The G.A.T.E. today.

Regards, Paul
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NB: These diary entries are written as a thank-you to everyone who has donated to Crisis At Christmas, would still like to, or just curious to know what happens behind the scenes.

I write this diary to let you know how we spend your money and to encourage you to keep supporting Crisis At Christmas as it depends upon your donations or volunteering to fund the huge Christmas operation and subsequent year round service.