The Knishening is (was) Tomorrow

Hoo boy. Edie is a little feverish, B is a little pregnant, I woke up with not enough sleep and the final day of knishing ahead of me.

AM SNACK: 7:15am, diet coke

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That's all I wrote, in the morning. I don't quite remember what I ate the rest of the day, except it involved a 2 liter bottle of diet coke fueling me. I baked 166 potato knishes while juggling other things, like a phone call from Edie's school saying she was 102 degrees and needed to be picked up. I picked her up, she was in a good mood, and Betsy was able to cut her day short and meet me when we got back so I could go back to the knishes.

The last round of knishes, the last round of the day, the last round of the week, the last round before setting up shop tomorrow, was in the oven when I sat down to check my email. I heard the weather was going to be iffy so I thought to email the fair organizers to see if they have any arrangements with food banks or charities in case I have a lot left over. There was an email from the organizers cancelling the event, due to predictions of rain, wind, snow and freezing, sleety weather.

I first called Betsy to tell her the news, who was at the pediatrician with E (E is fine, but better safe than sorry.) Then I stood by my living room window and stared out the window for a solid 10 minutes, wearing nothing but floury boxer shorts, hands knitted in a ball behind my back. What does one do with 500 knishes and no place to sell them? My permit to sell is temporary, limited to one day in one place, any other day in any other place requires a new permit, not to mention publicity, time and a host of other arrangements. Being that I've been working from a home kitchen, I've been banking knishes -- after the weekend, they will seriously start to lose quality. They gotta move, and they gotta move this weekend. An email to the fair organizers brought back no suggestions.

Sunday is better weather. So Sunday it has to be. Where? I live next to two green spaces. I send an email to my coop board and the organizer of a group that cares for the public park next door. In a few hours, I get permission to distribute and ask for donations from my backyard, but to be discrete about the money thing. I quickly update my blog, my facebook, create a facebook event, get in contact with the media that has been friendly to me the past month to spread the word. I'll be hosting the equivalent of an adult lemon aide stand on Sunday. Who said giving birth to a business would be easy?

Sitting around, mind racing in the evening. For all is said and done, with the refund of the cost of the table, the money I'm in for is not that much in the scheme of things, even if I don't make dollar 1 this time around. But this was a one shot deal --- I can not put my household and family through an entire week of full time production for such a meager yield -- I should be able to pop out 500 pieces in 1 eight hour run in a properly scaled industrial kitchen, not 5 twelve hour runs where my family has to crawl around a grumpy knish maker, and a fridge that is barren of everything but the bare essentials to get through the week.

Contemplating the next move, gonna give it some thought while enjoying this baby coming up. Which could be any day now.