Day two of "training" for catering the Academy Awards with Wolfgang Puck. It's actually "work," but I'm learning a lot about how such a major operation works. Not everything, certainly, but I'm getting a taste of how things are organized.

Yesterday (Catering the Academy Award's Governors Ball with Wolfgang Puck - March 1st), we students worked on a number of dishes that will actually be served at the Governors Ball. Today was very different. We mostly worked on dishes that would be served to security, production, press and others who provide services for this major event.

Catering the Oscars isn't all glamorous caviar and black truffles, you see. All those security guards, lighting technicians and others have to be fed as well. That's what we worked on today.

I started with the sandwich team: producing 655 sandwiches (mostly tuna and turkey, with a smattering of roast beef). This was assembly line work at its most basic. Slice all the bread, slice the tomatoes, stack it all on various trays. Next, lay out all the bottom slices of bread (we were working with Ciabatta, mostly). Put a small amount of greens on each slice. Next, the tuna (or turkey or roast beef). Top with two slices of tomato and the tuna is done. The turkey and roast beef, however, also get a slice of cheese. Slap on the top slice of bread and the sandwich is done. These tasks were divided, with each person dealing with one ingredient at a time. For example, I would follow those adding the tuna with a container of tomato slices, adding two slices as soon as the tuna was down.

Making the sandwiches was pretty darn quick, actually. The slowest part of the process was wrapping each sandwich in plastic wrap. Here we were taught a technique to wrap several sandwiches at once by laying out a long length of plastic wrap on a table, putting down sandwiches spaced several inches apart and then covering them all with another length of plastic wrap. Cut the plastic between each sandwich and wrap.

Once all the sandwiches were wrapped, it was time to assemble the box lunches (macaroni salad, sandwich, candy bar, apple, chips, condiments and utensil pack). I missed out on most of this, however, as I got pulled off sandwiches to work on lasagna, again for staff and crew.

I rather liked working on the lasagnas, as they weren't nearly as assembly line. Each lasagna has to be assembled by an individual. So, tomato sauce (don't want the pasta to stick to the bottom of the hotel pan), pasta, sauce, ricotta cheese, grilled bellpepper, grated cheese, pasta, sauce, ricotta cheese, grilled bellpepper, grated cheese, pasta, sauce, ricotta cheese, grilled bellpepper, grated cheese, pasta, sauce, ricotta cheese, NO bellpepper, grated cheese, plastic wrap, foil wrap and done. We had to make thirty.

It was also satisfying to know that the food I was making was for staff and crew. They deserve to eat well too. It may not be glamorous, but I wanted to make sure that my production was quality. Who wants to work a long, hard day and then get a poorly sauced lasagna?

I look forward to Sunday, though it is going to be a very long day (4pm - past midnight), with class just a few hours later.