Sunday, September 4, 2011

COSTCO TAKES THE LABOR OUT OF YOUR LABOR DAY DINNER!

Last week my sister had a memorial golf tournament for her husband who died in December. Six of his buddies showed up to pay homage to Rusty's memory at a private local golf course. After the tournament they continued their celebration at my sister's home where she laid out a fine spread purchased mostly at Costco. Everyone raved about the delicious meal, and I, always looking for something to write about, decided that our Labor Day celebratory feast would come exclusively from Costco.

We are having our picnic on Sunday rather than Monday because some of the fourteen guests will be coming from Seattle, and this way they won't have to fight traffic or be up early for work the next day. We have a budget of $l00.00, as impossible as that sounds. This year we will also be entertaining two guests from Panama who love good food and are used to fine dining. They have live-in help including a cook who provides all meals. Will Costco measure up? Do they even have Costco there? Will the food tantalize their taste buds? I guess we'll find out tomorrow, but I have a sneaking hunch they will love this picnic. I know I will, because I've never been disappointed in the food at Costco, and the prep time will be non existent.

The meal will look something like this:

Appetizers:

$13.00 - Assorted cheeses and dips

$ 7.00 - Two kinds of crackers

Main Meal

$ 8.99 - Kirkland all natural meat lasagna (6 lbs.)

$8.99 - Birdseye garlic chicken (includes pasta, white chicken, broccoli, carrots, cor with garlic sauce - 3 lbs.)

$ 3.59 - Parisian salad mix with dressing

$ 4.49 - Sesame poppy rolls

$ 6.00 - Corn on the cob

$ 6.99 - Kerrygold tub of Irish butter for rolls and corn

Dessert

$ 9.99 - Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting

$ 9.99 Old fashioned lattice apple pie

Celebratory champagne

$ 6.99 Cook's Brut California - 2 liters

The above items total $86.02, and should be totally filling and satisfying; however, we plan to add ice cream and soft drinks which will bring the total to a little over $l00.00. Cook's champagne is fine for toasting, but our Panamanian friends have a wine cellar and very cultivated palates. In their honor I will bring out some fine wines I have been saving for a special occasion. Now I ask you, what could be more special than a splendid meal from Costco in the company of fourteen good friends and relatives, at a cost that many couples fork out just to go to a restaurant on a Saturday night?

We'll critique the meal tomorrow and let you know the results. If I can push myself away from the table I'll sit down at the computer and give you the low down in time for you to rush to your nearest Costco in order to buy a similar meal for Monday, the actual Labor Day holiday. Chow!

THE NEXT DAY: Turned out we had eighteen guests who made short work of our holiday dinner. I polled several of the guests informally afterwards. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best, a score of 4 seemed to be the grade most often given. From my view you deserve a 5. The dinner was easy, fun and tasty, So. . . way to go Costco! My mouth is already watering just thinking about future menus.

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