Work at Weddings and BBQ's

Well hello!!
I have returned with my head full of words and my stomach full of my delicious morning Slim Fast milkshake (summer strawberry today).
It's going pretty well - I've lost 4 pounds in a week so I'm hoping i can continue for as long as possible so I can lose my desired two stone :)
I've had a pretty busy couple of days: I went back to work on Saturday after 5 months on uni and while most things are exactly the same, there are some little differences I need to get the hang of.
We had a venue only wedding on Saturday, which means that the couple hire the venue and bring their own food, drinks, staff, glasses, plates, linens and essentially everything you need to run a wedding. Sadly though, this wedding came close to being a disaster. The staff they hired were a bunch of 16-17 year old girls with sour faces who had no idea what they were supposed to be doing. They turned up late and so we had to sort out the deliveries of the drinks and get the caterers sorted. During the ceremony they were talking loudly right by the doors and during meal service they were disorganized as a group and generally looked untidy with messy hair, un-tucked shirts and muddy trainers.It made us realize how good we are as a team. There was only two of us working as we are not supposed to be doing anything for the wedding other than showing people where stuff is and what they can and can't use but because the hired in staff were useless we were pretty busy in the morning. In the afternoon we spent a while folding napkins into various origami shapes and I spent three hours cleaning candle wax off 6 candelabras with a hair dryer. Then we discovered Alison's car had flat tyre so we were outside pumping it up for fifteen minutes. Never a dull shift.
On Sunday though it was business as usual with all our lovely kitchen staff back on with all of our waiting team ready to roll. 
It was a really lovely wedding - colour scheme of pastel Tiffany blue with lots of crystals and diamond details. They had the ceremony outside which was really lovely and they had a harpist playing which set the mood perfectly. They had a really lovely, simple menu of a brie and red onion tart, followed by a parcelle of chicken with a leek and bacon stuffing with a brandy cream sauce and finished off with a pavlova. I always feel you're better off going for a simple, classic menu at a wedding. I often see couples who have tried to please everyone and have given the guests a choice but more often than not this leads to confusion both among the guests who cant remember what they ordered, and in the kitchens when we try to serve a table where they're having two beef, three chicken, four lamb and a vegetarian. It's a massively expensive way of doing things and, in my opinion, unnecessary. It's not about your guests and weather or not they like lamb or if they eat beef, it's about you and your husband/wife.
I ended up doing an 11 and a half hour shift on Sunday since I was there from 8.30am and because I haven't worked there in 5 months I haven't got used to the burning pain in my feet I get after a few hours so driving home changing gears was a whole new level of pain.
We're having some lush weather at the moment (I'm currently sitting in my favorite chair in the garden although sadly I'm having to sit under the parasol so I can see the screen) and so we've had a couple of BBQ's. Yesterday I marinaded some lamb chops in lemon, garlic, oregano and olive oil and left them for four hours. They were so juicy and the lemon really tenderizes the meat. I also made a couple of salads, one pasta one cous cous. I use trofie pasta and a homemade green pesto (use a food processor - large bunch of basil, a lump of Parmesan  grated, a handful of pine nuts, two garlic cloves and a glug of olive oil) although a jar is just as good but add some freshly chopped basil for freshness. Cook a standard mug full of the pasta to al dente and drain. Chop a large handful of baby cherry tomatoes in half and add then to the pan with the hot pasta. Stir through two table spoons of the pesto, transfer to a serving dish and chill until needed.
For my cous cous salad I put however much dried cous cous as I need into my serving dish with half a tablespoon of Boulion stock powder and the zest of a lemon, then pour over enough freshly boiled water to just cover the cous cous. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and allow to steam for ten minutes. Meanwhile, lightly toast a handful of flaked almonds and a handful of pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan until the almonds are lightly golden and the skins on the pumpkin seeds have split open (they make a very satisfying popping sound). Stir the cous cous with a fork to separate the grains and add in a handful of golden sultanas. Stir in the nuts and seeds and then just before serving sprinkle over a tablespoon of chopped coriander. 
I love a good marinade and I do different things for different meats. For lamb I use a lot of lemon zest, garlic and oregano with a splish of olive oil. Pork likes strong flavours so I do a squirt of tomato ketchup, a teaspoon of seedy mustard and a tablespoon of runny honey. Chicken is good with just some sweet chilli sauce or I also like to just chop of loads of fresh herbs and some olive oil. 
At the moment we have my Nana staying over as well as my brother and his girlfriend so as a special treat for desert we've got a kind of disassembled pavlova. Nana makes perfect meringues and British strawberries are just coming in so I had Annie hulling the strawberries and we got some raspberries too and lashings of cream. Perfect end to a Tuesday of beautiful sunshine!!

Here I am, writing away in the sun!