HVOC October Trial – well, the Food at least

Another year of the Hidden Valley Obedience Club’s October Trial has come and gone. This is a two-day obedience trial held each year in October on our private field in Escondido.

As usual I was on the Hospitality crew. If you have ever entered in a dog show you might not think this is much of a big deal – so you grab some day-old donuts and coffee, what’s the big deal?? Well, we do things a little differently at HVOC – especially when it comes to our big show.

We do hospitality right! We have people coming to us and saying that they come to this show just for the food! What’s the secret? Nothing major – just some planning, a good crew, and a real desire to do things right and have a quality event all around.

So what does that mean? Well, in our little world of Hospitality that means serving 5 full meals. And these are real meals.

Two breakfasts – did I mention that these are complimentary??! This is a hot breakfast folks. Fresh made pancakes while you wait. Hot syrup. Cooked to order eggs – real eggs, cracked right after you order. Fresh brewed coffee.

Two lunches. Hot lunch, not some soggy cold sandwich. Hamburger/cheese burger. Shredded chicken breast sandwich. Or if you are a vegetarian (or if it just sounds good), a cheese Panini sandwich – with cooked peppers if you like. Yes, of course the peppers are hand cut right there…you don’t even have to ask. Did someone say Brat sandwich? Oh ya baby – hot Bratwurst cooking in veggies and beer. And drinks of course – water, soda, all you can drink, ice cold.

One dinner. But not just any dinner – the Judge’s Dinner. This is a special meal we have to thank the judges for coming out and doing their thing. We start with a happy hour with specialty beers and wines, some cheese and crackers and other appetizers. Then step up for your choice of Tri-Tip, Salmon or a veggie option. Yes, the Tri-Tip and salmon are cooked fresh on location – but even better, they are smoked! Oh ya, nothing makes Tri-Tip and salmon better than smoking. Always fantastic! Rolls, salad – and I almost forgot – Erin’s famous homemade apple sauce. Well, it isn’t really homemade – it is made right there on the field just hours before dinner! The apples are fresh from Julian and skinned and cut after lunch and cooked up just in time for dinner. Oh, and dessert too!

Are you getting the idea? This is real food, real good.

Oh ya – we have fun too. This is the same crew pretty much from year to year, so we have it all down to a science. It is a well oiled machine. Marsha is great at planning out the details. She and Robin do a lot (all?) of the shopping. Set up Friday, have dinner. Cook, cook, cook on Saturday. Clean up. Cook, cook, cook on Sunday, clean up & tear down.

I was only able to help out Friday and Saturday this year as business travel took me away Sunday. Bummer – but a guy has to work! Sounds like the crew survived without me somehow. Plus Robin showed up to take my place – so it all worked out.

See below for some photos, click each to see the full photo – or go here to see a short slide show of them.

Hope to see you there next year!

Friday set-up – Gary takes a break and relaxes with his mandolin. I’ve never heard him play before – he’s good! He even plays in a band.

While the field is being set up for dog show stuff and the great raffle, we are in the fenced off puppy yard area converting it to the a kitchen and diner. Once the work is done we let the dogs in, get some dinner and relax.

Mojo and Hurley love to run and play and don’t get to do so often enough. They were very happy to see each other…

Darla jumped in to have some fun too!

Bob grabbed a guitar and joined Gary in making some great dinner music.

Custom orders don’t upset us. We cook eggs to order each morning. Here Gary makes a Mickey Mouse pancake!

Bob expertly sharpened up that knife, then sat down and went to work on a ton of red and green peppers and some onions and he did a great job!

People like to eat at different times at shows. Some like to eat as early as possible, others want to show first and then eat – guess they get those butterflies in the tummy too! Here’s Ed watching over the griddle cooking up some eggs, while Gary starts to prep for lunch.

Ed doesn’t do things half way – especially with good food. I’ve seen him make a mean breakfast sandwich at some of our Lions breakfasts, and he came through here for lunch! Let’s see…that is two hamburger patties (one with cheddar and one with Swiss), a Bratwurst, chicken breast and veggies to tie it all together. Now that’s a meal!

It takes a team of folks to feed these hungry dog folks right. Here we see Gary working the chicken on the grill, Chris doing anything that anyone needs (great support man!) and new comer to the club and the Hospitality crew, Clint. Clint jumped right in and helped out with lunch both days. Thanks Clint!

Eric and Marsha kept watch over the rest of Hospitality – not an easy task. There’s all the drinks, all the questions, keeping things full and clean and safe – and always keeping a smile on your face. The cooking and serving is easy next to all that! As you can see, Eric manages to keep a smile on her face! (or did Ed just tell some off color joke…???)

Yes – homemade apple sauce. It is fantastic! Fresh apples skinned and sliced just before going into the big pot to be cooked down with brown sugar and cinnamon. What’s the recipe? Well, that’s the kicker – there isn’t one. It is made to taste each year as the apples and the mix of apple types is always different. Our recipe is Erin and her taste buds!

Thanks to new member Christy for jumping right in and helping out with the apple skinning and cutting duties. Before I got this shot her son Austen was helping out too.

We have to eat when we can, and it also gives us a chance to preview the food to be sure things are tasting as we expect them to. We do have standards to live up to here! Here we see Marsha doing a little Quality Control work with a Panini sandwich and sharing a laugh with daughter Erin. Also seen here is Rhonda who came by to get a group photo of us all (2nd photo below – nice shot Rhonda).

Group shot:

Here is what it’s all about – feeding folks! This is our shaded eating area.

It is all worthwhile when people come through the line and gush about how great the food is every year! We hear horror stories of the “food” at other events – some scary stuff. Nice to see all those smiling faces enjoying the work we put into making all that food. And we have a bit of fun doing it too.

Oh – and people enjoy the obedience trial too!