Institution size...46º

It was a stroke of luck for me when I was hired by the Joseph School District as the Assistant Cook/Baker in the fall of 1977...The salary was over $2.00 an hour, plus it had benefits, health insurance to start and in six months I could sign up for the state retirement plan, Pers...Most important that monthly check would make our house payment and enable us to fulfill the contract in 10 years.

The mixer that I used almost daily for the next seven years was a 30 quart standup model, institution size, as were the pans, bowls and utensils that stocked the kitchen...The bread recipe instead of cups of flour was written either in quarts or pounds and not just one but two batches, had to be mixed and cooked  to feed the hungry kids...I wondered if I could get it all done in 4 hours...I remember those first days, mixing roll dough and being surrounded by clouds of flour, as I hit the wrong speed on the mixer and flour went everywhere...My boss, Margaret, was very patient and she and Joanne helped with the cleanup and shaping of 400 rolls until I learned how to control the mixer and work fast with the mound of dough...When I wasn't playing in the bread dough, I could be elbow deep (it seemed that way) in chocolate cake batter, apple crisp and finally, Margaret said, "Idella, cinnamon rolls are on next weeks menu, are you up for that?"...I don't remember much about that day, except that now every surface was not only covered with flour but sugar and cinnamon as well and I still had to make the icing...The cinnamon rolls were far from perfect, but the icing covered my mistakes and the smiles on the kids faces as a cinnamon roll was placed on their tray, made my day...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

This photo from the internet is very close to the mixer I used at Joseph Schools...For several months I  thought it would get the best of me, but with practice I mastered it and we became "friends."