It is so hard to believe that we are halfway through October and already thinking of Thanksgiving. One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is all the traditions and memories associated with the holiday. My job as a kid was to set the Thanksgiving table. I took this job very seriously. When I was about 7, I made salt dough turkey cut-outs and then hand-painted them with my sister and cousin. My mom still uses them at every place setting to this day. As I got older, I was in the kitchen with my mom all week leading up to the big day and those are some of my favorite memories cooking all day with my mom.

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One of our favorite things about Catering by Michaels is the different cultures and religions on our team. Many members of our team are not familiar with the Jewish holidays when they join our company. Since these holidays are a big part of our business, we always take the time every year to teach the traditions and cuisine of each holiday.

On Yom Kippur, people will come together for fasting and prayer from before sundown on the previous night until after sundown on the day of the fast. This means no food or drink is consumed for 24 hours. Foods that are comforting, filling, and requiring minimal preparation are the perfect foods to eat after a day of fasting.

Food and Tradition

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I don’t know about you, but I always like to have something to look forward to, especially now, during this global pandemic. I cannot even believe that September is almost here, and the end of summer is near. I always loved Labor Day weekend as a kid – it normally meant summer days full of pool swimming, lake house weekends, and delicious backyard barbecues with friends and family. As an adult, Labor Day weekend normally means a weekend full of events or on the rare occasion we have the weekend off, a road trip, or a short flight somewhere for a long weekend with adventures, great food, and time with my husband, friends, and family. This year definitely looks a little different, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be full of your favorite things!

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My name is Lisa Ware and I am the Director of Business Development & Special Projects at Catering by Michaels. I have been writing about our journey through COVID-19. If you have not yet read the previous episodes – be sure to start from the beginning!

The Great Pause

I have been staring at this screen for hours trying to find the words to describe the roller coaster of emotions we have been through in the past three months. My last blog post was all about the abrupt shutdown so forgive me that I am going to fast forward a little bit. The weeks that followed the abrupt shutdown have all blurred together, but the emotions throughout remain the same. In my head, I have dubbed this weird time as the great pause. When we held our all-team meeting in mid-March, never did we ever imagine we would still be in this position in mid-June.

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My name is Lisa Ware, and I am the Director of Business Development & Special Projects at Catering by Michaels. Sharing our journey through COVID-19 certainly falls under one of those “special projects.”  Let me first say these are blog posts we never wanted to write, but we feel it is necessary, helpful, and therapeutic to share our journey!

It’s our hope that what we’ve learned—and continue to learn—can help someone else. Perhaps it’s comforting to hear we are going through the same things you or your company are experiencing. At the very least–as a member of CBM’s Crisis Management Team–it is therapeutic to write these blog posts and share our journey!

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