Tom was looking over the tables, making sure everything was absolutely perfect. He did all the little things that often go overlooked: folding the napkins at perfect angles, making sure each person had the proper utensils for each part of the meal, making sure that there was a tablecloth on the tables, etc.
Instead of a normal mess-hall design, where the cook slopped food onto a tray, the Geshrin designed this meal to be an intimate experience meant to promote interaction. Each person had a plate, a soup boul and a salad bowl. The food was segmented across the tables so it wouldn't require too much passing around. Even the lights were dimmed a bit so that the light faded as it went to the wall.
It was a little more formal than the standard Raltean meal, which involved everyone taking shots of liquor after each course and, obviously, getting plastered halfway through the meal. The alcohol was an option, however, and it was off to a table in the corner, complete with shotglasses. Tom was using his own personal supply for this party, but he figured this was the best possible way of using it.
As Tom grinned through a flour-smeared face, he counted all the food on the table:
--Thin potato pancakes about the thickness of a playing card each, used with various dips and creams.
--A basic vegetable salad
--A hefty potato salad.
--Vegetable soup with a beef stock
--Kotlety, the main course, ground chicken patties cooked with a fabulous butter sauce. That made his mouth water.
--Finally, a chocolate vodka cake with a bit of a kick in the icing. Nothing too bad, as the alcohol in the cake burned off long ago.
He could only hope that he made enough food. It was better to make more than less, of course, and any eftovers would hold well over the next couple of days.
"Hey Freeman!" he shouted back into the kitchen, "I hope this food's really great," he chuckled, "If it is, I'm going to give you your rank back!"
Tom walked to the head of the table and pulled the seat out for the Taisa.
"I figured I'd need to make up for my outburst, sir. Do you know how many are joining you?"
He waved as the rest of the people entered.