Fort Simpson (Mar 03/06) - Preparing breakfast for more than 400 people is no easy feat.

That's the number of individuals who were fed at the eight annual education week breakfast put on by the Dehcho Divisional Education Council on Feb. 24 in Fort Simpson.

It all started with the food order. Basing her estimates on amounts needed in previous years, Sharon Herring ordered more than 120 pounds of meat divided between bacon, ham and sausages.

There were also 30 dozen eggs, 40 pounds of pancake mix, a case of oranges, 350 juice boxes and lots of coffee, said Herring between serving sausages and bacon to hungry community members.

Serious preparation began on Thursday afternoon when the smell of bacon filled every floor and office of Dehcho Hall.

Nine staff members spent the entire afternoon rotating through shifts to pre-cook all of the meat.

"We all wanted to smell like bacon by the end of the day," said Teresa Watson with a laugh.

The idea was to cook the bacon to get rid of as much fat as possible, said Herring. The sausages were boiled.

On Friday morning, while people sat around tables enjoying the pancake breakfast, work was still ongoing behind the scenes.

In the kitchen, Tracy Waugh was helping produce enough pancakes to keep up with demand. While expertly flipping lightly browned pancakes, she said her older brother taught her that the trick is to wait until the bubbles pop in the middle of the pancake before you flip them.

On the other side of the kitchen, Shirley Villeneuve and Andy Norwegian were tending batches of scrambled eggs. For perfect scrambled eggs, all you need are eggs, a bit of milk and a good whisk, said Villeneuve.

You should keep turning them over while cooking each batch for about five minutes, she said.

Sandwiched between them was Frank Gu who spent the morning cracking all the eggs by hand. Gu said he used a two-handed technique involving hitting the eggs on the edge of the bowl.

The end product of all the work was appreciated by the crowd.

The halls were quiet as people ate their fill.

"I look forward to this all year," said Peter Shaw who came out for the event.