Wednesday, August 31, 2011

I went back to work yesterday and by the end of the day I was exhausticated!! I spent the morning putting finishing and putting together my Dacqouise (a meringue cake) for Michael. The recipe is from the now closed Le Cote Basque in NYC. I will post pictures of it. It was a LOT of work, but turned out well. And tasted absolutely wonderful (if I do say so myself!). Michael was kind enough to share a piece of cake with me. See attached pictures.

I did have lunch with three of the girls from ABBI Public Relations. I met them at Grimaldi's over in Sparks at Legends. The setting is very nice, and the menu simple.

They offer salads, pizza and calzones. That's it! No five page menu of 100's of choices. We shared a half tomato sauce/sausage/mushroom pizza and half white garlic sauce/chicken/jalapeno/dried tomato pizza. Nice crust, not outrageously expensive. I'd go again.

After lunch, I went to my personal chef gig and worked until 6:30pm but left needing to one more dish. I had dinner with Michael (Seared Salmon on a bed of citrus vinaigrette dressed mixed greens and fennel). Yum! I also made Poulet Au Paprika, Grilled Shrimp, Apple Fennel Coleslaw, Spinach and Green Apple Salad with a Mustard Vinaigrette, Colorful Lentil Salad, Lemon Braised Chicken with White Beans, Shaved Vegetable Salad but still had Spiced Chicken with Apricot Vanilla Sauce served in Wonton Cups.

So today, I went back to my client's house, made the final dish, then delivered it to the clinic he works at (he was going to share it with one of the other doctors so I had to deliver it, lol). I had PT after that, ate a light lunch, then went off to see my FP doctor for a check up.

My physical therapist worked on my scar today for at least 20 minutes. My knee has been killing me ever since. So me and Ah Choo are hanging out on the couch. As I was rubbing the Buddha tummy (the cat's belly), I got a call from a company called Hey Chef based up in Truckee. I had sent them an email with a resume months ago, while I was still at Bolongo but never heard back from them. Apparently Hey Chef is hiring and asked me if I wanted to interview with them. Cool!! We'll see what happens. I also got an email from Dan with Buckbean Brewing Company who offer to DONATE beer for our farm to table dinner in September. My goodness! I told him yes after emailing Jan to see what she thought about the offer. Wow! Considering how much it is costing to put all this together, getting food or drink donated seems amazing!

As I sit here thinking about all this, I am also thinking about baking cookies or muffins. Janell bought me a book the other day at Barnes and Nobles called "Perfect Cupcakes, Cookies & Muffins". I don't think there is a recipe in there that doesn't sound good! Unusual in a cookbook. In fact, if you can't find at least half a dozen recipes you would want to make in a cookbook, then don't buy it.

Lots happening, along life's journey....I'm interested in seeing what happens next!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Sunday Jordan spent much of the day prepping for his new class for USC. We did go out to brunch at the El Dorado. They do an ok job at the El Dorado. Then we went to the Blind IPA Tasting Buckbean Brewing Company put on with Crave Wine & Beer. Buckbean Bewing Company as after the public opinion of what the public thought their new IPA should taste like. Jordan sampled, me, I'm not a beer person.

The rest of the day was quiet. I did get cookies baked and packaged for Thunderbird Lodge, one box each of chocolate chip cookies, one with pecans, one without nuts.

Monday was a therapy day. Things seem to be going well. There is a little pug dog that belongs to the owner and he comes out to greet everyone. He's not too friendly until you have been coming for a bit, however. Very cute dog!

Then a bank errand, then grocery shopping for my personal chef client (all but the proteins). I am going back to work tomorrow. Wish me luck. Should be fine though. Next week I start the flu shot clinics. I did start making a Le Cote Basque's Gacqouise for Michael. I'll take a picture when it's done and post it.

I met with Sonja to go over the brochure I am putting together, then home to relax a bit. Jordan has class meetings twice a day four days a week, so life will be slightly hectic for he and I. Otherwise, feed the cat, throw the mouse for the cat, pet the cat, the usual, lol.

Night all!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Friday I had physical therapy, ran errands to the bank, got an email from Mindy Shaw saying Thunderbird Lodge needed one box each of chocolate chip cookies with and without nuts and worked on the computer. I also made a calendar for the next three months so I could see what's flu shot clinics I've signed up for. Makes it easier to keep track of. Dinner was in (portabello burgers fro Raleys, one of Jordan's favorites).

Saturday was mostly cloudy so we both slept in (and the cat let us!). A late breakfast of perfect scrambled eggs with ham (my doing-the secret is to take them off the burner before you think they are done because they continue cooking once you take the skillet off the burner.). About 12:30pm, Janell and I went to Barnes & Noble. She had a book to buy for school, I just went along for the ride. I love looking at books, especially cookbooks. Janell bought me a cookbook on Perfect Cupcakes, Cookies and Muffins. It really is a great book. Guess I'll start baking more than chocolate chip cookies!

I've been working on loosening my knee scar, so it's given me a few more problems but otherwise it feels great. I just have to remind myself, "don't limp, don't limp...", it just ends up being habit rather than limping from pain or discomfort.

I also talked to Jesse at the Organic Food Store in Chilcoot, I guess is where they are at. We are looking to get our chickens through him. He says $9.69 a pound for boneless, skinless chicken breasts. That bill alone would be about $240. Don't want to buy anything though, until we get a final head count. Come on folks, sign up for our Farm to Table Dinner!!

Now though, I'm tired and it's bedtime.......

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Jordan took me out to breakfast this morning to Hobeys. Interesting place. It's a casino out in Sun Valley, considered to be the poorer section of Reno, but as Jordan says, it has a pleasant "topography" (spoken like a true cartographer, lol). three eggs, a ham steak, hash browns and toast for about $3.00. Biscuits and gravy for $1.75. I don't know how they do it. Simple food but they do a good job of it.

Afterwards, he went to work and I went and finished the packaging on the cookies for "Hillybilly Hotdogs". The lady who owns it is Karen. She lost her job in construction two years ago but was able to find a backer for her hot dog stand. Apparently she got some help from SCOR, which is a group of retired business people who volunteer to help and educate people just starting off in business. They were impressed with her business plan, tweaked it a bit, but most important, found her a backer. She is going to see if my cookies sell. She tried selling Otis Spunkmeyer cookies earlier this year but no one bought them. I guess if the cookies sell, they sell, if not, it was very nice of her to try. I'll stop by next week and see her.

Other than that, I worked on menus for my personal chef client for next week. I figure three weeks is enough time to be off. My knee is doing well and I have had no problem driving, although I am using Jordan's car not mine. I also contacted Top Hat Party Rentals and got them to email me a contract. I also talked with Mickie, the woman we are trying to get to waitress for us at the farm to table dinner (Mickie and one of her co-workers). I finished my Examiner.com article on Buckbean Brewing Company but about ten minutes after I published it, one of the guys wrote me back cause he found three or four mistakes. So I fixed them right away. Other than the mistakes, he liked the article, so that's good!

Even though I am making money cheffing and catering, I am going to need to find a steady job to supplement my income. I just don't make enough to pay the bills AND pay for the little bit of marketing I am doing as well as buying packaging materials and other necessities I can't really bill for. I start doing flu shot clinics in a couple of weeks so that will help, but I'll still have to look at other things. And unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), nursing pays way better than working as a chef. Kind of depressing.......

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Monday was a quiet day, rest, leg up, iced knee, me and the cat laying on the couch. Jordan left today for LA. He'll be back Wednesday night.

Tuesday Ric picked me up and took me to my doctor's appt. The doctor was quite pleased with my progress. He took out my staples and told me to come back in one month. Who-ra! After that, I answered emails, set up appointments, ordered dishes and linens from Top Hat Party Rentals then made dinner for Ric. A thank you and a trial of more farm to table dinner dishes. He was suitably impressed so that's good! He also liked Lidia's Italian Almond Cake over Mario Batali's Almond Cake.

Wednesday I was up early. I had an interview with the two guys who own Buckbean Brewing Company. Nice guys! Although they did tell me if I was gonna write about the beer I should taste it. I'm not much of a beer person (and certainly not at 8am!) but they did have great beer. I spent about an hour asking questions. Not much to tour, everything is right there. I'll be writing an article to publish tomorrow or Friday.

After that meeting, I had a meeting with Sonja. She's working on my brochure. Once it's done, I can start handing it out. Then on the way home, I stopped and talked with Karen, who operates a hotdog cart by St Mary's Hospital. She's going to start selling my cookies. We'll see what happens. AT 11am I had an appt with physical therapy. Work that knee! I did the stationary bike for 10 minutes. Once I finished PT, it was home again. Worked on my story, talked on the phone. Janell and I went out to dinner at Hacienda (after a couple of errands) then I came home to write more on my article. I ended up talking to Jan for almost an hour about the farm to table dinner. She's kind of nervous about all this. We can do it I think.

Jordan came home at 9:30 pm and now it's time, for me anyway, to get to bed. It's been a long day!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

I think we were one of the last people to get to the potluck/movie/birthday party for Sagehen Field station. The festivities took place in what they call the upper camp. There are cabins there, a large "theater" space, bathrooms, etc. We ate, then Jeff showed a 15 minute clip Fearthen, his wife, did on Sagehen and it's relation to Aldo Leopold and conservation. She did a good job, especially considering she is not a film major. After that movie clip, we had birthday cake. Both my cakes were a hit, but especially the Kirschtorte (who'd a thought?).

After cake, we watched a 74 minute film done by a married couple who work for the Department of Forestry. The film covered most of Aldo Leopold's life (1887-1948). He went to college at Harvard, who had one of the first forestry schools in the country. Leopold worked all over the US but ended up spending most of his time at the University of Wisconsin Madison. He was quite taken with conservation and not leaving a mark on the land but rather keeping it as close to nature as he could. Seems he touched quite a few lives. His 92 year old daughter just died several months ago. Leopold is the main force behind the Sagehen Creek area being a research station where water and streams are studied as well as fish and wildlife. Apparently (and despite all the financial woes the State of California has), Sagehen field station has also received a multi-million dollar donation to expand the field station to use year round (right now it is pretty much inaccessible during the snowy months). Cool, huh?

Saturday was a quiet day. I tried to keep my leg up and elevated to see if I could decrease the swelling. Reading, watching TV, etc. I did manage to make two versions of Italian Almond Cake for us to try Sunday at Jan and Jim's.

Sunday, today, Jordan and I went shopping so I could try a couple of dishes we want to serve at our farm to table dinner. Practice makes
perfect! We tried the Hulsman beef again as well as a piece of flank steak from Whole Foods. We grilled each of the pieces of meat for a lesser amount of time and the Hulsman beef turned out soo much better. Jan also wants to try KT beef as she thinks they are a superior product. I guess we'll see! The roasted corn, avocado, cherry tomato and mozzarella salad turned out well (although I forgot the Orzo). It has a cilantro/lime vinaigrette dressing which is quite tasty. Lots and lots to do for this dinner and little changes keep happening all the time.

Jordan is off for LA tomorrow. It's the first day of class for USC. He has 30 students this term! Hope he can get everything done that needs doing! And hopefully when I get my staples out on Tuesday, Dr Mullins will tell me it's ok to drive! That would be very nice!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Thursday was a quiet day. Jordan was out of town at a meeting in Sacramento. I basically kept my leg elevated and iced. I did hear from Jeff and Fearthen up at Sagehen. Jeff wants a chocolate cake, Fearthen wants a German (Bavarian) Kirschtorte (white cake, chocolate cake, Kirsch-cherry brandy, Buttercream and whipped cream. So I decided to make both kinds of cake!

I made the cake layers for the Kirschtorte Thursday and let them cool. Since I needed supplies for the chocolate cake, I had to wait until Friday to get the rat of my supplies.

Jordan got home about 10:45pm Thursday night. He stopped by to see his daughter on the way home. She lives outside of Sacramento. He said he had a nice visit with her and the grand kids.

Friday morning I had PT. Jordan and I went grocery shopping for cake supplies then he dropped me off at PT. My leg has been feeling tight and my back kind of achy, so my therapist worked on that today. So no exercising today, just massage, heist and ice therapy.

My friend Ric picked me up after I was done (Jordan had meetings this morning). We went to lunch. I had suggested the French restaurant and we went down there, but only to discover that the French restaurant doesn't open until 11:30am. Bummer! We decided to go down to Arlington Gardens. (I did try to get us to a different rstauramt, lol).

After a couple of errands for Ric, he brought me home and I finished the Kirschtorte and made a "Darn Good Chocolate Bundt Cake". Hopefully there will be something for everyone!

Tonight we are going to celebrate the 60th birthday of Sagehen. And will see a movie made about this area. I'll let you know how it goes! Right now, I am sitting on the couch, leg up and ice.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Ugh, my right lower leg has been swollen but now is mostly bruised, a side effect of the surgery and nothing to be done but ice it (although my physical therapist today thought my incision might be infected). Turns out, the incision is mildly irritated by the staples, no infection. The bruising makes the leg achy and it doesn't look great, but this too shall pass, as they say.

I am getting more emails from ABBI PR, Inc so emailed my friend, Stephanie Helline, who is in marketing and graphic arts to get her opinion. We'll see what she says after looking at all the emails and reading some of my examiner.com articles. It all seems exciting but I am not sure I want to be at any one's beck and call and not be compensated for it in some way.

Otherwise, Janell and I went to lunch today at one of the food trucks in Reno, GourMelt Grilled Cheese Truck. They were parked at Grace Church today for the lunch hour. Janell and I shared a "Jive Turkey" Melt with Parmesan garlic fries. Pretty good! The fries were very garlicky though. We thought they might not be good if you were going to be around a lot of people, lol. I wrote up lunch for examiner.com.

Then I went to PT at 2pm and came home after that. Dinner at home with Jordan is the plan tonight. I'll do some computer work tomorrow and see what else I can get done for the Farm to Table dinner. I have included a picture of the flowers Jordan gave me in the hospital. Very pretty colors!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Sunday I baked a little, then Jordan took me over to Renown so I could give some Chocolate Chip cookies to Wendy, the nurse who took care of me for the two days I was in the hospital. She loved getting cookies, lol! And she was very pleased at how well I was doing physically.

I was not up to much of a car ride, so we came home after the trek to Renown. Jordan is done with his summer class but he still has a lot of work to do. The rest of Sunday was rest, leg up, ice, pain pills. At least my stomach is starting to feel better! I was in bed early, lol.

Monday as I was getting ready for PT, Body Wisdom called to say my therapist was going to be very late, her car wouldn't start. They offered to have me reschedule with the massage therapist, but with a $25 co-pay for each visit, it didn't seem worth it. So I called Kasia to let her know I didn't need to go to PT but asked if she wanted to go out to lunch instead. She was up for that, lol! Kasia drove me over to the Thunderbird office so I could drop off cookies (wish everyone "instantly" paid their bill like Thunderbird does!). First time I used my new logo-it looks very nice!

We went to lunch at "Kimmie's", a new diner-type restaurant that recently opened on South Virginia by Target and Home Depot. They are open for breakfast and lunch. Large menu of food offerings, although very straight forward.

Once we finished with lunch, we went to visit a local wine and cheese shop on Mae Anne for their wine tasting. MY underlying agenda was to see if the owner, Tom Stephenson, would be interested in working with Jan and I on our Farm to Table dinner. He was not available but I left my card. We'll see if he calls. Then home for a little more R&R.

Jordan and I got invited up to Sagehen for dinner. So I made some sweet Palmiers and off we went! The drive to Truckee was uneventful and when we got to Sagehen, it was a longer trip from the road to the actual field house then I remember, lol. Dinner was Roasted Pork Tenderloin, roasted herbed potatoes, Ratatouille and salad (and bread). Very good! We spent some time with the caretakers, Jeff and his wife Ferthen, who invited us to come back Friday for their 60th birthday party. I guess I'm bringing a cake, lol, they didn't think about a cake until they talked to me. It should be fun, although cold once the sun goes down! I was ready for bed once we got home!

Today I slept in for a bit, then worked on my online education for Mollen Immunizations Clinics. Flu shot clinics start in September. Hopefully I can make a little extra money. I talked to my mom, talked to Tom Stephenson (he does want to work with us!) and my sister, Janell. Jordan worked at home for a long time today but he was so quiet, I almost forgot he was here! I spent some time looking at recipes, websites, etc. Always about the food, lol.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

It feels like the healing and getting better aspect of this knee surgery has been slow. Although I have to remind myself, it hasn't yet been a week since I had the surgery. I am still feeling a bit spacey and I can always tell when my pain medication is about to wear off. This too shall pass, as they say.

I was reading email yesterday from the William Sonoma people called Tasting Table. It was offered to me as a chef, but anyone can subscribe to the weekly newsletter. The newsletter covers new products, restaurant recipes and drink (alcohol) recipes. I first started subscribing to it when one of the girls I went to culinary school with was working for a chef whose recipe was featured in the TT (Tasting Table) column. I've been receiving it ever since. The newsletter they had on new products talked about a person who owns a small book store. Apparently this person kept finding hand-written recipes in many of the books, and rather than throw the recipes away, they decided to publish the recipes on the web. How cool is that?! I decided to check into it. And am now passing it on to all of you. The author's plea to have people contact (him/her) to make the recipes and to take pictures of the recipes, has gotten a great response. Here is the link:
www.handwrittenrecipes.com. Check it out! The author of the website shows you the original recipe, retypes it in recipe form, then shows you the book the recipe where the recipe was found. All set in a kind of old fashioned genre. Some of them look quite tasty! You can also sign up for Tasting Table if you would like to get a food newsletter.

I received an email from the examiner.com office telling me my article about school lunches (Mom! What's for Lunch?!) will be featured on the examiners.com national page, they liked what I wrote! Imagine that, lol? That was a nice positive reinforcement about my writing.

I am also meeting with someone else from ABBI HR company who wants to talk to me about working with other restaurants in town. Not sure what the means, but guess I'll find out August 30. The woman, Leah, who contacted me, asked me if I had seen Julie & Julia. Hmmm...yes, but I'm still not sure what that means for me. Time will tell.

Another day of rest today. And an order of Chocolate chip cookies, no nuts, for Thunderbird Lodge on Monday. Otherwise, rest, elevate the leg, behave myself! I did unwrap two boxes today that Michael gave me. He's downsizing before he moves into his parent's house. All very nice oriental or Italian dishware. Thanks, Michael!

Friday, August 12,2011

Imagine, a culinary blog turned medical journal? Who'd have thought?

Wednesday I had my first day of PT, mostly checking ROM (range of motion) and checking for any problems. Took about an hour. They hooked me up to a TENS unit and ice to increase with circulation and decrease the pain. The knee is really swollen and bruised but I actually have pretty good motion in it. I had a couple of phone calls (always good to hear from friends)

Thursday, not a great day. I slept most of the day. Usually surgery patients are constipated. I had the exact opposite reaction (figures, lol)! Nothing I was eating seemed to agree with me. Pudding seemed to be ok. I was trying to eat bland, benign foods. Finally last night I took some Imodium to see if I could get a handle on things.

This morning (Friday), I feel better, but need to drink more fluids. I am feeling sleepy-the cat came in and meowed like something terrible was happening. Woke me out of a sound sleep! Guess he felt it was time to get up. I have PT again at 11am. They'll try to increase my range of motion and decrease the swelling. Today WILL be a better day!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The weekend was a busy one, cleaning and getting the house ready. Saturday I had breakfast with Ric at Arlington Gardens. Yes, he does go other places but not often, lol. Then home to bake some cookies (actually finish off the cookie dough I started Thursday), do laundry, and clean the house (vacuum, wash flora, etc).

Sunday, I did some yard work with Jordan's help, then we went to Jan and Jim's to do a trial dinner of the meat we've chosen. Turns out we overcooked the London broil a bit so it was a little tough. We're going to try and get some more so we can experiment with cooking times and methods.

Monday we were up bright and early. I had surgery Monday 7:30am at Renown. A right medial Oxford knee replacement. Just half a total knee. Good thing too, I guess, because Dr Mullins said the medial side of the knee had been reduced to bone on bone. And all this in just two years! Yikes! Because I was set to be only a 24 hour stay, I got everything crammed into one day. I had PT, got up, did exercises, had chicken for lunch(!-I totally expected a liquid diet at first, lol!) walked down the hall and used my walker (just like Mom!) to up and down stairs. Very busy day. Jordan was in and out all day and Janell came to visit in the afternoon. I kept trying to get up by myself, but there is an alarm on all the beds that let's the nurses know if you get up without them. I was so busted a couple of times, lol. I felt good though and did so well, that everyone was surprised. One of the nurses aides asked me how many days had it been since my surgery, lol. I told her it was just that morning. She was shocked, poor thing. Just a little nausea initially when I got up the first time, but that got fixed with Zofran-great stuff!

Today, Tuesday, I was up without the walker (at least for the short trip to the bathroom), sat in a chair for a couple of hours, learned to disable the bed alarm by myself (hehe) and got to come home with Jordan at 10am. I can be up and about as much as I wish. No driving though, for two weeks. I start PT tomorrow or Thursday. No rest here, Dr Mullins wants full range of motion ASAP. I don't think I'll have a problem with that. Anyway, I think it's nap time now......no rest while you're in the hospital!

Friday, August 5, 2011

More appointments today. I did find "real" tablecloths for the tables out at Jan's farm for the Farm to Table dinner. $12 each because someone made a mistake in ordering (they had ordered 60 inch by 106 inch tablecloths-wrong size). They should work well for us.

I had to go back and finish cooking all the meals for my client. I'm not even sure I can remember everything I made, lol. Let's see....Lamb Masala with Jeweled Rice, Grilled Thai Beef Salad, Oriental Vegetables and Noodles with Peanut Sauce, Beef Rolls with Mustard and Vegetables, Brazilian Chicken with Shrimp, Chicken-Green Bean-and Farro Salad, Roasted Chickpea and Spinach Salad, Chicken Tikka Naan, and Barbecued Oriental Chicken Lettuce Wraps. I think that's it....guess that adds up to more than the five I thought I had left. Long day with phone calls disrupting work. I finally finished at 5:45pm! Hope it all turns out well.

For our dinner, I made Chicken Divan and served it over rice. Yum! My aunt's recipe. And now It's bedtime and I AM exhausticated! It's the weekend though. And no cookies due Monday for Thunderbird Lodge. They say it's been really hot up there so people are buying water but no cookies. They still have two boxes left! Oh, well, what can you do. Still no word from Lynne at the Reno Airport either.

Good night all!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Wednesday was full of appointments, phone calls, and menu plans. I am trying to cram as much as I can in the next couple off days, as I am going to be taking a couple weeks off. Wednesday I baked a Blackberry Buttermilk Cake as well as what is called a Raspberry Boconne Dolce (Sweet Mouthful)-which is a meringue layer cake. Yum! I also made the dough for Chocolate Crackles (cookies) before I ran out of energy (headache :-(.).

Today, Thursday, I got menu choices from my client and readied myself to work all day on two weeks worth of menus. It quickly became apparent that I would not be able to get everything done today. LOTS of food to cook! After I took a shower, fed the cat, cleaned the letterbox, ate breakfast, baked cookies, printed recipes and a shopping list, packed up three desserts, all my supplies, spices, bottles and jars and put them in the car, it was 10am! I went shopping, then headed over to my client's house. Today I made Roasted Tomato Soup, Smoked Salmon Spirals, Carrot, Raisin and Pine Nut Salad, Poached Salmon, Apple and Potato Salad, marinated the chicken for Chicken Tikka Naan, Braised Lamb Shank with Mustard, Fennel, and Sweet Vermouth, Beef (it was suppose to be beef tenderloin but Whole Foods had no beef tenderloin!) with Port Sauce, Easy Spinach Souffle, Turkey Roll-ups, Grilled Zucchini Rolls,Roasted Salmon with Shallot Grapefruit Sauce, Grilled Corn with Chile Lime Butter, and Stuffed Chicken Divan with Sherry Mustard Sauce. Whew! And I need to go back tomorrow because I have about six more dishes to make, lol. Someone's gonna eat well!

I met friends afterwards for a glass of wine and dinner. It was nice spending time with friends and relaxing a bit. Jordan comes home tonight (yeah!).

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Monday I slept in until 9am! The cat didn't even wake me up to feed him! I spent the morning checking emails (no cookies due to Thunderbird Lodge), then had lunch with Janell. At 2pm I had an interview with Chef Mark Estee. He is a local chef from Truckee who owns Moody's Grille, also in Truckee. I was contacted by his PR person, Krystsl. Apparently she has followed my examiner.com writings and asked me to write an article about Mark Estee and his new restaurant, Campo, set to open the end of October. I spent about 45 minutes talking to Chef Estee and getting a tour of the bare space the restaurant. The address is 50 N Sierra Street. Nice spot! I'll be getting an article out shortly.

After the interview, I shopped for my personal chef client, then met Andy for coffee. Andy leaves Wednesday to go back to New Mexico. I gave him some cookies to eat on the long drive back.

Tuesday I had appointments in the morning so didn't go to my personal chef job until about 2pm. It worked out well to go later because I stayed and had dinner with him afterwards. We had Seared Tuna with a Warmed Cherry Tomato and Olive Salad and couscous. Today's dishes were Spinach Salad with Chicken, Ginger and Fried Wantons, Chickpea Salad, Festive Turkey Meatballs with Tomato Salsa, Tandoori Drumsticks, Smoked Salmon Pate, Oat Crackers, and Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Gruyere and Chives. I think that was all, lol. The tuna turned out well.

Now I am back at home and the day is nearing a close. I talked with Jordan. He's in Tucson, Arizona now but will be back Thursday evening. So I'll sign off for now and be back tomorrow!