Sunday, April 29, 2012

I worked at two Wellness clinics this weekend, one Friday, one Saturday. We had to report in at 5am-a new experience for me, lol! They went well and the other staff members were very plesant to work with.

After I got off work, I made Kafaite, a Greek dessert. We had dinner with friends Saturday. It was Grrek night. We had lamb, potatoes, roasted garlic, a spinach and orzo salad, carrots and Greek wine. A nice evening! Dessert turned out well but we had leftovers, even with sending people home with some.

Today was a computer day, although we did go out to lunch at the Sqeeze-In up the street. We can walk there and it was a lovely day. I had a coupon for my birthday for a free meal- how nice is that?

I also put a few more plants in the back yard. It's shaping up. The kitchen window looks over the back yard so it's nice to have something pretty to look at. Trying to keep busy!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

I went to my personal chef job this afternoon and made what my mother said, "sounds great!" food. There was Braised Chicken with Apricots, Olives with Herbed Couscous,

Harvest Vegetables with Roasted Ginger and Cumin, Basil Beef and Fingerlings Olive Oil and Sea Salt, Brussels Sprouts with balsamic reduction and dried cranberries,

Lobster Vol au Vent with Orange Cognac Sauce (just a picture of the vold au vent waiting for their little pieces of lobster, lol, (Vol au vent is a French fancy name for puff pastry cups),

a Frisee and Apple Salad with Dried Cranberries and Walnuts,

Thick Cut Pork Chop with Spiced Apples and Raisins

and an Arugula and Romaine lettuce salad with Walnuts.

A productive day, although I left the cake in the refrigerator at home so will have to drop it off tomorrow on my way to work! Not very smart....

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

My days seem to be filled these days, with computer time, working on DropBox and Podio. Both apps are new to me but both seem very handy to have around!

My personal chef client that was going out of town, did not go out of town, so I will be cooking four meals tomorrow for him. Lucky me!

As part of those meals, I made a Bienmesabe Cake. The recipe is adapted from Charlotte Bakery-one of the bakery featured on Sweet Eats from the Cooking Channel. As time progresses I am trying to challenge myself to cook or bake more complex dishes. Always learning. The Bienmesabe Cake is a layered sponge cake. Each layer of cake is brushed with a mixture of coconut milk, coconut rum and simple syrup. This helps keep the cake layers from tasting too dry, as sponge cakes or genoise can sometimes be. Once you have brushed on the simple syrup mixture, you spoon on a layer of coconut cream (a custard really), then repeat. I made one six inch cake for my client and one four inch cake for Jordan and I. Once you have all your layers done, frost the top and sides with Swiss meringue and put it in a preheated 400 degree oven to brown a bit. I wasn't totally satisfied with my meringue, so I am going to have to work on it. I know I've done better in the past making meringue (there are three types of meringue: French, Swiss and Italian), but I don't do it often enough. I'll have to think of something else to make using meringue. It tastes good!

This is the four inch cake with just two layers. The photo makes it look like there is more meringue than layers, lol!

Now that the cakes are done, it's time for bed!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Friday was a day filled with computer work (another project for Jordan, this time with DOE). I did manage to make three mini pies. Two Apple and one straberry. They turned out well, and of course, tasty-the most important part, lol!

I took a trip to Macy's with my sister at about 5:30pm. She needed a few things and asked me to go with her. Only problem with going to the Mall is that you can always find something you either need or want! By the time we came home, Jordan was already home (color me surprised, he's always late!). Dinner was a Grilled Steak Salad. Yum! We are trying to eat a little better (yeah, yeah, the pies are not so good-but they are small!).

Saturday Jordan and I had breakfast with friends of ours at a place called BJ's Wild Hog Cafe. They are mostly known for their BBQ. Who knew they served breakfast? And boy, do they serve breakfast. It is not for the faint of heart. Everything comes with cheesy grits or "house fries" (their form of hash browns). Don't get me wrong, the food was good, just lots of it and high in fat.

The rest of the day was, again, spent working on Jordan's new project. I did manage to watch a bit of a movie, then made a Ham and Pea casserole fo dinner. We still have lots of ham! It turned out ok, kind of bland, though.... If I made it again I would try and doctor it up a bit.

Today I checked on packaging for a baking project for one of my clients. I am trying to wrap up 7-14 mini cupcakes to give as a marketing gift, so off to Michael's I went for a look see. I think I will use a 6 inch cake round for the amount of seven and a 9 inch cake round for 14 mini cupcakes, then wrap them all up in a cellophane bag, put on a ribbon and some other decoration and call it done. I sent a quote off to my client so I guess she'll let me know if the price is right and when she wants them. I'll be making the Mascarpone Mini Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze. They were yummy, if I do say so myself, lol!

Jordan and I took a ride up to Boca, near Truckee, just to get out for a while. What a great day! Kinda warm though, for this time of year. Afterwards we stopped in at Moody's in Truckee for a drink and a snack, although Jordan ended up ordering a pizza. Not so much a snack food, lol. Not bad, but I couldn't decide if I liked their sausage or not....

Lots of talk today about his new project. He is definitely one busy guy. Now he is not so sure he is going out of town this week or not. Guess I'll just roll with the flow.

Thursday, April 20, 2012

It's been a busy couple of days!!

Monday I went shopping for my Tuesday personal chef client. I was also given an "assignment" as part of a job interview so had to write a synopsis of probiotics and obesity (quite fasinating, really). My assignment took most of the afternoon, what with researching the topic first, then writing it. I had Jordan proof-read it. He gave me an "A" and told me he wished all his students wrote as well (thank you, thank you, lol). Once I finished my assignment, I made Mascarpone Mini Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze. The strawberry glaze is just strawberries chopped up in a food processor, then you add powdered sugar. Yum!

Tuesday I spent the morning making Raspberry Truffle Tarts (dark chocolate truffle filling, chocolate cookie crust) and Pie Pop, this time using pie dough. There is a "surprise" raspberry in the middle of the truffle tarts and I added Chambord to the truffle filling for a boost of raspberry filling (the original recipe called for vanilla extract). The pie pops are much better with the pie dough, but still seem to be too savory because of the limited amount of filling you can put inside. I decided that next time, I need to add something to the pie dough to more compliment the filling. Like putting cinnamon into the pie crust with apple filling. I'd have to work out what might compliment other fillings. For the strawberry pie pies I made, I used some leftover strawberry glaze to coat one side of the pops. That should boost the flavor!

The afternoon was filled with lots of cooking-Red Wine Braised Short Ribs, Parmesan Turkey Meatloaf, Fennel Roasted Vegetables, Lamb Banana Curry,

Turkey Roll-ups, Pasta Pan-fired with Butternut Squash, Pine Nuts and Sage,

Crispy Filo Spinach Tart,

Pork Chops stuffed with Spinach, Maple Glazed Chicken, Portugese Style Rice, Glazed Carrots, Sausages with Kale and White Beans,

and for Tuesday dinner: Halibut with Brown Butter, Chickpeas and Roasted Carrots.

Oh, my! Lots of cooking going on! I was tired when I got home!

Wednesday I had a catering job for a corporate dinner. They wanted the same menu I did last week, lol! So I made Orange Glazed Baked Ham with Glazed Carrots, Scalloped Potatoes, an Apple, Dried Cherry and Pecan Salad with Maple Vinaigrette dressing and Eton Mess (yummo on the Eton Mess-strawberries and crushed meringues mixed with Chantilly cream and topped with more srawberries!). I was done and had it delivered before 6pm. The dinner went to the fourth floor of the ROC building. I told a friend of mine that that room was the best kept secret in Reno, lol! It looks like a gentleman's club with lots of wood and big leather chairs. Who'd have thought?!

Once that was done, I attended "Drinks&Ink" sponsored by Tuaca at Comm Row. Tuaca was celebrating the new design of their Tuaca Liqour bottle. Corey Miller of the "Six Feet Under" tattoo shop (and famous for being on one of the reality TV shows featuring tattoo parlors) designed a "tattoo" for the Tuaca bottle. When the bottle reaches a certain temperature, the "tattoo" changes from white to blue. How cool!! I was asked to attend by the Baddish Group who represents Tuaca. The Baddish group has contacted me several times to write about something/someone for Examiner.com. So there I was....one of the VIPs, lol. It was certainly an eclectic group of people! I did meet Corey Miller and interviewed him. Nice guy! He seems a little bewildered by his new found fame. His band played last night at Comm Row. The band is a rockabilly/rock/surfer/blues band. They're pretty good! Loud, but good! I even got my picture taken with Corey Miller, lol.

Today, well today I am recovering, lol. I tried to sleep in but Ah Choo was having no part of it. I start on a new job today for Jordan. Learning new things! It helps keep you young!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

We had a lovely time in LA visiting my Mom and my sister, Michele and her family. I flew in late Wednesday evening so couldn't do much Wednesday.

On Thursday, Michele's friend, Pam, came over and all of us went to Santa Monica Pier. Although I guess it's really the Promenade now. The street is blocked off to all but pedestrians and goes on for at least six blocks. A long walk for my Mom! We had lunch at the famous (or infamous) Barney's Beanery, which has been around since the 1920's. They seem to serve every type of food under the sun, but are famous for their chili. When the depression hit, people would come in for a bowl of chili, but couldn't always pay, so would leave their license plates as collateral. They could have their plates back when they brought in money to pay their bill. Some people didn't come back, so license plates are hanging up all over. It is said Marilyn Monroe, Steve McQueen, and many others ate there at Barneys. Kind of a cool place! We walked more after lunch and ended the day with a gelato and a "sit down" on the top flour of the food court, which (kind of) overlooks the waterfront. There were statues incorporating plants and steel statues all over, so I took some pictures, lol. Here are some of my pictures:

Friday we drove down to Escondido to check out Champagne Village, the retirement center Lawrence Welk started (you read correctly-Lawrence Welk, dead but not forgotten!). It's in a beautiful area and we wondered if my Mom would like it. It is about a 2-3 hour drive from Michele's house, so I'm not sure it would work out. It poured rain most of the day. haven't driven in such heavy rain since I moved out West from Chicago! We stopped at a couple of stores looking for a pie pop maker but couldn't find any. It was an adventure, to say the least!

Saturday, Janell and I left to come back to Reno. We did hit a little rain and snow on the way back but the roads were clear. Thank goodness! We made it back safe and sound. Jordan is still sick so I am trying to talk him into going to the doctor. We'll see if he does.

Today I wrote two articles for Examiner.com. Did you know that this month (April) is National Grilled Cheese month? And National Soy Foods month, National garlic month, National Florida Tomato month and National Soft Pretzel month?? Neither did I, til I looked it up, lol. There is literally a food holiday for every day of the year. Oh, and April is National Food month. Not sure about that one as every day/month seems to be a food holiday! Anyway, I wrote and published two articles, then tried my hand at pie pops.

I made two types of pies, Sweet Strawberry and Apple Chai. I used puff pastry, just to play around with the recipe a bit. I discovered several things... First, even when you roll out puff pastry, it still puffs up too much for pie pops (at least I think so). Second, your crust, whatever dough you use, puff, pie dough, etc, better taste good because there is a huge pie to filling ratio. Third, don't over fill your pie pop-it will burst open or run out. Fourth, the pie pops taste better either sprinkled with a little raw sugar or brushed with a little glaze to sweeten up all that crust. Fifth, dispite the fact that strawberries make a wicked good pie, the Apple Chai tasted the best. I am making pie pops as part of a job I have so I would rather practice before they are due than have all sorts of problems with them and not have the time to fix it! Here they are, all lined up:

I'll work on them again tomorrow using regular homemade pie crust. I'll see if that works better-it should. But now it's time to put together some dinner.....wonder what's in the fridge?

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Yesterday was a busy day! I picked up my serving dishes from my Monday catering job, then spent the morning making desserts. Peach Meringue Cake and Mini-Molten Lava Cakes (a recipe I will probably not use again. It didn't seem to work so well.).

The afternoon was spent making all the dishes for my client the next week, which took all afternoon. Orange Glazed Ham with carrots, Scalloped potatoes, Aaparagus wrapped in bacon, Cornish Game hen with a Mushroom Sauce,

Lime Hoisin Salmon with couscous,

Jeweled Couscous,

Turkish Lamb Kabobs ("dekabobed", lol),

Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew,

Split Pea Soup with cheese croutons, and

Pork Loin Roast with Port Sauce. I also made two salads. The one pictured below is mixed greens with baked parmesan rounds.

Today was filled with appointments and I am set to fly to LA to see my mom and my sister, Michele (Janell drove down yesterday). How exciting!! Be back Saturday.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Jordan left early this morning for Boise. I was up shortly thereafter-Mr Ah Choo was hungry! After breakfast I headed out for more food shopping. I needed a few more things for today and also shopped for tomorrow's cooking day.

The cream cheese frosting for the carrot cake still needed to be done (I had made the cakes on Friday, and put them in the freezer) then the cake frosted-just the middle and top. I like that look, and it's not so much frosting when you decorate the cake that way. I toasted some pecans, chopped them up, then sprinkled them over the top of the cake for decoration.

After lunch, I moved on to baking my bone-in ham, using the orange glaze I made up yesterday. I put together the Scalloped Potatoes, then baked Southern Biscuits. I used Alton Brown's recipe I got off the Food Network website. Talk about light and fluffy! They were quite good if I do say so myself, lol.

I also made asparagus wrapped in bacon, which you can grill or roast in the oven.

Once the ham was done (you throw in baby carrots the last half hour it bakes), I sliced it, then put it in a chaffing dish with the carrots and the orange glaze for serving.

Everything was delivered by 5:30pm. I got a call later from one of the doctors, who was at the meeting (and loved the food), asking me to make the same meal next week for one of his other meetings (minus the bacon wrapped asparagus- "watching the weight, you know"-and the cake and the biscuits). I guess we settled on Orange-glazed Ham with Baby Carrots, Scalloped Potatoes, a salad of some sort and Eton Mess (that suggestion was from Anne, although I don't think they realize that Eton Mess is made up of whipped cream, crushed meringue cookies and strawberries!).

I'll get up tomorrow and do it all over again for different client! Always nice to have work to do!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter to all! I wonder how Easter got changed from a religious holiday to a secular holiday, complete with the Easter bunny (a proverbial Santa)?

Today was a lovely day, especially after working 15 hours at my wellness clinic yesterday.

My sister, Janell came over for brunch. I made Raspberry Almond French Toast. I took three croissants and split them in half throug the middle. One one side I spread seedless raspberry jam and on the other side spread whipped cream cheese, then put them back together (kind of like making a sandwich). I soaked them for about 20 minutes in a mixture of 1 cup of milk, three eggs, 4 Tbsp white sugar, 4 Tbsp of Amaretto liquor, an 1/8 tsp salt and a half tsp of cinnamon. After they had soaked, I dipped them in sliced almonds and set them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. i baked them at 325 for about 25-30 minutes. Yummy! I served them sprinkled with powdered sugar and fresh raspberries . I also served a side of bacon-just to balance any sweetness. They were great!

It was otherwise a quiet day. I have a catering job tomorrow and my usual personal chef job on Tuesday. Always like being busy! I started testing recipes by making an Oranged Glazed Ham with Glazed Carrots for Easter dinner, and served those with Scalloped Potatoes. They all work well together.

Jordan leaves in the morning for Boise. He's been a traveling man of late. He'll be back Tuesday evening. Janell and I are talking about going to So Cal to see my sister, Michele and my mom this week. We'll see!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Mr. Ah Choo felt the need to get me out of bed early this morning. When I didn't get up when he meowed, he started pawing at the blinds, getting up on the bathroom counter and knocking things off. Being a naughty kitty! So, it was easier to just get up and feed him (sigh).

After breakfast, I did some cleaning, then went out to lunch with my friend Ric (ya, ya, Arlington Gardens again). It was nice to get out. I came back home and started doing research on puff pastry recipes. I am thinking of doing a series of palmiers, both sweet and savory and looking for more ideas than I already have. You never know what you will find on the Internet! I also ordered a cookbook called "Puff"- an appropriate name for recipes made with puff pastry!
I also managed to make two nine-inch carrot cakes, which I put in the freezer until Monday when I will use them for a carrot cake for a catering job I have.

Jordan comes home tonight but his plane from Las Vegas was delayed (Southwest is NOT the airline it once was-they are having more and more delays) so who knows when he will be home. I won't be picking him up from the airport. I work at a wellness clinic tomorrow from 5am to 8pm (very long day), so I need all the sleep I can get!

Wednesday, April 5, 2012

Happy Birthday to me, lol!

I did not allow Mr. Ah Choo to get me up early today. He did meow a bit but then went to lay down on the stairs-good kitty! Once I was up and had the cat fed and started coffee, my brother called. He has the same birthday I do but we are two years apart. How's THAT for timing?! We talked about an hour and a half and had a great talk. I think it's been forever since we've talked that long, just the two of us! I got quite a few happy birthday texts (one at 3:30am from my friend Cris in Denver, lol) and a call from my mom and my sister, Janell.

I met my insurance guy at 10am for coffee and paper signing, then came home and did some cleaning. My friend, Vicki called in the afternoon and we had a long chat-even though she was just here! Jordan is in LA but sent flowers. Aren't they gorgeous?

And, since Jordan was out of town, my friend Michael took me out to dinner at Harrah's Steakhouse. My favorite restaurant! They have that old-fashioned European style service. Many dishes are prepared tableside-like Ceasar Salad and Steak Diane (I ordered both as did Michael). We ordered Grand Marnier Souffles for dessert, but with the souffles, they brought out a birthday "plate" and proceeded to sing happy birthday! Bong, our waiter, has a very nice voice, lol. It was very sweet of them. The birthday plate had a slice of Chocolate Mousse Cake and a slice of Cheesecake and a goblet of fruit topped with whipped cream. I couldn't eat it all, so asked that they wrap it up. Arlen, the maitre'd, gave me a beautiful pink rose (awww). They didn't just give me the desserts, they sent me home with the entire plate and all! I got one picture at the restaurant, the others I took once I got home. Unfortunately, the chocolate mousse fell over during the ride home and the goblet is no longer on the plate, but you get the idea. Here are my pictures-

And now, I'm home, with a full tummy and a cat that is not happy that I have been gone all evening (and didn't feed him before I left!). He'll come round though....

I guess with all this food, I am going to have to put off making a birthday cake!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The last several days seem a blur, they've gone by so quickly!

Monday i had a doctor's appointment, ran some errands, then went shopping for my client at Whole Foods. I also baked Chocolate Spice Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Frosting and Pecan Tartlets, both for my client (he's my taste tester, lol).

I am also trying to finish up my nursing CEUs and finally managed to finish up all 30 this afternoon. Lots to remember and study in order to take the exams, but I did it! AND renewed my nursing license for another two years.

Tuesday I had more errands (and still doing CEUs at that point), then set off to cook for my client. I must admit, I was not good about pictures this week. I only managed to take one picture Tuesday-the Stuffed Turkey Burgers-

I also made Glam Mac 'n'Cheese. The "glam" part of that is sauteed pancetta and onions and (surprise) Dolcetto or sweet Gorgonzola cheese instead of cheddar or Gruyere cheeses, then topped with bread crumbs. On the docket there was also Chicken Roulade with Asparagus, Rack of Lamb with a Quinoa-Hazelnut Crust, Creamed Spinach, Twice-baked Potatoes, Chopped Greek Salad with Chicken, Easy Ratatuoille, Moussaka, and Asian Salisbury Steaks on a bed of spinach. All good!

Today I was up early to take out the trash-it's trash day and Jordan's gone-then more CEUs. I had more errands, the bank, gas for Jordan's car, bought kitty food, dropped off prescriptions, went to get fingerprinted and got a haircut. What an adventure getting my fingerprints done! This is the first year that the Nevada State Board of Nursing has required nurses who already have a Nevada nursing license. And they are encouraging people to do electronic fingerprinting which is easier for them then going to the police department and getting hard copy prints. It took a long time to get it done. The guy had trouble getting my fingerprints to show up! And, apparently, from what his assistant said, the staff was told nurses are the hardest to fingerprint because we wash our hands so much. Who'd have thought?! Not sure if we wash the prints off and wear them down or if we just have dry hands and that makes it difficult to register. Anyway, it did get done.

I had lunch with my sister after all those errands. We went to BJ's Brewery. Very nice.

I finally finished reading and taking exams for CEUs at about 5pm. I met my friend, Neda, for a glass of wine at Jungle Vino, down on First Street. Always an adventure, going downtown. Poor Neda has been stressed with personality challenges at work so is looking for a new job. I wish her luck! She knows her mind.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I still haven't decided on a cake. A friend of mine suggested making more than one cake-what a novel idea, lol! He says as I am so fond of first breakfast and second breakfast, so why not first birthday and second birthday? And why not? So, will let you know what I decide!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Yesterday, with the prediction of poor weather, Vicki and I elected to stay home and do some baking. We made No Knead bread, Apricot Pecan Bran Muffins (from a set of muffin recioes she brought me out of the Houston newspaper) and No Bake Apple Cookies. I also mixed up some homemade yogurt. We had a great time talking about baking techniques and looking at cookbooks (Vicki also loves to bake). We did watch a pay-for-view movie-"The Adventures of Tintin". Good old-fashioned movie, good for families and kids.

We went out to dinner with Jordan to Sardina's. They moved to a new location and just reopened a week ago. They are over by Cafe De Thai. In fact, in the same building. They have a split dining room, four tables downstairs and seven tables upstairs. The kitchen is downstairs so they have to carry everything upstairs-no dumbwaiter (although the owner claimed he was the dumb waiter, lol). The food was only ok, unfortunately. The menu looks very upscale, as does the room, but a lot of the food is the same. Sicilian style Italian (which I actually grew up with). Hope it all works for them!

We got up early this morning to take Vicki to the airport. She left on the 6:55am American flight to Dallas with a plane change going on to Houston. I am sure her husband misses her, but I wish she was staying for a longer period of time or that we lived closer. I will miss having her here.

On the upside, I will pick up Ah Choo today and bring him home (that is, after it stops snowing!?!). Vicki did notice an improvement after he left, so it was good Janell could take him.

Computer work today and brunch at the ElDorado (like I haven't eaten enough with Vicki here, lol). Otherwise a laundry day.