Sunday Jordan was out of town, so I had dinner with an old friend at the Steakhouse at Tamarack Junction, down on South Virginia. They have certainly gone for the classy look, having only recently opened their doors. I had a Ceaser Salad to start, an entree of Steak Diane with a twice baked potato, and for dessert, my very own Coconut Cake. It was SO cute! I had to take a picture, lol.
Monday I made lunches for the ROC. It's nice having their kitchen to use, which was put in specifically for catering events in their conference room (again, I think the fourth floor of the ROC building is the best kept secret in Reno!!). There is a fair amount of counter space, a refrigerator, a stove AND a dishwasher. Who'd have thought?
Lunch this past Monday was Mexican Lasagna with a mixed salad with lime vinaigrette. It was popular when I made it for the Wellness fair and guess it remains popular (although my sister told me it was NOT lasagna but a Mexican casserole-semantics, I say).
Tuesday was my personal chef day. Lots of salads this week. The offerings this week were Salmon with Couscous; Albacore Tuna Salad (this recipe used raw tuna that was poached, then flaked into the salad but also incorporated into the dressing. I thought that was unusual. This tuna salad also had green beans in it.);
Yellow Split Pea Salad;
Watercress Salad with Steak, Sauteed Shallots and Blue Cheese;
Tomato and Haricot Vert Salad; Tuscan Panzanella (this is a traditional Italian salad that uses leftover bread, mixing it with tomatoes and sometimes lettuce and other salad materials); Vietnamese-style Chicken Salad; Maple Glazed Pork Tenderloin with a Summer Salad with Peach-Walnut Dressing; Spinach Salad with Chicken, Cashews, Ginger and Fried Wontons; Far East Shrimp and Vegetable Stir-fry; Parmesan Spinach Cakes; and for dessert: Prune and Apple Crustade (made with diced prunes, carmelized apples which are then wrapped in phyllo dough and baked-another Laura Calder recipe from the Cooking Channel). A busy day!
I worked earlier in the day Tuesday so I could be home to meet the buyer at the house. She wanted another look round and wanted to take some pictures. Still waiting to hear from the bank on whether or not they accept the offer, though. Lots of waiting around....
Wenesday's ROC lunch was Tuna Salad Nicoise, which used canned tuna, boiled red potatoes, green beans, tomatoes and lots of lettuce. This recipe came from the book "What Color is Your Diet", which is mostly about putting more fruits and vegetables into your diet to make it more colorful, versus the white or beige of processed wheat and fast food. The recipes I've used for the ROC came from their CFO, who apparently is quite health conscious. I had nver heard of this book or the author so was curious enough to buy it so I can read it. Never hurts to bone up on health issues and healthy eating recommendations.
Thursday's lunch was Chicken Breast Seven Color Salad, which contained an unbelievable amount of veggies. Spinach, yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, mandarin oranges, avocado, green onions, grapes, and of course, chicken, flavored with teriyaki. It had an oriental style ginger dressing with very little oil. It was pretty!
Friday was my nurse day, working at GIC. It was awefully busy for a Friday, but I can't complain. Good people, nice patients, good doctors. I got off later than expected because we were so busy, but that's good too!
Friday evening, Jordan and I went out to dinner at the Gas Lamp restaurant. Not going out so much since Jordan is down to only his USC job. Watching our pennys, so to speak, lol. A glass of wine, a split salad and chicken pasta entree later, we came home happy people.
Today I did not get everything done I was hoping. My friend, Ric, called and asked me to provide some food for a fund raiser he and the fencing club are doing in September and asked me out to lunch. Yes, Arlington Gardens, lol. The Arlington Gardens manager had been looking for an evening "on-call" chef/cook and I did talk to him about it, but it does not sound like a very nice job. I would be working alone mostly, doing my own prep but the most grievous part of the job, would have been heating up pre-made food for banquets, etc, unless people were willing to pay extra for meals "from scratch". Always interesting to see what restaurants do in the way of providing food. I know a lot of the bars and more casual dining restaurants use a fair amount of pre-made food or ingredients. I guess that's one way to get consistancy in your food prep!
I did go through my clothes closet, though, to weed out some of the clothing I haven't worn for a long time. No sense keeping them if I am not using them. I've read that we wear only about one third of the clothes we own, going back to our most favorite or most comfortable clothes consistently. Makes sense to me.
Tomorrow, I have shopping to do for this next week but also hope to get some baking in. I want to make Coconut Macaroons. I was going to put mini chocolate chips in them but now am thinking about using chopped macadamia nuts with dried papaya. That sounds interesting to me and should work well with the coconut.
Monday and Tuesday coming up, I have two catering jobs doing dinners for two different medical group meetings. So between those, the three lunches for the ROC and my personal chef gig, I should stay busy, don't you think?
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