Monday, March 10, 2014

Made it through another week! The drama does continue.....Danny was coming back to the restaurant after finishing the shopping (since we are so busy now, he has to shop more often) and noticed after he turned into the restaurant parking lot that two men were loitering outside the front door of the restaurant. He yelled at them to get away (seeing that they were defacing the front door, I get that) so they picked up a large rock and through it through the back window of Danny's jeep, shattering the window. There was glass everywhere, including on some of the groceries. We all either cleaned up the glass outside or cleaned up the groceries inside. What a mess! Danny and a couple of cops chased these men but apparently lost them in an apartment complex near the restaurant. Later that same afternoon, Debra left to pick up laundry at the dry cleaners and on her way back into the restaurant, someone threw a rock at her. It didn't hit her but still scary all the same! I don't understand people sometimes...no respect for each other.

But enough! We have cycled through the Mango Creme Brûlée

and the Oreo Cookie Cheesecake

so when I go in on Wednesday, I'll be making new desserts. Danny wants to go back to traditional recipes so the new cheesecake with be Classic Cheesecake topped with fruit and an apricot glaze. The Creme Brûlée will also be a traditional vanilla flavored Creme Brûlée. All good. It's just a little frustrating to have any creativity squelched. As long as people like the desserts, I guess I'm ok with that but I think I will not be staying at Gas Lamp for as long as I thought I might. Danny doesn't talk much to me or anyone (unless of course he is yelling). Guess all those years dealing with doctors is coming in handy. There has been no more talk of opening for lunch so I have decided to let it go for now.

On a bright note, I was asked to be part of the demo team of personal chefs that demos stovetops, etc for Wolf-Sub Zero. The company is based in the Bay area but does have at least one store here in Reno, Standards of Excellence. They pay pretty well and who knows where it could lead (or not, lol). Still, I am looking forward to training on March 19, a Wednesday. I get paid for that too!! And I get to play with all the cool kitchen appliances. More on this later!

Tomorrow will be my second day back cooking for my personal chef client-hope it goes better this week! It took more two days to cook through all the menus he chose-I couldn't seem to make it all the way through in one day! He was understanding about it and hopefully the tasty food was worth the wait. :-) I shopped today for cooking tomorrow and also made dessert: a Coconut Pineapple Blueberry Bread Pudding with a Bourbon Caramel Sauce. YUM! I'll let you know how that goes over. Looks and smells good!

I received a call from a woman named Loretta, who has her own business called "Front Office Staff". She is an answering service but more than that as well. She and her staff take care of the reception desk at Bosma Business Center (I catered there last month for a "Get Connected" meeting). She was reaching out to me because she thought I was someone she wanted to know and also thought she might be able to help me connect to more people who could bring me more personal chef and catering business. I'm all for that. I'll be going to a business breakfast on Wednesday at the Hidden Valley Country Club (the same Hidden Valley as the dressing-who knew?). We'll see what happens. She really was very nice. She is also going to help me connect to a group called "E-women", who help women brainstorm and give them ideas and feedback for their businesses. Things seem to be happening, only time will tell if these are the "right things".

The weather is turning nicer and the plum trees outside out front door are blooming-
Aren't they gorgeous? They looked even prettier today.

Time for bed and tomorrow IS another day, as Charlotte said in "Gone with the Wind".

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Things have settled down a bit at Gas Lamp, although I forgot to add the last and final drama from last week. Our host was stabbed in the back at a party he went to so missed a day or two of work. Apparently he turned enough so that the blade did not hit his lungs. Personally, I think he needs new friends, but that's just me.

Last weekend was busy, as usual. Danny is leaving the restaurant open later and later as compared to his usual close times. We actually seated a Two-top (restaurant speak for table, party of two) at 9:15pm!! "Cal"-surprise! I've just kept my head down and done my job. There are still things to be learned so I will continue working as long as I can. I do like most of the people there.

On my "weekend" (hard to call Monday and Tuesday my weekend, but that is indeed what it is with the schedule we keep at Gas Lamp) I worked at GIC, another long day, but the pay is much better than restaurant work, although not as enjoyable as it once was. Tuesday (yesterday) I spent most of my day cooking for my personal chef client but did not finish all the dishes he had asked for so will have to go back on Thursday (tomorrow) morning and finish up before I go to work at Gas Lamp.

Tuesday morning was International Pancake Day at IHOP (International House of Pancakes). They were giving away buttermilk pancakes, hoping people would contribute to the Children's Miracle Network. An unusual fundraiser, but I like pancakes and Jordan likes a "deal" so off we went! It was ok. I can't remember the last time I went to IHOP!

This morning I went into Gas Lamp only to discover they were deep cleaning the large industrial hood over the cook stoves on the "hot" side of the kitchen. Almost everything was encased in plastic so there was nothing I could do but wait and go back in the afternoon. A loss of hours, but not much to be done. So when I finally did go in at 1pm, I only had time to bake two batches of brownies and make Mango Creme Brûlée. Wednesdays, the menu is a prix fix menu and I am tasked with coming up with new small desserts to serve-all the while working with what is at hand at Gas Lamp. One of the desserts is almost always a brownie sundae, very popular. Today I changed it up and made Chocolate Pots de Creme and Mandarin Oranges with Grand Marnier and Mascarpone. Both very tasty!!


I am off tonight so am going out with a girlfriend-one of my best friends. We are having a glass of wine at "Fine Vines". Fine Vines has "WINOS" night, which stands for Women In Need of Sanity. Very cute! Not much else going on....will catch up later!