Monday, January 23, 2012

I am back in Paradise.

We went grocery shopping this morning. Groceries for this week, anyway! There will be more shopping to do next week, lol. They have a store called "Farmland" in Ka'anapoli that is similar to Whole Foods but has a better gourmet selection. I really like this store. And I found Speck there!! Speck is a type of Spanish ham that is smoked. Yummy! I am going to use the Speck tomorrow to wrap around slices of pear to serve for lunch.

When we got back to the condo (which by the way is up a flight of stairs! Guess I'll be getting more exercise staying at this condo, lol.) I got groceries put away, read some emails, then made lunch. I made a Broccoli-Cheddar Frittata for lunch. Nice and light! And served it on a bed of Romaine dressed with a simple viniagrette.

After lunch I made "Crack Pie", a recipe from Momofuko's Milk Bar (momofuko meals "lucky peach in Japanese), a restaurant in NYC. It sounded kind of crazy but interesting. You make an oatmeal cookie (just spread the cookie dough on one big cookie sheet then bake it for about 15 minutes) first, let it cool, then break it apart and whooze it around in a food processor with a little sugar and salt. You add a little butter to the cookie crumbs, then press it into a pie pan. It is filled with a caramel-like cream filling made with white sugar, brown sugar, butter, egg yolks, cream and vanilla. Then you bake the pie for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees, then 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes. The pie is cooled then refrigerated to "set" the center. It is suppose to come out ooey gooey creamy. I'll let you know, lol! My crust baked up over some of the filling, don't know if that's good or bad?

Dinner tonight is Bread Crumb-Olive Crusted Fish (Ahi) with French Rice and Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes with Caramelized Garlic. Will add a picture later.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Saturday we got up late. Jordan has been working long hours so we both needed the sleep. After breakfast (homemade yogurt, which really did turn well-strawberry flavored made in a yogurt maker by EasiYo, a New Zealand company) I started laundry then baked up the No Knead dough I put together yesterday.

Once the bread was done, I made the frosting the Gary's birthday cake. Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream frosting. The first batch wasn't dark enough, so after I added the crumb-coat (a thin layer of frosting spread over the outside of the cake to contain the crumbs that come off the cake when you start putting a frosting layer on it) so I added more cocoa. I did swirls on top of the cake and added cake crumbs to the sides of the cake.

I finished laundry and packed my bag, took a shower and got ready for Gary's birthday party. While I was packing, I had a plastic container of sweaters on the bed. Ah Choo decided to get into the container but made it tumble off the bed. When I turned around, he had become trapped under the container, looking for a way out! Poor kitty, lol!

At 6:15pm we headed to Kasia and Gary's house for a meal of Hamburger Stroganoff. One of Gary's favorite meals. Good meal, good friends. We left about 9pm because I couldn't stay awake any longer and we had to get up at 3:30am to get to the airport by 4:30am.

Sunday morning we were up before the alarm went off. Got dressed, ate some yogurt and Jordan took me to the airport. The flights to Maui were packed! No first class this time, I'm afraid. The trip, however, went smoothly and My friend was there to pick me up at the airport. We headed off to Costco for a few things like meat and wine. When we checked out, it turns out they almost turned us down because they said we had an old card (I had forgotten Michele lost her card and replaced it while Janell and I were visiting with my mom. They got us the new number and a new card-Michele's name, my picture, lol.

From Costco, it was back to the condo. It is a different condo than the one I was at before. The kitchen is definitely smaller and the unit is older (think 1970s, lol), but it still is nice and it's MAUI! Got to make some sacrifices, lol.

For dinner, I got to go out to Merriman's restaurant. We sat outside, on the patio (lanai, I guess they call it). Lovely meal! Fantastic wine and seafood.... We watched the sun go down and took a picture, then I texted the picture to Jordan (he had to go to chilly Boise!).

Thus begins my Maui adventures.....

Friday, January 20, 2012

It was a long night. Jordan was up most of the night working and even though he tries to be quiet, I can still hear him. Ah, well, it's only sleep!

I baked my "No Knead" bread this morning. It really is easy. 3 cups of bread flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp yeast and 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water. Mix it up in a medium large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for 12-16 hours (although I sometimes leave it for 24 hours. Bake inside a covered casserole dish or Dutch oven in a 475 degree oven for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes. Remove from dish, let cool on a wire rack. It's Jim Leahy's recipe. He has a bakery in New York and wrote a book on his technique. It really does turn out good bread. There are lots of "no knead" or "little knead" bread recipes but his is the best, I think.

I had lunch with Janell at Sushi Rose, went to Walmart then came home and baked three chocolate cakes (one recipe). Cakes are easier to frost if you left them sit and cool for a day. I have chocolate ganache for the inside layers and chocolate butter cream cheese frosting. I'll take a picture to post.

After Jordan finished teaching his class, we went out to dinner at Moxie's on Robb Drive. The food is not bad and they have the same waitress every night. She really nice. After such a dry spell, it started raining as we went into the restaurant and it was pouring rain when we left the restaurant! And it's still raining at 11pm. Guess that's a good thing, especially for the Pleasant Valley fire.

Gotta pack tomorrow as I leave for Maui on Sunday!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Today was kind of a lazy day. I got a call at 7am this morning from Amy, someone I used to work with while I was at SCOR. She works for Regent and is looking for an assistant. She asked me to apply for the position, so I did. It would be full time. Again, we'll see.

I also received a call from a company called Advantix. They do occupational medicine for General Motors. And as it happens, General Motors has a distribution center here in Reno. No manufacturing, just distribution. The position is what they call per diem, however, it would just be filling in for sick calls and vacations. No garunteed hours of any kind. We talked for a long time and I told her I was leaving town on Sunday for a month, so she plans on calling me when I get back in town to see what my situation is (job-wise) at that time.

Not to be too dramatic, but I have cast my net out for jobs and I'll just have to see what happens when I return, the end of February.

Dinner tonight was a beef stir fry with onions, broccoli, carrots and some cabbage in a soy-sesame sauce. I served it with white rice. It turned out well. Jordan brought home some baklava from a bakery in Carson City. It was pretty good but a little doughy. Doughy is not a word I would associate with baklava but there you have it. It was rolled instead of laid out in a sheet and cut, which could account for the doughiness (is that even a word?). It had a nice flavor, though.

Tomorrow I bake a chocolate cake!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Today was filled with errands. After breakfast and checking my emails, I dug out my sewing machine and dropped it off at SCOR for my friend Neda to use while I am in Maui. She makes purses (and does a great job) and apparently burned the motor out of her sewing machine. From SCOR it was on to St Mary's Hospital to buy an ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Supposrt) book. I have been out of nursing for the last year and a half and am taking an ACLS class the week I get back from Maui. I'll need all the help I can get! I bought the book from Shawn, a nurse I used to work with in the ER at St Mary's. It was like old home week! Shawn is now one of the educators at St. Mary's.

I had lunch with Ric at Arlington Gardens. In all fairness to Ric, he did ask if I wanted to go somewhere else but I said Arlington Gardens was fine-I don't usually go there. I had a roast beef sandwich with a blue cheese pine nut spread that was very tasty. Chips on the side. I did indulge in dessert, an Italian wedding cake. Yellow cake layered with raspberry jam and buttercream. Yum!

After lunch I drove down to The Grove on Foothill Rd. it's a private event. Enter that's been around about three years. They also do on and off site catering. The building it wood and stone-quite pretty, with a large bar area, great room for events like weddings, meetings and seminars and a large stone patio with a raised covered area for weddings or for lunching on the patio. Ruthie is the event salesperson and was quite helpful. She even let me see their kitchen! Jordan is looking at sites for seminars and had asked me to check it out. I was curious about it anyway. I had found The Grove while searching the web for catering prices in Reno while I was on Maui in December and trying to figure out what to charge a client for appetizer trays.

From The Grove, I went to Macy's and bought a gift certificate. I spent a little time looking around (big shoe sale!) then came home.

I checked emails again and had an email from Carolyn (the nurse who took my place at SCOR) asking if I would make 80 favor boxes filled with four cake truffles for an AORN seminar February 25. She wants red velvet and Oreo flavors. Of course I said yes. As a friend reminded me recently, caterers never say no, lol. Guess I'll be busy the week I get back!

I spent about an hour detangling the fringe on the living room throw while watching NCIS. I can't even remember how it got that way but I finally got tired of looking at it! Ah Choo loves when I sit on the couch-then I can rub his tummy. Cute cat!

I made pork chops with sweet and sour red cabbage and roasted potatoes for dinner. Jordan was late getting home, so the pork ended up a little dry from sitting too long. It was still good, though.

A little reading (I finished my mystery novel) and then bed. We'll see what tomorrow brings....

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

How time does fly! I leave Sunday morning for the second visit to Maui as a private chef. I will be gone four weeks this time. I won't miss the cold weather we are getting!

Monday I did some grocery shopping and ran a couple of errands, nothing exciting....

Today I cleaned, then baked Peanut Butter Blossoms with the Hershey Kisses Janell left me for that purpose. I took half the Chocolate Cake with Strawnerry Buttercream Frosting to SCOR. They were happy to see me, lol. I talked with a couple of people there, then stopped by Backstubbe Bakery to see if they would let me apprentice there. I left my card with the girls in front. Apparently Backstubbe is only half owned by Franz. He sold half of it to someone named Don. I told the girls I was willing to work for free in order to learn. We'll see what Don says (or doesn't say). After I came home, I did a little work on the LAHI project, checking student's work to see if it was done properly. Not exactly.......

I had a glass of wine with my friend, Neda (from SCOR)tonight. We went to Jungle Vino. It was nice seeing her, we don't get to get together enough.

Dinner was lasagna ala TJ's. They do a nice job on their meat lasagna, lol. Otherwise, not much to report.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Friday I did computer work and laundry, then went and had lunch with Janell at Macaroni Grille and did some grocery shopping. Otherwise a quiet day (again, lol), with dinner at home with Jordan.

Saturday cleaning and baking day. I made the Spiced Walnuts Janell had asked for- three pounds worth of nuts! Then I baked a cake-chocolate with strawberry buttercream frosting. That I baked just because I wanted it! Here's the picture-what do you think??

The layers are quite thick, so I could have split the layers in two for a total of four layers of cake, but I was concerned I would run out of frosting! Anyway, I am happy with the cake, and Jordan likes it too.

Jordan and I had dinner at La Strada at the El Dorado. I haven't been there in a very long time. Jordan had a Ceasar Salad and I had the antipasto plate (actually served on a long cutting board). Then we splt a half order of Mushroom Ravioli in a Wild Mushroom Cream Sauce and the Oven Smoked Salmon with Butter Beans and Swiss Chard. All quite good.

I didn't sleep all that well Saturday night so was tired this morning and took my time getting out of bed. Jordan made oatmeal this morning, then went off to work at UNR until afternoon. When he came back home, we took a drive to Portola so we could stop at Chalet View Lodge. He wanted to see if they still had the same chef they had nine months agao (Lizzie Parker). Looks like she might be leaving Chalet View. Too bad. We had some coffee there, took a look around, then drove back to Reno. A beautiful day! Only thing left to do is eat dinner, then go to bed!