Life has been SO busy lately. I look back and see that it has been a month since I last posted. My bad! Time continues to fly by.
The Farm-to-Table dinner on September 13 was a HUGE success, for which I am very thankful. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and raved about the food. Jan and I are truly blessed that people continue to want to come back and that we sell out weeks before our event. People have asked that we go back to having two dinners in September, so we will have to think about that. Here are some pictures of the Farm-to-Table event:
We have three servers this year-Jessica and her husband Eric and Alice. Great people! You can see our menu at
www.theold1862ranch.com, as well as more pictures.
No sooner than the dinner was over and the dishes were finished being washed the morning after, I had to return home (we stay at the Old 1862 Ranch overnight because it ends up being such a late night) and frost a wedding cake and 36 cupcakes! The wedding was up at Northstar in Truckee, CA. The wedding was at 3pm and the cake and cupcakes needed to be set up by 3:30pm. Even though the cake is considered a "naked cake" (meaning no frosting on the sides), it still took time to put together all three tiers of three layers each. The cake was a coconut cake (I used Ina Garten's recipe because I think it is the best coconut cake recipe out there) with cream cheese coconut frosting. So moist! There were three different types of cupcakes: almond, strawberry and lemon. The cake rested on a wooden round and the cupcakes were set up by flavor on boards supported by mason jars. Very rustic!
The only sad thing about this is that when we were leaving, we noticed smoke blowing in. A fire had started by Lake Tahoe-always worrisome to the landscape and air quality. Hopefully it did not affect the wedding!
Once the cake was delivered, Jordan and I drove on to the Bay area where I dropped him off in San Jose so he could take the train down to LA. I then drove on to the San Francisco airport and took the red eye to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I was there for a women's solos entrepreneur retreat-the culmination of a six month course in Business Miracles.
This was the view from my hotel room. Not bad, aye?I flew home on Thursday about mid-day but did not get into Reno until almost 10pm. Jordan arrived much, much later, having flown from LA to SFO to pick up the car (a long trip).
Friday, September 19, I was contracted to provide a dinner party for 14 in a development south of Reno called Montreux. It is very swanky and exclusive. The woman who hired me, Lisa, found me on Thumbtack, an online service that will show you personal chefs around the country. This is the first time I have actually gotten a job off of Thumbtack. I usually end up giving quotes but not hearing from people again. This was a very nice surprise!!
The menu for this dinner party had two appetizers--Archtichoke-Parmesan Cups and Broiled Brie with Apple-Cranberry Chutney. The brie was served with sliced baguette. The salad was Roasted Beet Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette. The salad was topped with candied Marcona almonds (a variety of almond from Spain-it tastes quite different from California almonds).
The entree was Grilled Filet Mignon with Mushroom Sauce, individual Potato Gratin and Green Beans with Cherry Tomatoes and caramelized garlic.
Dessert was Mascarpone Cheesecake with a Roasted Cashew Crust and Passion Fruit Caramel Sauce. THAT was a huge hit!
Saturday morning was a working nurse day as GI Consultants opened on Saturday morning to help the doctor's catch up with their backlog of patients. NO rest, lol.
I did finally get to rest on Sunday, then worked as a nurse Monday morning, had my personal chef day Tuesday and stayed for dinner (what a nice client to invite me to stay for dinner and a nice glass of wine!)! We had a small bowl of Potato Leek Soup topped with Creme Fraiche and chopped parsley, Sweet-Spicy Pork Tenderloin with Mashed Potatoes and Vichy Carrots (glazed carrots, yum!). Two desserts were ordered: Roasted Pineapple Shortcakes with Cinnamon Whipped Cream and Moelleux of Chocolate (translates to chocolate lava cake). A great meal, if I do say so myself, lol. :-)
Did I mention I was not done with cooking on Tuesday?! Wednesday evening I was contracted to do another dinner party, this time for only six people. AND in the same house as the Friday before, but this time my customer was Lisa's brother (I think I may become the official vacation chef for this family, lol), Paul. He was up here with his wife and baby daughter and entertaining business clients. They ordered Roasted Asparagus wrapped in Proscuitto for an appetizer. The salad with a Caprese Salad with tomatoes from my own garden :-). Dinner was Roasted Tuscan Pork, Rosemary Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Southern Italian Ratatouille. Dessert was Creme Brûlée. Deb from Gas Lamp restaurant let me borrow her small torch so I could finish the creme brûlée without buying a torch of my own (a $35-40 minimum investment). Needless to say, they loved it (and I love it when people enjoy my food, she says grinning)! Hopefully I can do more dinner parties because it is a well-paid gig. Plus it gives me some variety in what I do and what I can offer to people. Time will tell!
Not done yet! Thursday evening, I was contracted to do appetizers for 120 at a networking event at iMortgage here in Reno. I had to work as a nurse both Wednesday and Thursday, but on Thursday, my supervisor was kind enough to let me off early so I could prepare and plate all these appetizers! Yay, Amy!!
They wanted five different appetizers, about 100 pieces of each type (holy cow!) all delivered by 5pm. I made Cucumber Roulades with smoked salmon
There was also Green Chile Roll ups (kind of retro: cream cheese, chopped canned green chiles, cumin, chopped red bell peppers and Mexican cheese blend all rolled up in a flour tortilla),
Mediterranean Starter Sticks (essentially olives, oil-packed sun dried tomatoes and Monterey Jack cheese cubes on a skewer)
Spanikopita Bites (instead of wrapping the filling in phyllo dough, I used phyllo cups, pre made)
and last but not least--Texas Caviar with Scoops Tortilla Chips! 
As far as I know, these were all a success. I did not stay for the networking event (called a BizTalk Blender sponsored by the Reno Chamber of Commerce)-by this time I was too tired, lol!
Oh! I almost forgot!! I finished writing my cookbook on the first two Farm-to-Table dinners. It should be available in the next two weeks. For a short time, you will be able to download it free before it actually goes on sale. They only thing I ask is that you write a review of the book for me. You can catch the link to sign up to be notified when the book becomes available for download on my facebook page-April Woodward.
This weekend I am resting some, although I'd like to make some granola and oven dry some of the tomatoes out of my garden. We either have no tomatoes or too many! Go figure! So thank you all for reading about my adventures the last month. Again, I will try being more faithful to writing at least weekly! I appreciate you checking in with me. :-)
