Thursday-Friday, December 29 & 30, 2011

Thursday Cris and I were up and back to mixing, cooking and baking for the big party. We must have assembled hundreds of little appetizers! He had quite a variety of food.

The party was suppose to start at 3pm, so shortly before we stopped work and changed into casual party clothes. The first guests, however, did not start arriving until after 4pm. Ten people in all showed up, out of the 35-40 invited, most of whom said they would come. I felt bad for Cris! Those of us at the party, however, ate very well and had some great wines! So it was their loss.. The last people left about 11pm. Once the guests were gone, off we went to bed. Clean up can wait!

Friday morning, no one got up early, lol. I was the first one up, so I reheated some coffee from the evening before and had a couple cookies. The others got up about an hour later and after coffee all around, we did finally clean up the dining room-kitchen area. We ended up throwing the rest of the food away. It had been sitting out too long. And as Cris pointed out, there was no place for it in the refrigerator. :-(

After we cleaned up, Cris drove me into town and we had lunch at "Wahoo", a local Denver restaurant. Pretty good actually. A fresh Tex-Mex type of place. After lunch, we went over to Kim's house. That's where I'm spending the night tonight. Cris, Kim, Dave (Kim's husband) and I talked about Cris and Kim's new business. They want to open a bakery and cafe. They have a building picked out, now all they need to find is financing and finish work on their business plan. A big undertaking for these two! After Crish left, Kim and I ran to the store for a few things, then came back to the house and made marshmallows. For New Year's Eve, Kim is making deep fried s'mores. She made her own marshmallows today and tomorrow she'll stuff them with chocolate, roll them into a ball, dip them in eggs, then roll them in crushed graham crackers. At that point these little confections get deep-fried. Sounds good to me!

We went out to dinner tonight. We were hoping to eat at Potager's but they were closed. Instead, we had dinner at Parallel 17. Kind of a French-Asian restaurant on 17th Street. The food was excellent! As was the company (Kim and Dave). We've spent the evening and almost until midnight talking about cooking and businesses. I've missed both Kim. And Cris!

Kim has three cats, and they decided at midnight, it was time for us to go to bed. The cats are pretty funny! I return to Reno tomorrow and meet up with Jordan in Las Vegas (he's returning from Phoenix, AZ). It's New Year's Eve tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

I was off to Denver early this morning. Smooth ride on Southwest. And what was the first thing I saw as we descended into Denver? Snow! Haven't seen that in a while. Guess they had a white Christmas. The weather was nice with temperatures in the 50's and sunny, clear skies.

My friend, Cris, picked me up at the airport (which is at least 20 miles outside of the Denver city limits). Cris and I went to culinary school together. It's so good to see him again! We stopped by his work (Lifestyles Catering) so he could pick up some extra trays for the party he and his partner are having tomorrow night. Then we had lunch (sushi) at Mt Fugi. After lunch we stopped by Capitol Hill Mansion B&B to see Carl and Bailey (Carl's daughter). I lived at Capitol Hill while I went to culinary school. Carl was so surprised. THings have changed at Capitol Hill. He has a new sous chef, Eric, who has not gone to culinary school but from the pictures Carl's been taking of the food-the guy seems to have a natural talent for not only cooking, but plating.

Next stop was the grocery store for a few last minute buys, then up the mountain (Cris lives in Golden, just outside the state park there). They have a great home, set in a wooded area (hence the state park, I guess, lol), slightly rustic with lots of artwork. Cris put me to work cooking the things that could be made ahead. I made Parmesan Crips, a cracker made with Parmesan cheese, flour, butter, egg yolks, salt and a pinch of mustard. They turned out well, albeit somewhat fragile. These crackers will be topped with herbed goat cheese (which I also mixed up-goat cheese, cream cheese, a little cream, fresh thyme, oregano and dried garlic) topped with a cranberry compote. My next task was making a crab salad (crab, mayo, sour cream, celery, green onions, salt, pepper). We'll put the crab salad on crackers and top with a sprinkle of parsley and an olive slice. Cris made a chorizo filling and a lamb filling for empanadas we'll make tomorrow. We also cooked up some bacon for Flamekucken, a pizza type dish topped with creamy onions and bacon. It's an Alsatian dish we learned to make in school. YUM!

Dinner was oven fried chicken, Fettucine Alfredo and Sautéed Italian veggies (zucchini, yellow squash, onions, tomatoes and herbs sautéed in olive oil). We watched a movie (now I can't remember what it was called, lol), then off to bed for everyone-long day. It's a little like staying in a house at Lake Tahoe. I forgot how cold it gets when you live in the mountains, lol!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Today was a work day, believe it or not. I was back to doing personal chef work for one of my first clients. I had a couple of errands in the morning, then a little shopping. Things went quicker than I expected! I make quite a few dishes today-New Yoark Steak with Madiera Sauce, Rolled Pork Florentine, Thai Pork with Noodles, Rosemary Marinated Lamb Chops, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, two kinds of roasted vegetables, Baked Pasta Shells with Fresh Spinach and Tomatoes, Crab and Celery Remoulade, two salads and a few others I can't think of, lol. All in all, a busy day!

Tomorrow morning I Lear for Denver. I'll be gone til the evening of the 31st visiting friends. The ticket was a Christmas present from Jordan. Should be fun!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Friday, December 23, we were up early and off to the airport to return home to Reno. Jordan picked us up and once I got home, i started to work on the appetizers for the cocktail party I was catering that night. My sister, Janell gratiously did my shopping for me (although lots of calls went on, she wanted to get everything just right!) so everything I needed was right there. She and my mom also came over to help. We made Breaded Artichoke Bottoms on a bed of greens tossed with vinaigrette, Spinach and Goat Cheese Tarts, Lobster Salad served in Porcelain Spoons, Tomato Basil Mozzarella Skeres with a pesto dip, Thyme Roasted Tomato Bruschetta, and Rosemary Chicken Skewers with a Spicy Dip. It took right up until delivery time to get everything done! We loaded up Janell's SUV and drove over to drop the food off at my client's house.

And what a house! A beautiful old Tudor style home, all decorated for Christmas. We arranged all the dishes on the dining room table, then I helped set up a cheese tray with crackers and bread slices, took the desserts out of the box (no wonder he only asked for hors D'oeuvres!) that my client had gotten at Backstubbe, had a small glass of wine, then left it up to the hosts. Everyone was tired by the end of the day! Jordan took me out to dinner so I didn't have to cook even more, lol.

Saturday I got a text saying the food was a huge success, the favorites being the lobster salad and the spinach and goat cheese tarts. Yeah!! I did the grocery shopping for Christmas dinner, then came home to relax. At 3:30pm, I went over and picked up my dishes from my client and got paid at the same time! Yeah! Every time I do a job I learn something. Whether it's how to cut the cheese differently for a better presentation, or how to keep hot food hot and cold food cold or how to best present a dish. Always learning!

By Christmas morning I was still undecided about dessert-Icebox cake or Cheesecake? Cheesecake won, so I made a chocolate graham cracker crust and a cream cheese filling. I topped it with Colonial Cranberries when serving. You take 2 cups of cranberries sliced in half, 1 cup brown sugar and 1/2 tsp orange zest and mix together in a casserole dish. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until soft then remove from the oven. Add 2 tsp vanilla when you remove them from the oven, then cool and store in the fridge for up to one week. Yummy! The cranberries can also be flavored with liqours. I made a Beef Rib Roast crusted with mustard, salt and pepper, muffin tin Potatoes Gratin, and Vichy Carrots (a form of glazed carrots). We finally got to eat around 4pm. I did have a couple of appetizers-Goat cheese studded with dried cranberries and pecans and some bruschetta with prosciutto and mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. We opened Janell's bottle of Muscato d'Asti to have with the appetizers. We opened presents and also watched a Christmas movie called Family Stone. Pretty good movie.

Today I did some of the shopping for my work day tomorrow. I am doing meals for a week for my personal chef client. Just like old times (he's been in Hawaii for almost two months). I also made a Chocolate Truffle Cake and Ribolita. Otherwise it was a quiet day spent reading and watching a movie. Me and Ah Choo....

And ere she went to bed, she was heard to say, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

We were off to the airport by 5:15am this morning. Our Hawaiian Airlines flight took off at 8am. And did I mention we flew back first class??? Oh, so nice! We arrive in Vegas at 3:30pm (direct flight) and arrived at the Mandarin Oriental at 4pm. What a lovely hotel! We had dinner at Sage in the Aria Hotel Casino. Another great restaurant experience, or 7-8 as my companion said. An amuse bouche of soup, appetizers of sweetbreads and octopus, and main courses of scallops and pork belly. Dessert was maple cake and clementine claflouti. The only downside were my gritty scallops-"not up to standards" as they say and no maple taste in the maple cake. Otherwise we had a good time.

Back to Reno in the morning.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

A few random pictures I've taken while on Maui. The flowers here are beautiful and so plentiful! This is indeed an ideal growing place for almost anything. Today we will be cleaning out the refrigerator so it is a kind of "potluck" day. The skies are clearing and the sun peaks out occasionally. We'll see what the rest of the day holds. I think I am as tan as I will get for my two weeks here so don't know if I'll make it to the pool or not. Early tomorrow morning it is off to Vegas via Hawaiian Air, where we'll go out to dinner at "Sage" restaurant at the Aria Hotel, then fly back to Reno Friday morning. It has been a privilege to be able to come out here these two weeks.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Compared to the other days here, it really did rain all day today! Still warm though, so it can't be all bad, can it? Here are some pictures taken of me in the kitchen. I am looking up in one of them because I was suppose to stand under a light but didn't know if I was standing under a light unless I looked up. They snapped a picture then and it was so funny I decided to keep it. "Looking for divine inspiration!"

Papaya for breakfast, Curried Chicken Salad on a croissant for lunch with leftover chickpea salad and out to dinner in the evening. It was a quiet day, reading and on the computer.

We had dinner at Roy's down the street. Very nice food. We thought we would go early and get a drink in the bar at 5 but Roy's doesn't open until 5:30pm. Oh, well...we sat outside until it was time for them to open. Met a couple from Canada and talked with them while we waited. We shared an "appetizer boat" that had tuna poke (raw tuna), crab and shrimp lumpia (deep fried crust filled with the crab and shrimp), Korean BBQ ribs, potstickers, and BBQ shrimp on a skewer. I had butterfish (black cod) that literally melts in your mouth like butter. Amazing texture and taste. It was served with what looked like a California sushi roll. Lots of fish on the menu at Roy's.

One more day in paradise, then back stateside. It's still raining, lol, I can hear it dripping off the eaves as I lay in bed.