Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Monday started out slow, but then I ran errands, shopped for my personal chef client, then baked in the afternoon. I made Parkerhouse rolls (Bobby Flay's recipe from a "Throwdown" episode), mini pumpkin pies and a Limoncello Icebox Cake (that looked more like a trifle than a cake since they suggested putting it in a trifle dish-looks pretty though!). Busy afternoon! I also used double stick tape to keep the "April Bakes" insert in my new pamphlet. All 250!

Tuesday they cancelled my PT appt, but that still did not give me a timely start that morning. I don't know why it is so, but printing off packaging labels is not as easy as it should be. Avery has free templates online and you can design whatever you want online but there always seems to be an issue. My MAC, for instance, does not print off labels as easily as my older HP laptop. Go figure! I had a dozen packs of Molasses Ginger Cookies to drop off to Karen at Hillbilly Hotdogs. I didn't want to make two trips, so took the time to get everything together as well as packing up the car to go to my personal chef gig after I dropped off cookies. That made me slightly late, but Karen didn't seem to mind.

After I dropped off her order, I went to my clients house to cook. I made a full Thanksgiving dinner for him (he'll be out of town for Thanksgiving but wanted turkey!). It's hard finding a turkey before November 1! I ended up getting a big turkey breast and two turkey legs. I roasted the turkey using a herbed butter. You mix butter, thyme, lemon zest and parsley together, then rub half od it under the turkey skin and the other half on the outside of the turkey. Mashed potatoes, glazed carrots with an orange-ginger sauce, simple stuffing, and Parkerhouse rolls. But before all that, I made Orange Teriyaki Beef, Prawns in Green Chili, roasted pork with Orange-Pomogranite Glaze, and roasted harvest vegetables. Busy day! I just added picture of the Thanksgiving dinner I made, as well as the Limoncello Icebox Cake (which looks like more of a triffle!).

Wednesday, today, had me up early so I could run errands. I checked out the cookware situation at Standards of Excellence, closed my last bank account at Nevada State bank then went to deposit that money into my account at Great Basin (why does banking have to be so difficult?). I stopped and had a bowl of soup at Backstubbe, bought cat food then went home. I gathered up some of my pamphlets and hand delivered them to the medical offices at 343 Elm Street and St Mary's Center for Wellness. Some people even recognized who I was! Very cool!

Late dinner with Jordan (because he teaches from 7-8pm) and now bed. My hands are really dry from all that hand washing and dishwashing. I had to give them a break today!

Walmart flu clinic in Carson all day tomorrow! It's money, so I can't complain too loud.
L

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Friday was spent running errands (Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies to Karen of Hillbilly Hotdogs, Cinnamon Palmiers to Bill Glaser, who has a hair salon-he hung up the card Michael gave him and I ended up getting a referral from that, then delivered Grilled Asparagus with Orange Wasabi Sauce to my personal chef client-I didn't quite get everything done on Tuesday).

I otherwise spent the day on the computer doing recipe research, something I could do all day every day. Looking at recipes, coming up with ideas, putting dishes together for an entire meal. Great fun and relaxing (what can I say?)!

Friday evening Jordan and I went to Fine Vines for their upscale wine tasting. For $16 you get a flight of wines to try (in this case all reds) and a cheese platter for two for $12 (they also sell cheese and a limited charcuterie-yum!). We had a nice time and we spent some time with Tom, the owner, and I was able to tell him how much people enjoyed his wine at the farm to table. He was happy about that. Hopefully we will be able to work together again sometime.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty much the same, with the addition of housecleaning duties and laundry. I did have lunch with Janell at Sushi Rose on Saturday, talked to my sister, Michele and spent a little time with Crazy Mary (who at least will come out from under the bed now!).

Jordan and I went for a walk at Doroskar Park on Mayberry off 4th Street. It was a beautiful afternoon. I also baked Molasses Cookies for Karen (Hillbilly Hotdogs) to be delivered Tuesday morning. I need to get them packaged and a header put on the bags so she can hang them up with the potato chips.

I will have a lot of baking to do tomorrow as I am going to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for my personal chef client Tuesday. He'll be out of town for Thanksgiving so wanted to make sure he got a Thanksgiving meal, lol. Works for me! I love a good turkey dinner! I'll be making mini pumpkin pies tomorrow as well as Limoncella Icebox Cake and dinner rolls tomorrow. Should be fun!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Tuesday was my personal chef job day, although I started the day off with physical therapy. Yep, still going, but only once a week now.

Tuesday I cooked roast lamb chops with a pinot noir sauce, Israeli couscous (a large grain, not small) with roasted eggplant and a cumin vinaigrette, Butter roasted chicken with roasted root vegetables, chicken Tangine, Hangar steak with Cherry-Shallot sauce, Pomme de Terre Au Bougourie, chocolate mousse, Sautéed Cabbage, sausage-apple crossovers made with puff pastry, black bean hummus and ribollita soup. Long day, but well worth it. I had a lamb dinner with Michael along with a glass of 2006 Chateau nuf de Pape. Quite nice!

Wednesday and Thursday were Wellness Clinics, one in Carson, the other in Sparks. Let me tell you...4:30am comes awfully early nowadays!! I had to be at the clinics by 6am (!). They both went well, though and I've enjoyed the new people I have met.

I got a call from Karen of Hillbilly Hotdogs, telling me people were asking for my cookies by name, lol. So she ordered half a dozen for tomorrow and a dozen more packages for next Tuesday. Guess we'll see what happens (as always). So for tomorrow I made Chocolate Chocolate chunk cookies. Very chocolaty!

Tonight for dinner I made Butter roasted chicken legs with herbs along with roasted vegetables. Very tasty indeed! But now I am tired and it's time for bed. Ciao!

Monday, October 10, 2011

A pretty quiet weekend. Did some baking. I made some cookies that tasted like pecan sandies but had two ingredients in them I was surprised at. They used raspberry vinegar and rum extract (besides the usual butter, sugar, etc).

Sunday Jordan and I went to Jan and Jim Loverin's to go over the finances from the farm to table dinner. We lost money on that even (although it seemed quite successful) but gained experience, so everyone seemed ok with that. If we do it again next hear, we will have to raise the price though. We need to at least break even and obviously the goal is to make some money. We had a nice dinner though! And it was Jim's birthday so Jan made Prune Cake. Quite tasty!

Today, Monday, I thought I would be working on the computer, running a couple of errands, but ended up having lunch with Ric (can we all say-Arlington Gardens?) and getting a last minute dinner request for today! One of the nurses I used to work with in the NICU at St Mary's, emailed me and said she knew it was last minute, but she saw my card at Bill Glaser's shop, and wondered if I could make a pot roast dinner for her 13th anniversary. Since I was off, I called her and said yes! It was nice catching up with her. I made pot roast with gravy, buttery egg noodles, roasted root vegetables and plum tarts for dessert. Hopefully they liked it!

Tomorrow is PT in the morning, then cooking for my personal chef client. Wednesday and Thursday are wellness clinics for Summit, when I go back to wearing my nurse's hat.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Thursday morning was spent doing culinary business and running errands. Almost always something to do when you work for yourself!

Thursday afternoon I drove out past Carson City to the Home Depot on Jacks Valley Rd. What a difference a day makes. The manager I was suppose to deal with took the day off and told me I would be assisted by Shauna. I think I saw Shauna twice in the four hours I was there and got more help from the staff that my "assistant". Oh, well, it was still a nice afternoon, although I only gave 28 flu shots (I guess each store needs to have a minimum number of people or they can't have an in-house clinic. At least I drove ho e in better weather than I had on the drive out there!

I stopped by Trader Joes to get a few groceries on my way home, then came home to wait for Jordan to finish his class.

At 8pm, we went over to Kasia and Gary's house for dinner. We had a sauerkraut dish, two types of sausages, boiled potatoes, broccoli and bread. Very nice meal. There is a gentleman that Jordan knows visiting from California, so they got to visit. I was tired so we didn't stay late. I went home and went to bed, lol!

Today I was off but had quite a few errands to do. Janell and I went to lunch (she was laid off Thursday afternoon) and ran errands together. We got a lot done! (Although I still need to laundry and get Ah Choo and bing him home.)

One of the other personal chef's in town had an open house, so I attended that. The "party" was held at The Koffee Shoppe on Vassar. I've never been. Nice decor. Good food. I didn't stay long but it was nice to finally meet Rachel K.

Now it's bedtime-lots of routine here, lol.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Tuesday was my personal chef day, although I didn't get a very early start! Working in the new kitchen at my client's new house has been great! Lots of room to work, an oven (!), and a beautiful house to boot! I made Fresh Lemon Mousse, French Chicken in a Pot with Mashed Potatoes, Broiled Salmon with a Mustard Crust, Green Beans with Creme Fraiche, Shrimp with Vanilla Buerre Blanc over Coconut Cardamom Rice, Mostaccoli (now that brings back memories of the Midwest!), Mixed Green Salad with Blackberry Vinaigrette, Mini Zucchini and Goat Cheese Tarts, and Pork Loin Chops Milanese. Lots of fun! The butcher at Whole Foods said to me, " Looks like you have a specific meal in mind for all this". I told him I was a personal chef and was making lots of meals today. He seems suitably impressed, lol. Hope that gets me better service! It did take me all afternoon to get things done, but the time seems to have gone quickly.

Today (Wednesday), it was computer business in the morning, then a flu shot clinic in the afternoon at Home Depot. The clinic went well, I think. Nice people there all wanting a flu shot, no soliciting on my part, like at Walmart. I have another clinic Thursday afternoon, in Carson City. Hope that also goes well!

Jordan and I had dinner with Michael at La Vecchia. Guess the restaurant in moving, October 22, up to Skyline Drive. The city or RTC has bought a lot of land around S. Virginia and Moana so they can widen the road! The food was fantastic! The chef there is from Italy and does a great job! I had Pumpkin Ravioli in a Sage-Brown Butter Sauce (I've always wanted to try to make these but have yet to do it) with Italian Sausage (homemade sausage, not the usual run of the mill Italian sausage!). Yum! Michael had Ravioli with a Boglonese and Jordan had Carpacio. Everyone seemed pleased with their food!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Spent the weekend resting between bouts of cleaning, grocery shopping and checking out recipes. I never ceased to be amazed at the number of recipes there are online. I made one of the oatmeal recipes called "Oatmeal Claflouti". It really is a breakfast bar but comes out a little creamier than most and freezes well. The original recipe comes from Quaker Oats, but I got it off the website "Chocolate&Zucchini.com, written by a French woman. I also enjoy looking at www.cookingchanneltv.com, www.foodnetwork.com, www.epicurious.com, www.bonappetit.com, www.joyofbaking.com and believe it or not, www.coffeehousemysteries.com (a mystery writer who hands out some great recipes!). Jordan and I did manage to go out for lunch Sunday at Burger Me-not too impressed.

Today was filled with a PT appointment then off to work at the Walmart in Carson City most of the day. I also dropped off cookies for Thunderbird Lodge, probably for the last time as their tours are winding down. Chocolate Chip Cookies, no nuts! I chatted with Mindy for a bit (from the Thunderbird office) and she says they may use me for other projects/events. We'll see! This particular job has taught me a lot about packaging and presentation, so I don't mind that I did not make a lot of money baking cookies for Thunderbird.

Tomorrow is my personal chef day, so better rest up! No elaborate dessert this week, lol, just Fresh Lemon Mousse.

ZM, alias Crazy Mary (from an old Thin Man movie-William Powell/Myrna Loy) alias Tigger is still twitchy, still hisses for no good reason, but right this minute is sitting so close to me I can't move, lol. Go figure! Night all!