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.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Rain, rain, rain....at least until about mid-day. I carved a pineapple and made a yogurt-oatmeal-chopped pineapple meusli-type mix for breakfast (last night) and served it for breakfast. The pineapple (Hawaiian Gold) was quite good. There was a trip to the grocery store for a couple of things. With everything so expensive here, when I saw all-purpose flour on sale for $1.99 for five pounds, we bought it! That doesn't usually happen, even stateside! It will be there when I come back in January.

I did manage a trip to the pool this morning for a bit. After all that rain, it managed to turn into a nice day. Lunch was chicken and couscous leftovers. Still tasty.

Dinner was Garlic Shrimp and pasta with a salad. A combination of new shrimp and leftover pasta and vegetables.

Dessert was mini apple pies with whipped cream. I'm actually tired tonight so am going to bed early. Not many days left in Hawaii!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

This morning dawned bright and sunny again-very nice to see! We went out for Sunday brunch at the Ka'anipali Beach Resort. They are the only Sunday brunch on the island apparently! And it's a champagne brunch, lol! Most everyone is seated outside, although the brunch buffet was inside what looked to be a showroom of some sort. They offered a lot of Chinese style dishes as well as roasted potatoes, breakfast sausages (sorry, no bacon), and scrambled eggs. After that long set of tables was the the salad bar with fresh fruit (watermelon, pineapple and green melon). They had an omelet station and a seafood station with sushi. Lots of food! There was also a separate dessert set of tables complete with a chocolate fountain. It did bring back memories of Bolongo, although we didn't do anything so grand as this buffet.

After brunch we went walking on Ka'anipali Beach and I walked a bit in the water. It's cold! I was told the water temperature of the ocean in Hawaii is about 78 degrees, but it felt colder than that. Ah, well. We also stopped at the store in the Kapalua complex and looked around. They have a small grocery store, deli and gift shop. A pound of strawberries was $10.49!! A pint of raspberries was $6.98 but a pint of blueberries from Chile was only $5.55 (only! Guess it all depends on your point of view). I did take pictures so I'll have to come back and add them.

I was planning on going to the pool in the afternoon, but it rained. The sun did end up coming out for a bit and I did get to go to the pool, but when it started to rain again, that was the end of it. Dinner was Roasted Ribeye Steak with a Red Wine Pan Sauce, baked Muffin Pan Potato Gratin and a green salad with Emmenthaler Cheese and walnuts and Dijon Vinaigrette. Nice dinner! Especially since there was a bottle of 2007 Chateauneuf de Pape from France. Very smooth!

No Charlie Brown special tonight,lol. Instead it was Masterpiece Theater on PBS. Not much else to report...