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!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
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!
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....
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
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.
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
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!
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!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
I had an interview at Carson Tahoe Hospital yesterday for a weekend position in the OR. Trying to build up a savings account again by taking a nursing job. Things went well and I think they want to hire me but they have yet to make an offer. They have one more person to interview. The only drawback for them, is that I can't start until after February 21. Guess we'll see what happens!
I had dinner with one of my old SCOR co-workers, Jen. We went to Campo. I haven't been there since the grand opening. I walked in at 5:20pm, was greeted nicely but asked if I had a reservation. "A reservation for dinner in Reno?", I asked. And the answer was yes! According to the hostess, they have limited seating if you walk in with no reservation. And sure enough, by the time 6:30pm rolled around, the place was packed! What a surprise, but good for the restaurant. We split the Arancini filled with diced seafood, then shared pasta with a wild boar sauce and a sweet Italian sausage pizza. The rice in the arancini was undercooked, which made it more crunchy than creamy. The entrees were good though. We ordered dessert-bread pudding and caramel budino (Italian pudding). The budino was good but the bread pudding was dry! We were both surprised about that. We had a great time catching up. Apparently SCOR is considering hiring me per diem to work in pre-admit. We'll see what happens ere too. No offers to date.
I made bread today. A recipe variation of no knead bread. The recipe came from Chuck Hughes, a NYC chef who also has a show on the Cooking Channel. This recipe had half whole wheat flour in it and was a very wet dough. It baked up nicely and made two loaves, but my favorite is still Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread. I really like the artisan type bread best.
I made a trip down to the Apple store. My computer had an issue last night and I wanted it checked out. I learned a few things about the care of a Mac computer (although not much upkeep there). They couldn't find anything wrong with it. Ok by me!
The rest of the day was spent going through my "stuff" in an effort to pare down what I own in anticipation of a move to somewhere TBD. Getting rid of things is kind of cleansing!
I had dinner with one of my old SCOR co-workers, Jen. We went to Campo. I haven't been there since the grand opening. I walked in at 5:20pm, was greeted nicely but asked if I had a reservation. "A reservation for dinner in Reno?", I asked. And the answer was yes! According to the hostess, they have limited seating if you walk in with no reservation. And sure enough, by the time 6:30pm rolled around, the place was packed! What a surprise, but good for the restaurant. We split the Arancini filled with diced seafood, then shared pasta with a wild boar sauce and a sweet Italian sausage pizza. The rice in the arancini was undercooked, which made it more crunchy than creamy. The entrees were good though. We ordered dessert-bread pudding and caramel budino (Italian pudding). The budino was good but the bread pudding was dry! We were both surprised about that. We had a great time catching up. Apparently SCOR is considering hiring me per diem to work in pre-admit. We'll see what happens ere too. No offers to date.
I made bread today. A recipe variation of no knead bread. The recipe came from Chuck Hughes, a NYC chef who also has a show on the Cooking Channel. This recipe had half whole wheat flour in it and was a very wet dough. It baked up nicely and made two loaves, but my favorite is still Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread. I really like the artisan type bread best.
I made a trip down to the Apple store. My computer had an issue last night and I wanted it checked out. I learned a few things about the care of a Mac computer (although not much upkeep there). They couldn't find anything wrong with it. Ok by me!
The rest of the day was spent going through my "stuff" in an effort to pare down what I own in anticipation of a move to somewhere TBD. Getting rid of things is kind of cleansing!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Amazing how time flies! I tried to catch up on sleep last night, but I am rarely able to stay in bed much past 8am (they do tell you it is better to consistently get up at the same time everyday, as well as go to bed at about the same time at night, sigh).
I spent a good portion of the day developing menus for the month I am spending on Maui. I sent the menus off to my client this afternoon for review. I did not get to the drawers and closets I wanted to to try and sort through my possessions to "thin" things out. Most of have entirely too much stuff! It's amazing what we collect over the years, lol!
One of my friends from Denver sent me an application for a chef job in Aspen. Turns out the LA based company hires out domestic help, nannies, butlers, housekeepers, personal assistants, chefs and chauffeurs. Interesting, but I don't think that is quite my cup of tea. "Yes, madam, No, sir, At once, madam, etc". Sounds like the manors in England, lol.
Tomorrow I have my interview at Carson Tahoe-wish me luck! Then dinner with a friend at Campo. It will give me an opportunity to do a restaurant review. The article I did for examiner.com on food trends for 2012, was featured nationally. Kind of cool! Maybe I should be writing more, who knows? I could be a food critic/author! Lots of options, which makes it more difficult to find the right path. It will come, though.
I spent a good portion of the day developing menus for the month I am spending on Maui. I sent the menus off to my client this afternoon for review. I did not get to the drawers and closets I wanted to to try and sort through my possessions to "thin" things out. Most of have entirely too much stuff! It's amazing what we collect over the years, lol!
One of my friends from Denver sent me an application for a chef job in Aspen. Turns out the LA based company hires out domestic help, nannies, butlers, housekeepers, personal assistants, chefs and chauffeurs. Interesting, but I don't think that is quite my cup of tea. "Yes, madam, No, sir, At once, madam, etc". Sounds like the manors in England, lol.
Tomorrow I have my interview at Carson Tahoe-wish me luck! Then dinner with a friend at Campo. It will give me an opportunity to do a restaurant review. The article I did for examiner.com on food trends for 2012, was featured nationally. Kind of cool! Maybe I should be writing more, who knows? I could be a food critic/author! Lots of options, which makes it more difficult to find the right path. It will come, though.
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