Friday, March 30, 2012

Breakfast this morning was Yogurt Fruit parfaits (picture to follow!). I started making my own yogurt using the EasiYo method developed in New Zealand. They use a powdered form complete with yogurt cultures rather than the older method of heating your milk, cooling it a bit, then adding purchased yogurt as your culture. You then heat it for 8-12 hours and you have yogurt. The EasiYo method is pretty self-contained and easier. I prefer Greek yogurt-it has more protein in it than regular yogurt, plus I like the taste and consistency better (Greek yogurt is usually thicker).

We left home after cleaning up dishes and made a stop at Michael's first (to check out crafts for baking), then went on to Trader Joe's. Vicki had never been to a Trader Joe's. She's hooked now though, lol. However, there are no Trader Joe's in Texas. Bummer... Since we were so close, I took her to "Nothing Bundt Cakes" and "Edible Arrangements". She was impressed by those also!

We had lunch at BJ's Brewery down by Mt Rose-got right in and enjoyed a salad and flatbread. Vicki especially liked their Tropical tea and even got an iced tea to go.

From there, we drove up to Virginia City. I can't believe she's never been! The drive up to Virginia City was sunny and just lovely, but by the time we reached our destination, it had gotten cloudy and colder. Even so, we walked from one endof the town to the other, stopping in several shops. We had out picture taken in the Virginia City "jail" and bought ourselves some fudge and toffee at "Grandma's Fusge". We stayed a couple of hours then came back down the mountain.

Our next stop was the Chocolate Bar. Vickie said she has never been to a chocolate bar, so how could we NOT go?! We got our seats, then proceeded to order the chocolate fondue (it came with bananas, strawberries, cubes of pound cake and brownies) and thw Caramel Brownie with ice cream. We had so much sugar, we ended up ordering a steak appetizer to add some savory to our sweet. You could have rolled us out the door. I think Vickie has a higher sugar tolerance than I do, lol! She ate more.

After the Chocolate Bar, it was home to make dinner for Jordan (ugh! More food?!). I made pot roast with carrots and potatoes. It takes less than an hour to put it together, then cook it in the pressure cooker. Vickie and I did eat a little-it was probably good for us to eat "real" food! Besides, Jordan needed the company at dinner.

Vickie and I have been talking a lot about baking since she got here. I showed her how I make my No Knead bread (from Jim Laey's book by the same name). She was impressed at how easy it was. The dough will sit overnight and I'll bake it in the morning. We'll see if she is still impressed tomorrow!

It was a long day and the day was full, so now it's bedtime.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

We got up slowly this morning, at least Vickie and I did. Jordan was up at 4:30am as was Ah Choo. I baked an Oven Apple Pancake for breakfast this morning. You saute apple slices in butter, cinnamon and brown sugar, then pour a batter over it and finish it off in the oven. Yum!! A little powdered sugar sprinkle and serve.

Vickie has asthma and has not done well with living with Ah Choo, so poor Ah Choo got shipped off to Janell's house. :-(. It seems strange not having him around, even Vickie said so!

After that, we drove up to Truckee, where we had lunch at Moody's. I wrote an article a week or so ago about all the changes at Moody's, but had not had a chance to get there because of bad weather. So today, we decided that would be as good a place as any to test drive there new menu. We started off with Truffled Deviled Eggs, then moved on to a Roasted Beet Salad with Frisee and shaved Parmesan cheese. The next course was Potato Leek Soup (that was OMG good!). We also had Maple Glazed Pork Belly with a mixed green salad and sliced apples. I ordered their mussels that came in a coconut chile sauce-Vicki had one, and I ate the rest myself, lol! They were very good!. As a finale (although we did debate having dessert as we were so full despite sharing everything) we had their Chocolate Whoopie Pie with Peanut Butter filling served with vanilla ice cream drizzled with peanut sauce. Lord have mercy! It did not look like any whoopie pie we had ever seen but did it ever taste good. Everything we ate was excellent. Then after all that, they comped us! Could it be because I said I was there to follow up on an article I had written for Examiner.com? I think so, cause the manager I interviewed came over to introduce himself, lol. I asked them if they were sure they really wanted to do this and they said yes. How nice was that?!?

We walked off lunch while strolling through some of the shops along Truckee's main drag, then hopped back in the car and drove to Lake Tahoe via Hwy 89. Beautiful scenery! We stopped at several placed at the Lake so Vickie could take pictures. Emerald Bay was closed due to snow and ice, so I didn't feel so bad that we did not have time to drive completely around the lake. By the time we left to drive back to Reno, it was cloudy and getting colder at the Lake.

We got back to the house in time for my sister to pick us up and drive us to dinner. We went to Campo, downtown. Since we weren't too hungry, we shared the small charcuterie plate (everything but the cheese made on the premises), Vickie had a salad, Janell had a small order of pasta and Vickie and I shared a Margherita pizza-most of which we brought home. We had a nice time with Janell. She and Vickie had not seen each other for quite some time.

Now, here we are, stuffed, in our jammies and getting ready for bed (while Jordan is still at work!).
'Night all!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

My how time flies!

Sunday was a quiet day. I made Chocolate Orange Truffles (will add pictures tomorrow!) and worked on the computer. The LAHI project is done, as is my map of LA County hospitals in ArcGIS. Now the two projects need to be merged (above my pay grade). Interesting project!

Monday I went shopping for my personal chef client. I usually shop at Whole Foods, I like their meat and seafood especially. Sometimes I shop at Trader Joe's. We had the house cleaned today also, in anticipation of my friend's visit on Wednesday. In the adternoon, I mixed up cookie dough for "Big Chocolate Chunk Cookies" and made Pineapple Tartlets. I read some and rubbed the kitty belly.

Tuesday I cooked up a storm. My client had a big list! Brisket with Root Vegetables,

Austrian Pork Stew served over egg noodles,

Turkish Chicken Thighs, Lamb Masala with Jeweled Rice,

Crab Salad melts, Asparagus Soup with a crispy proscuitto garnish,

Apple Turkey Piccadillo,

Caribbean Wraps (chicken, mango, cilantro, onions and black beans), "Sassy" Asian Tacos, Orzo with Broccoli and Almonds, and a Mixed green salad with tomatoes, goat cheese and white beans. All yummy but we'll see if my clint is happy! I was too tired to blog by the time I got home last night!

Today I ran errands before I picked up my friend, Vicki, from the airport. She flew in from Houston to see me. We've been friends for over 35 years!! It was great to see her. And it is the one year anniversary of our friend Betty's death.

We went out to lunch at the Wine and Cheese Board and had a great time. Then went shopping at Kohl's. Retail therapy always helps, lol.

Tonight for dinner I roasted Yukon gold baby potatoes as well as a pork loin roast wrapped in pancetta (Italian bacon). I served it with asparagus. Everyone enjoyed it-including me! Vicki went to bed early-she's two hours ahead of us by her internal clock. Me? I'm blogging, then a little reading, then bed.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Jordan and I went out to breakfast with friends this morning. Hobey's in Sun Valley. They had spinach omelets as their special-those are pretty good. And you can't beat the prices! It's also a great place to people watch.

I dropped Jordan off at the University, then met my sister, Janell at my house. She wanted some company while she drove across town, so I went with her.

I was suppose to meet one of the waitresses, Mickie, from Arlington Gardesn at 1pm but she got sick this morning. She wants me to help her make appetizers for a church fundraiser in May. At least 1,500 individual pieces (150 pieces of each of 10-12 different appetizers!). She wants me to see the church and their kitchen and see what I think and what I might be letting myself in for, lol. Guess we'll try for tomorrow.

So instead of touring the church, I stayed home and cleaned. I went through my office and re-organized it, (getting rid of a few things it was obvious I was not going to use), threw out a dying plant, did a little dusting, watered the rest of the plants, washed the sheets, changed the bed covers to a lighter weight (spring!) and now I am going to try and finish the LAHI project. Ah Choo is off sleeping on the stairs-he's very tired after helping me in my office!

Chicken with roasted potatoes and steamed globe artichokes for dinner tonight. I still want to try and bake a small batch of chocolate chip cookies, see how easy/hard it is to make only 8 cookies at a time.

A lovely day today-sunny and warm. Yeah!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Thursday was pretty much spent on my computer, correcting a map in ArcGIS and working on the LAHI project. I did make it out to lunch with my friend, Ric. To Arlington Gardens-his favorite place. There is something to be said for going to a place where everyone knows your name (sounds like a song!).

Today, I ran a couple of errands, but again, worked in ArcGIS, AND finally finished the map, at least as far as I can take it for now. Still working on the LAHI project, slow but sure. I like being busy.

One of the waitresses at Arlington Gardens does a lot of volunteer work at her church and asked if I would help her cater a fund raiser in May. We are meeting tomorrow to go see the church and talk about submitting a bid. We'll see what happens.

I took the Pistachio Cake out of the freezer last night and put it in the fridge. We went over to Kasia and Gary's for corned beef and cabbage (it went with the green cake!). I'll add pictures of the cake tomorrow, when I am back on my computer. Everyone liked the cake. And it was good, if I do say so myself! But it IS green!

I took a picture of the pistachio cake without the milk crumb on top before taking the cake over to my friend's house just to show the really green frosting, lol.

I'm thinking of what cake to make next-I could make my own birthday cake! Hmmmmm, gotta think about that..

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The first day of spring! And what a lovely day it was. Sunny, in the 60s-what more could one ask for (I don't know. a million bucks? Nah..)

I baked No Knead bread this morning, after mixing the dough yesterday. I love how this recipe works. It's from Jim Lahey's book, "No Knead Bread". I just read he is coming out with a new book called "My Pizza" using the same method as for his No Knead bread. Works for me!

After I got the bread in the oven, I mixed up dough for Blueberries and Cream cookies, one of the recipes from the Momofuko Milk Bar cookbook. I still find Christina Tossi's recipes intriguing-such an unusual mix of ingredients and flavors. Makes me want to bake my way through her book just to try things out!

I went out with my sister, Janell after that. We did errands, ate lunch at Sushi Rose (it was better than the last time we were there) then went to Kohl's to do a little retail therapy. I bought a Kitchenaid hand mixer. When I am using small quantities of whipping cream or egg whites, my Kitchenaid stand mixer is just too big. And if I want to make any small batch baking, you really need a hand mixer to do them justice and not make yourself crazy. Then it was home and time to get some work done.

I spent the afternoon working on the LAHI project. What a mess some of these files are in! I've been searching the OSHPD.ca.gov website for various information. Sometimes it's there and sometimes it isn't. Just goes to show that life IS messy-clean it up! While I was working on those files, Jordan came home and had a conference call to listen to one of the masters students defend his dissertation. I thought the student was a little confused and did not clearly present his material-I guess all the professors agreed, cause they put the student off for the time being. Poor guy!

I took a break and baked up the Blueberries and Cream cookies. They are tasty! The use freeze-dried blueberries (Trader Joe's) and the rest of the Milk Crumb recipe I had left from making the pistachio cake (which, by the way, get's it's "unveiling" on Friday evening at dinner). Yum! And not too much sugar. I did add a 1/2 cup more flour than the recipe called for after I remembered how much the previous cookies I made from this cookbook spread. These cookies turned out nicely shaped and rounded.

Dinner was leftover Beef Bourguignon. I served it over mashed potatoes. Even better the second day!

After dinner, I did a little more work mapping in ArchGIS, then worked in Excel and before I knew it it was time for bed.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Tuesday is when I go to my personal chef job (cooking in my client's home). Sometimes it takes all day, sometimes no. Today I had time some computer work in the morning, then packed up all my cooking "stuff" and headed off to cook.

Today I made Cavatelli pasta with Sweet Italian Sausage and Roasted Bell Peppers-

Beef Tenderloin on a bed of Spinach Pesto and Roasted Potatoes-

a mini Swiss Chard and Gruyere Cheese tart-

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon-

a French recipe for Pork Belly with Lentils-

Chicken Piccata-

Chinese Chicken Salad with Baked Ramen Noodles (sorry, no picture :-(, and Beef Bourguignon-

Long day! Good cooking though-always enjoy cooking and baking!