Food and Music. They might be one in the same.

I'm learning more about myself as I continue to cook for clients.

My time spent in people's homes is primarily silent. The music I move to is the sounds produced by hissing pans, popping sauces, the crack of fresh produce. I am vigilant when it comes to what I feed people- it requires full concentration and fine-tuned ears. I may speak to myself every once in a while, but it's only to curse if I've forgotten an ingredient or a piece of equipment or I'm missing something- anything- and I'm put into a panic. This does not happen often. I'm usually quiet for hours on end.

I can tell when it's time to lower the temperature on a reduction ... when the bubbles move too quickly, they get a violent sound to them.

I can tell when the browning on a pork chop or chicken breast is almost done. The sizzle and seer starts to fade, moving toward charcoal instead of caramelization. The sound of food burning has a dull, dead sound. It's almost vacant.

Tomato sauce and stock should have a "blub blub" sound instead of fast paced popping and splashing.

All of this is learned over time, the more you cook the more you can recognize the familiar sounds of the kitchen. So many times I intend to let Pandora carry me to a place of effortless time-travel. When the right music is playing, time is no longer an issue. I could sway in the kitchen for hours, not noticing where the sun sat in the sky. I could only tell time by how many songs have passed and where the bread was at for rising. I suppose there is a worse existence.

Tonight I'm making chicken cordon bleu. We have so much ham in the house from Easter dinner that I have to find some way to use it every day. This seems like a nice use of a few ingredients.

Mark and I rarely ever eat poultry unless it's eggs. We only eat beef because we have a barter system with Miles Smith Farm. Fish is something I can make an exception for every once in a while, but it's once in a great while.

So I'm off to wander in the grocery store. Usually when I go there I have an agenda, a long list to fulfill. There is no room to ramble, but I will take advantage of this open afternoon to make dinner special. Mark goes in for surgery on his wrist tomorrow morning (finally!) and he won't be able to eat after 6pm tonight. I better make every bite count! There will be wine involved.

Since I've spent so much time talking about the music of food, I'll leave you with a handful of videos of songs that have been stuck in my head this week. I hope they lull you into a comfortable place- be it cooking, dancing, or walking through the grocery store.

Jack White's new one ... Love Interruption. He makes me swoon.

My sister got this one stuck. Gotye, Somebody That I Used To Know. I almost like Kimbra's part better than the rest of the song.

A sped up version of one of my favorite songs ever. Mark Bronson's spin on Amy Winehouse, Valerie. Alas, Amy isn't in this. I miss her.

I like to think of myself as a Down Home Girl ... Old Crow Medicine Show makes it sound so desirable.

Happy listening, happy eating. xo

Fat Meets Flame

That's a slightly ironic title, considering my recent cooking efforts have been lower in fat than normal.

I love butter, olive oil, lard, you name it. If it isn't awesome for me I probably love the taste of it. But, Spring has a way of putting us all on notice.

It whispers, "Oh, that's right ... you thought swimsuit season was so far away, but here's that sunshine. Here comes the warm weather faster than you expected!"

Devious being.

I've done my best to make sure we only have healthy options on hand. That's when I do things like this:

Asian Beef Stir Fry.

Lox on scrambled eggs! These were leftovers from an event I did this past weekend. 

There's no point in throwing out the last vestiges of smoked salmon. You know I'm right about this.

Which brings me to my next point. I've been meaning to update on some food reading I've been doing. After my lovely cousins in San Francisco sent me this gem, I haven't been the same:

Thank you Jessica and Mike. Your support means the world to me ... You read me like a book.

Badum-ching!

Oh, I love puns.

So I've been taking notes and picking through chapters with precision. So far so good, but every once in a while I could use a lighthearted read before I lay my head down. So I've been picking this up every once in a while:

This is perfect for short stories and articles ... for those times when you want to read something but a chapter full of anything is too much of a commitment.

In the spirit of my doing work so you don't have to, here are a few of my favorites. One or two of them I've run across already, but a re-read is never a bad thing.

1) Peasants, by Geoff Nicholson. I'll admit, I hadn't read any of his work (knowingly) until now. And then I found his blog. The guy is a genius. The story is too short. I, too, hope to one day own a swine to call my own- and feed it my kitchen scraps. Wait til you get a load of his blog. Now *that* is a good time. The title alone stops you in your proverbial tracks.

2) From Kenya, With Love, by Rick Nelson. I love the truth of food. It brings people of dynamic backgrounds together with ease. Everyone's gotta' eat- interesting how food can help us to magically cross boundaries, oceans, large expanses of land, without ever leaving our seat at the dinner table.

3) Purple Reign, by Alan Brouilette. Lots of fun on this one. I've felt that rush of performing in a kitchen. It's thrilling- addicting. Plus, I love Prince ... and potatoes ... and pie.

4) And circling around to what this whole post was about ... intuitive cooking ...

How To Become An Intuitive Cook, by Daniel Duane.

My cooking skills were learned through years of not learning any real basics. My mother is the type of cook that has a litany of cookbooks that she never opens. Her food is always flawless, but where she gets her guidance, I'll never know. This was my introduction to cooking. Just make the food. Know what your ingredients taste like, throw them together, and stay confident. When I finally got down to the brass tax of learning how to cook professionally, there were a lot of stricter elements I wasn't really prepared for. There were skills I hadn't learned the correct way ... there is always room for improvement, but it seems that my experience was the exact opposite of Mr. Duane's. This could be an asset, it could be a downfall. Only time will tell.

I haven't gotten much farther in the book. I read one or two a night depending on how early I hit the sack and how tired I am. If there's anything worth reporting, I'll certainly let you know.

Happy reading ... happy eating! xo

Using what works

My current clients all have different needs, but their desires are all the same:

They want more time for themselves.
They want to eat better; sick of over-processed foods and the sodium and calories they sneak in.
They want to lose weight. (Don't we all?)

For a few of them, Type II Diabetes is an issue. Blood pressure medications, blood sugar medications, weight management supplements ... the list goes on and on. My job is to make their lives easier and healthier. There is joy in eating, even when your dietitian says you can't eat fried foods anymore. Even when your fat intake has been reduced to 1 Tbs per day, collectively.

I get excited when I have a client with a strict diet regimen to follow. I throw conventional recipes out the window (most of the time) and custom design meals that work for their bodies. It's the most creative I can be sometimes. I like the challenge of removing soy, gluten, allergens from diets. Whole foods are my medium, fantastic meals are my art. It thrills me every day.

But creating custom meals isn't exactly what everyone needs from me. Lots of folks have time to cook at home and don't require a personal chef to take over meal preparation. They could, however, use some pointers on what to keep in their house to make sure they do not resort to take-out nightmares or reaching for processed foods that make dinner easy on your time, but murder on your organs and mind. I'm victim to it, too. This weekend my husband and I caved to cravings for chicken fingers and fries. The sodium bloat and awful moods that followed weren't worth the trip to the restaurant to pick them up. It was a nice reminder as to why we avoid foods like that. If I had just bothered to dig through the pantry, I could have made a meal that clued in to all of those alarms sounding off in my brain.









The pantry, that protected and exalted shrine of chefs and home-cooks everywhere, is the perfect place to start.

So ... what's in your pantry? Mine looks a lot like this:

Jasmine, Basmati and Brown rice in large bags.
Black, Kidney, Canellini beans (canned). Multiple bags of dried beans and lentils.
2 gallon tin of olive oil
1 gallon jug of vegetable oil
Case of diced tomatoes
Case of canned corn
Multiple 14 to 20 oz cans of tomatoes in various states
Quinoa, couscous, orzo, wild rice in large bags.
25 lbs of flour
10 lbs of sugar
Light and dark brown sugar in large bags
Kalamata and black olives, sundried tomatoes, capers, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts in jars.
Nutella. At least two jars at all times.
Large peanut butter jars, at least two.
Chicken and beef stock in cans.
2 lbs corn meal
Baking essentials: vegetable shortening, baking powder/soda, etc. all in large quantities
Various pastas in large quantities.
Onions. Potatoes. Squash. All kinds.

There's more than that, but this is a rough count of the things I keep on hand at all times. My sister jokes that if the zombie apocalypse comes we can all just hang out at the house for weeks on end without trouble.

She's partially right- I do keep a lot of various foods on hand, both for me and my clients. Not all of it fits in our kitchen. Mark and I bought shelving to keep the rest in my office- the room attached to our bedroom. I felt like a weirdo for doing that until I started reading more food blogs. Guess I'm not the only one!  What is wonderful about that is I can make countless meals out of that pantry without ever opening my refrigerator. I had to pull that off last night. Mark had poker earlier than usual and I had yet to get out and go grocery shopping. What to do? Pulled together some olive oil and garlic, diced tomatoes, capers, olives, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and simmered it all together. I added cooked pasta and bang! Easy healthy dinner!

I added feta to it because I could, but it wasn't necessary.

A well stocked pantry gives you no excuse for unhealthy shortcuts. There is too much potential within arms reach.

This is what I can offer a home cook ... insight into their pantry and ways to use all the elements to make every night fool proof.

Another thing I'm bringing to the table: herbs. T'is the season to be planting- well, almost. Sometimes all a meal needs to really shine is the addition of fresh herbs at the end.

One can save a lot of money on these things if those herbs are growing right outside their kitchen window. Herbs are fun to grow because they require little maintenance. Just some water, sunlight, maybe pinching the ends of the basil so they don't go to bolt.

Starting a kitchen herb garden is easy for me to accomplish. I've done it dozens of times with great success. For a small fee, wouldn't you love to step outside and add your own flourish to your meals? Plus, herb gardens are lovely and smell amazing. Now that's the kind of place I like to read a book or sip a cup of coffee. Sounds delightful, doesn't it?

In other news, I'm finally working on setting up my web site: www.foreverfeasting.com. Soon you should be able to have one spot to find all of my pricing (without endless searching), special offers, how to purchase gift certificates, sample menus, links to my blog, the whole bit!

All in good time. I'm so excited to have it done.

I'm so excited that you showed up to read this, too. Thank you for giving me some of your time.

May your week feel like a feast for your belly and your soul. xo

Faking it.

Chances are if you're too busy to make dinner for yourself when you get home, you're probably too busy to make a decent lunch to bring to work.

Let's face it, eating well isn't easy for a lot of us. As my client Debbie explained, "it's any port in the storm" when you're spreading yourself thin among myriad projects.

That's when my services can come in handy. You know good food. You know how to keep yourself fed. However, there is no shame in asking for some assistance. It's the only way I've ever gotten anywhere in my life- by asking for help when I need it. Providing lunches to clients is something I do on a regular basis. I'm already in their kitchen, why can't I help with that, too? Even just offering an extra serving or two of dinner to eat later the next day can make all the difference to someone who's trying to eat better when they're out of the house.

Okay, enough of the soap box- let's talk grub!

Even personal chefs run short on time for their own meals. Here's a fun way I got out of it once:

What in the world is this? It's called a cheat!

I'm calling it Lemon Cheat Cake. Mark and I had dinner plans with my in-laws a few weeks ago. Amid my busy schedule I had to find time to make dessert to bring with us. Something that went with lobster rolls and a strawberry and spinach salad.

My mother-in-law, Diane, is a huge fan of lemon (as am I)- so I knew I had to start there ... Hmmm. Lemon and blueberries?

I wanted to make panna cotta, but there wasn't time. I had only an hour to make it once I had ingredients in hand. 

Behold, the results.

I knew a good place to start was the bakery in my local grocery store. Turns out they had lemon pound cake on sale. That was a good start. So, we work with that. I've always loved mascarpone cheese, so I figured I would mix some lemon zest into that along with some confectioners sugar to create a "cream cheese frosting" kind of deal.

I cut the cake slices with a biscuit cutter and they fit perfectly into these ramekins I had at home. I put a shmear of cheese at the bottom of each, then a layer of pound cake, then cheese, then cake, until the pots were full. I finished with a layer of the cheese and added some garnish.

But I wasn't done there. You can't just eat something that rich without some flavors to cut it.

I bought some blueberries, blackberries and Moscato. I did some partial mashing of the berries in a half cup of the wine, then added sugar, half a vanilla bean, and some lemon juice. I let all of it macerate up until spooning it onto our cakes.

Let me tell ya', the result was so awesome! And with very little effort on my part. A sweet riff on bread, cheese and wine. What's not to like??

So, feel free to put this to use in your own kitchen. Individual desserts seem so fancy- and they help with portion control. Why not make your guests feel super special with fewer steps that normal? You'll all end up happy. 

I wish you spring flavors and meals that end in smiles! xo

Late night reading.

Picked up the Blogger.com app for my Droid. Now I can add all kinds of wonderful tasting tid-bits any time, anywhere. Not too shabby!
Tonight, since sleep has felt so distant in recent days, I am working on finishing this insight into a mind: Ferran.
I'll tell you how it ends... He is wealthy and famous while the rest of us scratch our heads.
I've also created a wishlist on half.com consisting entirely of food reference and method text.
My tax return can't come fast enough.
Back to reading- and hopefully sleeping!
Delicious dreams, everyone. Xo



* So, that was a post at 11pm last night. I'm the type of person who becomes so consumed by things that I feel the need to own every text involved in that craft. My book shelves at home are organized according to activity ... Art/Painting, Gardening, Music, Yoga, Hiking ... and cooking.

In the nature of knowing that my tax return is on the horizon and the fact that I have a long list of titles to go until I'm satisfied, I made a "wishlist" on Half.com. Here are the titles I know will satisfy my craving for more information all the time:

The Essential Pepin ... Because I'm in love with Jacques Pepin.

The Escoffier Cook Book ... He's the father of modern cuisine. He's borderline mandatory.

Building A Meal ... Molecular Gastronomy to Culinary Constructivism. It sounds like a dry read, but I'm up for it.

One Big Table ... I have several friends who swear by the unique recipes in this book ... around 600 of them!

Cuisine and Culture ... a history of food and people. Talk about insight into the minds of human beings.

The Professional Chef ... by the Culinary Institute of America. It's a crime that I don't already own this, but it's really expensive. Money has quite a say in anything I do.

In the mean time I got a call from the husband, anxiously monitoring the weather from Las Vegas. Rumor has it he'll probably be delayed in Denver. Is it strange that I'm slightly jealous of him? If you're going to get stuck anywhere, darling, Colorado is where it's at. Besides the fact that we used to live on its distant outskirts and have friends on all sides, it is quite a place for eating great food. Should he be stuck, I hope he at least leaves the airport for dinner.

I hope the rest of you "fly" safely tonight, too. When in doubt, stay in and cook. xo

I see where you've bean.

Glorious, golden, tasty soup!

Melissa is a fifth grade teacher and she has school vacation at the moment. We spent most of our Monday organizing the house, including the shared pantry and my office. Now, being a personal chef means I'm always prepared for meal-making. Someone needs something last minute? Worry not, I have what it takes to make a meal with any amount of notice. I see that as being prepared ...

My sister let me know that she wouldn't worry too much about the zombie apocalypse due to my over preparation. She concluded that we had enough cans of various beans to survive several months in seclusion.  I had to agree with her. 

Squash, too. We still have lots of that. But it's winter still! We have to eat those kinds of food and have much of it on hand so we're forcing ourselves to eat it. Seasonal eating is the right thing to do, I swear! So, with another meeting of the CPCBC looming in the not-so-distant horizon I had to figure out what to do with said ingredients ... beans and squash. 

TADA! Butternut squash soup with Cannellini beans. I didn't have *all* the ingredients that an epicurious recipe required, so this is my version of my new favorite soup. (No lies there, it is my new favorite.)

Chop up a few strips of bacon and render them in your pot. Remove the bits when they're crispy and leave the fat behind. Add to the bacon fat a medium onion and several cloves of garlic (like, 6- I told you this stuff was good!). When they're starting to caramelize, add three cups of vegetable OR chicken stock. I went veggie for this one (vegan, in fact). Let that come to a boil, then add a whole butternut squash, cubed. Also, add one can of cannellini beans (with liquid) and a can of diced tomatoes (with liquid). Don't forget to salt as you go!

The next addition was not my idea, but I'm glad I used it ... I took two more cans of beans and pureed them in my food processor, then added that to the soup mix. Instant thickening agent, zero slurry struggle. I like that.

So, let that whole mess cook until the squash is soft. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with bacon. I was so anxious to eat the damn concoction that I forgot to photograph my bowl with the garnish. [facepalm]

It was worth it. So satisfying, so filling. Ideal dinner right there. Plus, fairly low in fat when you consider that you really only use two tablespoons of bacon fat for the whole pot. Not too shabby.

Melissa winged this pasta dish and it came out great! Cherry tomatoes, peas, seasoned chicken breast, bacon, parmesan, whole wheat penne. Top notch meal, sister. Well done.

Allie's light, buttery, satisfyingly savory pastry puffs were filled with chicken, green beans, cream cheese ...

Allie, can you post the recipe in the comments section? This stuff was dynamite. I ate close to five of them. Very close.

Hanna rushed over from work, but stopped to pick up some veg on the way.

I braised these guys quickly, then added olive oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper.

So easy, but wicked fancy. You know it's spring when ...

AND there was bread. Hanna brought a rosemary loaf. So we dunked it in olive oil. 

I mean, what else *could* you do with it?

Casey came along for the banter and food ... two bottles of wine between us three gals and we were ready to call it a night. Mark and Hannah's significant, Josh, are both in Vegas right now enjoying the desert air and neon glow of where sin resides. The two could use a vacation, so us gals sat up watching Bizarre Foods, Unique Eats, really anything Food Network or Cooking Channel had to offer after 10.

Overall, a successful night was had. And there's left over soup for lunch. Now that's the way to put a Monday to bed:

Well fed. xo

Pin it.

 Ya'll know how passionate I am about food.

I mean, if you've read any of these posts you'd have an idea. It was a leap of faith to venture into the realm of entrepreneurship, but if I've learned anything in this short life of mine it is that anything worth doing is that which makes our heart sing with joy and pound with anxiety at the same time.

The reason I keep this blog running is to share my food passion with everyone. It's a great place for my new clients and colleagues to get a decent idea of where my heart lies when it comes to my career and what I bring to the table. My professional career started in journalism and I've made every effort to give myself a writing outlet no matter what job I've held. I'd like to think that people follow some blogs not just for the content they cover, but for a great read ... in some cases.

And then I was invited to join Pinterest.

Now, I dig Pinning. It's very visual and it's a nice way for great blogs across the internet to reach new audiences. But it's strictly visual. Photographs are fun to share, but what about the content behind them? I wish you could pin content, but that essentially pulls away from what makes Pinterest work. Pretty pretty pictures are what internet sharing is all about.

So ... here come some pretty pretty pictures ... as best I can provide them.

My Clean Plate Cook Book Club is what I look forward to every Monday. It's quite the way to end the first day of the week ... fantastic food and wine. I mean, what's not to like?

In fact, CPCBC is inspiring me to offer cooking parties as a part of my Forever Feasting repertoire. We make it happen for ourselves on a regular basis, but it's also a concept worth sharing.

If you're reading this, I'm sure you know a group of women in your life who love to cook and enjoy eating together. Wouldn't you love to get together to make a meal together with all the actual shopping and cleaning done for you?

Yeah, me too.

So, I just wanted to share some photos from our last CPCBC get together. We have another one planned tonight and I will post pictures from it as well. Sharing a meal is so satisfying. I'm so lucky that I get to do it for a living!

Fortunes from the cookies we dipped in chocolate fondue, thank you Shakira!

Kira and Allie in prep mode. These girls sure can cook. Allie made us all Vietnamese meatball subs. They were to DIE for. She always nails it.

I'm adding this photo because the concoction was amazing- though not a CPCBC creation. My roommate Matt spent time abroad in Australia and brought back the Aussie Burger ingrained in his memory log of all things delicious. Just layer beets (we used sliced canned beets) with a burger pattie of your choice (Matt makes his with turkey), then a fried egg, cheese, avocado, pineapple, bacon, tomato, and condiments of your choice. Sounds like a mouthful? It is. And it is delicious!