Referrals, networking and marketing, oh my!

It was so great to meet with Heather Berkowitz, the co-founder of Classic Nannies today.   The timing couldn’t be better, considering my current quest to market my personal chef business, Chow for Now, to families.  Even

better, I love the idea of working with another woman-owned business.

I know how difficult it can be to juggle work, exercise, family and life.  And many times, nutrition is the first thing to be pushed aside.  I understand how much easier it is to go out to eat or to order take out because the idea of grocery shopping and cooking is daunting after a long day.  Plus, there are so many conflicting news items about what foods are “good” for you and which ones are not.  They even just updated the food pyramid!  It can be confusing and exhausting.  I can take away some of the stress by giving you your TIME back. 

Chow for Now personal chef service includes menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and packaging your dinners for a week during one scheduled cook day. I cook in your home, allowing the distinct scents of home-cooked meals to drift through your kitchen (think lemon roasted chicken or butternut squash lasagna) and I leave simple instructions making  it easy for you to heat up your food each night at your leisure.

In addition to weekly personal chef services, I offer daily “eat in” service, small party catering, gift certificates (for new parents, perhaps?), “adults night in” cooking classes, romantic dinners for two (we know it’s hard to get a babysitter sometimes) and cooking for your child’s birthday parties!  Think about how awesome it will be to have one less thing to worry about when your beloved Jack or Jane is turning 5 and you have 25 adults and their kids coming over!

The point of hiring a personal chef is to free up your time to be with your family.  How much is your time worth?  It all starts with a free consultation where we go over your family’s likes, dislikes, allergies, intolerances and general food preferences.  Then we pick a cook date and go from there! 

I am looking forward to working with Heather—and you—in the future!  

Chow for Now! :)

Best career choice EVER!

As I sit here eating devouring a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with left over rocky road fudge (yes) from last night's event, I am recapping the night in my head and can't think of a single thing that went wrong.  Of course, I am speaking of my VERY FIRST CATERING JOB! 

My new friend and fellow personal chef, Mandy, graciously asked me to co-chef this party with her, of course I accepted and after talking shop with her I knew this would be a great experience.  She did not disappoint.  Mandy also brought along two other wonderful, talented women to help prepare the twelve apps (including dessert) for a party of about 60.  The four of us were Team Awesome.  I can't help but cheer about it, it was just such a great experience which totally reinforced my decision to get into a food-related career.

Mandy blogged about it today and included all of our pics so I won't write too much - you can take a look at her blog here to find the list of appetizers, more about the catering love fest and great pics from the day. I'll just say that all the food came out great (including my bbq beef and chicken kabobs).  I was nominated to be the grill chef and I felt fantastic about it. It must be in my genes because my aunt Jo is a fabulous grill master. 

A couple of pics below... I look forward to working again with these talented ladies.  I also cannot wait to get my personal chef business going.  Tick tock - the time is now!

Who wants to hire me?  Come on, don't be shy!

Chow for Now! :)

The Keys keep on callin' me

So, after a coffee in Santa Monica this morning with my lovely new friend Mandy (blog writer, food stylist, chef extraordinaire), I rushed home to prepare my Key Lime Pie for lunch with Diana tomorrow.  Mandy and I talked a lot about Personal Chefing... it's exciting to think about my business coming to fruition...and soon!!

I've been looking forward to making this pie since I bought the bag of limes a few days ago.  I made amazing graham cupcakes with Key lime frosting and they came out wonderful, so I had high hopes for the pie.  I got this recipe from Epicurious:

Key Lime Pie

For crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs from 9 (2 1/4-inch by 4 3/4-inch) crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh Key lime juice

For topping
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream


Make crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (4-cup) glass pie plate.

Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool in pie plate on a rack. Leave oven on.

Make filling and bake pie:

Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add juice and whisk until combined well (mixture will thicken slightly).

Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack (filling will set as it cools), then chill, covered, at least 8 hours.

Make topping:
Just before serving, beat cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Serve pie topped with cream.

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Other than squeezing 15 little limes and crushing graham crackers into dust, this was a pretty easy recipe to make. 

The crust took 10 minutes to bake and the pie filling will set in the fridge over night.  Tomorrow I will make fresh whipped cream to dab on top of each slice.  I can't wait to taste it... who am I kidding, I tasted it before I cooked it* and it was delicious.  I am sure once it is refrigerated, it will be even better. 

*keep in mind that this recipe contains raw egg yolks, taste the raw batter at your own risk!

The finished product:

I'm out of key limes... what's next for me?  Any thoughts on what I should cook next or what kind of cooking/kitchen advice you'd like from me?  I'm open to suggestions so feel free to comment below!!

Chow for now! :)

school of life

I decided to get this blog going as a result of big time pressure from family, friends and fellow bloggers (thanks Ellen!). I'd like to spread my culinary knowledge as I take cooking and nutrition classes and start my personal chef business!

Up until today, my food-related education came from the "school of life:" reading lots of cook books , watching Ina, Bobby and Giada on The Food Channel to the extent where they invaded my dreams, and taking an occasional Hip Cooks class in LA.

Tomorrow, I begin a new food adventure when I start classes in the culinary program at Glendale Community College. I am picturing my first day to be similar to the first day of school when I was 13... i'll wear a new outfit, hope that someone nice talks to me, and pray I don't answer incorrectly when a teacher asks me a question! Attending classes with students half my age...should add a whole other layer of craziness!

I was unable to formally register for classes, as all were full by the time I was able to login and register online. Lucky for me I had a great meeting with the director of the Culinary department. He was convinced I'd be able to get into the classes that I'd like just by meeting with each of the three professors a few minutes before each class begins. We shall see. I plan on taking a production/skills course (part lecture, part kitchen work - learning how to wield a knife, and braise, saute and roast just about anything), a nutrition course (to help me cook for LA-based dieters of all kinds) and a food safety and sanitation course (to prove to all that I will not leave raw chicken breast out of the fridge for 8 hours).

I went to Target today to buy a 5 subject notebook and some pens. My stomach has butterflies already. Wish me luck!