New Beginings

Well the move across country has been done. Started off with bang. Getting a job as executive chef of the local  waterpark resort. To my dismay, it was far from what an executive chef should be. I have standards that I was trained to care about food and how it was prepared, served, and presented.  This company was anything but held to standards. I do not wish them bad, I just do not see them succeeding. I was fired because I held my standards and I care about my career.

On to new things. I will be working to build my business of cakes and treats. I will be working on my blog pages to grow a bigger audience. I will be posting personal and printed recipes that I find. I hope to share my journey down this path with you all. I welcome comments, questions, feedback.

To add to the journey, I have become allergic to all kinds of tomato products. So the new challenge will be to make great food without tomatoes, which I so dearly love.

Thank you for following

Christmas Items

I am working on several items for Holiday Season. I have been working to make microwave cake,  Mug cakes, drink mixes, cookies, candies, and more.

Just been trying to figure out what sells and what doesn't . Its hard with the economy and its up and downs. I don't have a real store so judging what is working has been a little difficult. Not to mention that the Private Chef job is more than a pain in the rear at the moment.

It seems like late night experimentations are working. I am currently working on re doing my display cakes and finding a design I am happy with to create. Challenge is that I am down from working the day job so the motivation train is lacking and procrastination is on a rise.

I am excited about Dec 4th . I will be on base for a tree lighting ceremony selling hot cake in a cup. I am hoping that goes like hot cakes so to speak. 

thank you all for reading over the years and I hope you will continue to read and share with me. I will be posting Holiday recipes soon

Base Store

The base store is slow.  They told me that they expected more people to be shopping but with the economy, Not so much.

It comes and goes in spirts. This past weekend it seemed ok. I got a cake order and I came up with some cranberry and orange scones, chocolate chip scones, pumpkin spice doughnuts, and a 6" birthday cake to put at the flower shop for them to sell. I hope it does. I will have to call mid week to see how it went and if I should bring more for the weekend.

Its hard to know what is going to sell and what isn't. Each day seems a bit different. I will load picture another night of what I am making for the base.

Some days I feel like loosing hope that I am crazy and going into business for myself seems like a super crazy idea.

Well if anyone reads these, encouragement is welcome. Am I crazy for writing a blog about the trials and tribulations I am doing? Is this all worth the effort?

Private Chef for the U

I am still cooking for the sorority girls of the U. I could write a whole blog about the ins and outs there.  I need to update more on the drama in the kitchen.

Well as it stands, the bosses have no confidence in my ability, even though I prove it on a daily basis. They have a caterer on speed dial. They spend way too much money on the low quality of food.

Silver spoon is the what I call these girls. Each has their own quirks and drama. There is a lot of drama. One girl doesn't eat red meat because she doesn't like the texture. Others don't eat red meat because they read in a fashion mag that its bad for you. There are the  normal allergies in the house that are easy to handle. Some girls like to eat more than others. American food girl still is a trying person because if its not Utah based its hard to get her to try it . They want healthy food and wholesome food, but when I m not there, they order pizza and junk food.

They leave glasses and plate all over. I was told to clean their bathrooms the other day because the maid wasn't coming til this week. Holy Pigs Batman! with the exception of one bathroom which was extremely clean.

Its like these girls have no house, cooking skills what so ever. They are in full expectant that some one cleans for them and cooks for them. They cry to the boss if they have to microwave their own food. They wont eat left overs. I throw out a lot of food every week because they just don't eat it. Their excuse is that they didn't know what they could have....... No, they are just too lazy to have to think about what I said  or read the board.

Sigh, its a chef nightmare to cook for these people. I know high profile clients can be difficult, these girls are worse. I would take any high profile client over this. I have suggested that they find a retired house wife to replace me one who is willing to cook bland tasteless food for them .Since that is what they complain they want.

What to Make Next?

I have been dabbling a lot lately. We just came back from Disney. One of our stops was Universal Studios Orlando and of course Harry Potter Land. I love Harry Potter. That said, I got pumpkin juice while I was there and butter beer.
I got bored the other night and started to play. I was able to recreate the Pumpkin Juice. My son said he liked it better than what was in the park. Butter Beer is going to take a little more science because of the complex level of the flavor. But that not to say I'm trying.

Then there is the Chai Tea project. Just something I am beginning with mixing. Its a fall month. So I have been working on breads and scones. Not the Utah scones, real ones. Pumpkin scones. I am toying with the idea of putting all this on Etsy or actually building a website that I can have people purchase items off of...

Its all a work in progress..

These are already on the Etys site.

These were the pumpkin scones I had made before I labeled them.

This was at the Farmers Market.

Halloween Treats

So I have been working job 1 and my business to create a bunch of things for an event I was invited to show up at. I have been doing Candy coated Oreos and Chocolate pretzels. A whole bunch of stuff. working to hopefully get my name out there and have a working business.
The jelly has been going great too. I have had a few people ask for more jelly jars. Nothing steady yet. But  Dragon Fire Jelly is on the rise.

Etsy

This is a huge learning experience for me. I am frustrated and I want nothing more than to pull down my store. There are tons of people on there that think that the shop keeper owes them everything.

I recently had a very bad experience on there.  That being said, it was my first customer. She didn't look at all the pictures and she didn't ask any specific questions about the product. I thought she wanted a variety of the cookies. Wrong, apparently me being a mind reader, I should have known it was a zombie party and that she wanted black and white eye balls and brains. So she has requested that I return all her money and shipping. If she is lucky she will get her money back and not the shipping. I have to throw out all the cookies she sends back because I have no clue what she has done to them and its  food rule policy that you cant resell food once it has left the kitchen. But according to her correspondence with me I have inconvenienced her for not putting enough information on my site. I have on the site in the description that if you want custom cookies and colors to contact me and be specific about it. I guess it wast bold enough for her to read or she just didn't bother.