Sunday, September 14, 2008

Evolution of Catering

I have to say that my catering history has made great leaps and bounds! I used to stay till the last light was on, now, I cook,setup and leave. I did a 95 year old birthday party for a grandmother of a former boss. She was a lively gal, who danced her heart away to "Brick House"! Served two kinds of spagetti sauce on over the counter pasta, organic greens with cherry tomatos, artichoke hearts, avacado, and sprinkle of carrots. Garlic bread. Simple. Easy and cheap. Had a wonderful helper, Gwen our new next door neighbor from New Orleans.

So, my daughter on the other hand did a wedding the same day in Napa. Her menu consisted of several hor's devours.... lovely salad bar with 4-5 different salads and a cold cut buffet. LOTTA work, not so much $$ and my bet is that she is still recovering, and stayed till the lights went out.

Our particular species just doesn't progress so much... but I have to say that our food is great just the way it is and that is not worth evolving from!!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sticks and Bones

As I approach the mid month of September, I am reminded on a regular basis that my body is about 3 years ahead of my head... thus the "sticks and bones" title!
I am using a rather sleek and sophisticated walking stick to assist me in my travels these days. Quite the fashion statement! This due to the inappropriate timing of my right knee and lack of cartilage and abundance of arthritis. Ouch. Today I was accosted by a brace man. He came to my work to fit me for a very pink and precious knee brace. It is supposed to help me with my giddy up and tally ho! Five days and we will see. This on top of a visit tomorrow to Pacific Labroscopy to do a consult on a possible gastric bypass surgery. There, I said it, right on public blogging. It is supposed to be a very in depth consultation lasting for about 3 hours. My friend Lei is taking me as she knows the way... literally. She had the same operation about 18 months ago and is 145 pounds less a woman and counting. She had the same issue with her knees and decided that taking the weight off was the way to help her knee and it worked.
I have mixed feelings about the surgery. I know that "with exercise and diet" all people can lose weight. I know that when I tried to increase my activity years ago, by walking our dog at 5 a.m. every morning for a year... and that was a BRISK walk for at least 3 miles a day, the results were less than stellar. In fact, I even included a low fat, low sugar meal combo and lost...well, let's see, hm mm, 4 pounds. There was something intrinsically wrong here. The dog looked great, no longer panted crazy like after the work out and I just came home sweaty and discouraged. When I was a single mom with two young boys to support, my life was always on the move. I love to dance, so when that opportunity came up, I slipped on my boogie boots and away I went to a Church dance. I worked full time as a chef and so I didn't eat too much, in fact, usually one meal a day. But I have never been, what is the word, svelt???
Now I have set up a 'catch-22' situation. Too large to move enough to make a difference, so one cancels out the other.
Enough of the self defeating behaviour and on to thinking outside of the bulge!

I will keep you posted on the events as the come up, but my request of you all is to keep me in your thoughts...good ones.