andiesenji

By the way, thanks for starting this topic. This is an important one. Far too often people who are affected by things such as this are hesitant to ask for advice, they do not want to appear to be a complainer, or sound "whiney". My attitude is always "ASK", there may be someone who can make your life easier.

I have been adding cinnamon to my daily food intake since I was diagnosed with type II diabetes a year ago. My internist recommended several books and one book went into detail on the herbs, spices and vitamins that help to lower and stabilize blood sugar and also affect the way the cells react to insulin that is produced by the body. I am at my office today and as part of my lunch I will have an apple, chopped up and sprinkled with Splenda mixed with cinnamon (in a shaker I keep in my desk), nuked in the microwave for 3-4 minutes then topped with a generous dollop of cottage cheese. With a combination of diet and exercise my blood sugar is normal without medication. I took Avandia for several months, until my daily tests showed normal. Rather than take the capsules, I have added cinnamon to many of my foods, not necessarily sweet ones. I have found that many savory dishes are actually enhanced, not overwhelmed by the cinnamon. I measured out various amounts on a gram scale to get an idea of the volume required as a daily "dose" .........

If this ever happens again, wash your face and your eyes with milk. The casein in the milk will glom onto the capsaisin and carry it away and stop the burning. I have even put it in a dropper and into my nose when I got a snootful of Scotch Bonnet powder. Believe me, it works.

Ouch! That can do damage. Are you okay now?

Congratulations JennotJenn Onward and upward!! Your recipe sounds delish. Just consider how versatile this delectable meat can be. I defrosted some I had frozen a couple of weeks ago, gave it a boost in the convection oven for 18 minutes. I had no tortillas......however, I did have pita bread. Tossed the meat with pico de gallo and some homemade salsa verde. Then stuffed it into pita. topped with a dollop of crema Mexicana, Agria. This is a serious contender, not traditional but a great "fusion" <g>

Exactly. If you require a certified kitchen, have you considered working a deal with one of the private schools, particularly church schools, or service organizations in your area. Here in town I know several caterers who have deals with the Elks club which has a state of the art kitchen, fully certified, the senior citizens center and a Baptist church school which also has a fully certified kitchen. The churches and the seniors centers are always in need of additional funds and often are willing to give one a break in exchange for help in some of their fund-raising events. I have professional portable equipment and before arthritis made it impossible, and before my kitchen was certified, I worked with these organizations setting up for pancake breakfasts, etc., in exchange for use of their facilities at a nominal rent, whenever I needed to do work that I could not do on site at my client's home. At present there is a group of ladies using the kitchen at the Baptist church to bake loads of cookies to ship to military men in Iraq and Afganistan. They are shipped out from Edwards AFB but have to be prepared in a certified kitchen. One personal chef that I know, recently moved to the San Bernardino area. He has one of the large catering trucks and used to work for the studios on location, feeding the crews. These were full meals, not fast food. He and a couple of partners had several of these units but he decided to go off on his own to do something different. He takes his unit to the clien'ts home, does much of the prep work in the unit then moves it into the house. These units also have to be certified and inspected, much more often than a regular kitchen. I think it is every 6 months. This might be the solution for someone who has no other way of getting a business off the ground.

Do you have the big Magnalite roaster? I have had mine for close to 40 years and it has seen a lot of turkeys come and go. It is what I use when I have to cook a very large turkey (30 pound) in a hurry. I have one of those glass cheese keepers and also a very old ceramic one which came from a "general" store in Bishop, Calif. when it went out of business back in the 70s. My glass cheese keeper is a reproduction from Brookstone and had a printed notice that the instructions on the lid called for "1/3 pint vinegar which is excessive for modern tastes." It sy that equals 5.3 oz. They recommend a maximum of two tabelspoonsful and a mild vinegar works as well as a strong one. (use the amount of water and of salt as shown on the lid). The ceramic one is made essentially the same way but is larger and rectangular but with beveled corners so it actually has 8 sides. It is white with a narrow cobalt blue line at top and bottom and around the lid and the handle is blue. It says CHEESE on one side in cursive lettering in black. I wanted to get to the Rose Bowl event yesterday but the lift which loads my scooter into my van was on the fritz. I like garage sales but getting in and out of the van has become a real chore and having all the stuff in one place is easier for me. I miss the early morning adventures though.

All my "regular" loaf pans are 10 inch. If all you have are the smaller pans, use only 2/3 of the dough you have been using.

Actually I think they serve the chicken with a yogurt sauce but she didn't give me the recipe for that and is now off doing something with her kids. As I read your bit about the bunny rabbit, "jugged hare" popped into my head. I think I need some lunch.

This is the reason I had my kitchen remodeled with a separate air-conditioning and exhaust system and had it certified. The building and safety inspectors were here every other day and county dept. of health made three inspections, since then I am on a biannual inspection rota. They take scrapings from the fridges, freezers, ovens, exhaust system, cabinets, storage bins and from the sinks. I have a big blue A, which I could display if I was in an area zoned for commercial usage. The last inspector quipped that he wouldn't be afraid to have surgery in my kitchen......

Behemoth, Is this the recipe? I called a friend who dictated this to me over the phone. Her auntie's recipe, not in any cookbook as far as she knows. Goan recipe, Chicken Caafreal or Cofreal, (She was reading from a scribbled card and translating into English. 1 chicken cut up, about 2 pounds 3 teaspoons salt, non-iodized, sea salt or kosher 1 sour lime 10 Indian chiles, dry, small (about 1 1/2 inch x 1/4 inch), chopped 2 green chiles fresh, medium size, chopped 5 large garlic cloves 4 inch piece ginger, grated 4 black peppercorns Oil for deep frying. Directions Cut the sour lime in half, rub the chicken pieces with the sour lime, squeezing the juice onto the chicken. Lay on a platter to catch the juice. Sprinkle the salt over the chicken then rub well onto the meat. Place all the chiles, the garlic cloves and the ginger into a mortar and grind to a paste (or process in a mini food processor). Grind the black peppercorns and add to the paste, mix well. Spread the paste onto the chicken pieces. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or place in a container that can be sealed and place in fridge overnight or for at least 8 hours. Pour about 2 inches of oil in a pot and heat to 350 degrees. Fry 3 or 4 pieces at a time until nicely browned, turning 2 or 3 times. Remove from oil, drain on paper towel (or brown paper bag) and place in oven while you fry remaining pieces.

In California, if you cook anything at all in your home kitchen that is going to be served to other people and for which you are paid, you better have a certified kitchen, no matter what your title. Caterer, personal chef, private, chef or what. The fines are substantial and can wipe out a years profit or more and if you have portable equipment it can be seized and sold to cover the fines. And you are out of business until they give you a hearing. If you cook in the client's kitchen that is a different matter. However you should have a clean bill of health, be tested for hepatitis and TB and carry that documentation with you.

My grandfather was actually an engineer, and went to India to survey areas for dams, bridges, waterworks, and so on. He did not get on well with the colonial government because he was a trifle outspoken about the conditions he saw and wanted to do something about it. He had inherited wealth so wasn't totally dependent on his job and the from the stories I heard he was not above telling one of the bigwigs where to stick it. His first wife died out there from cholera in 1911 (all his children were in boarding school back in England). As I recall he remained perhaps two more years then went to Egypt where he stayed during the early years of WWI. He returned to England, hated the climate and decided to emigrate here, where he had visited and traveled extensively in 1897/98. He was of the privaledged class but hated prejudice in any context, thought segregation was an obscenity and generally was decades ahead of his time in thought. A liberal when liberalism was not even on the horizon.

What a fantastic selection of spices and herbs. My array of Indian spices and herbs is not quite as formidible as yours but I have a fair selection. I believe I inherited the interest, or developed it from early exposure. My grandfather spent several years in India, mostly northern, during the first decade of the last century. He developed a passion for Indian foods and Indian culture in general. After emigrating to America in 1919 he settled on a farm in western Kentucky and insisted on at least one Indian meal a week. His cook was a Gullah woman from the Carolina lowcountry and learned to prepare the meals he liked. He had to import most of the spices, herb seeds, vegetables, not usually found in that area at that time. By the time I appeared in 1939 some things were difficult to import but he still got a tea chest packed with goodies, from one of his old friends, who still lived in India, every few months. I did not realize at the time how interesting the household was. I wish I had paid more attention. We had traditional English foods, southern "soul" food, typical foods of the area and Indian foods. Curries, hot, sweet, sour, various chutneys, and sideboys, as well as foods from the middle east from his few years in Egypt. No wonder I love diverse foods.......

Everywhere you go there are tons of wild yeasts and other microscopic beasties living on just about everything. In reality, I don't think it's necessarily the case that the microorganisms are floating around in the air solo. Rather, they are likely living on the surface of tiny dist particles, etc. Have you read "The Secret Life of Dust" by Hannah Holmes? Subtitle: "From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things" I read it a few months back and believe it or not, I couldn't put the book down. It opened my eyes to a great many things.

I am also looking forward to your blog adventures. You have a great way with words...... Andie

Perhaps this site will help you. http://www.personalchefsnetwork.com/ I would have given my favorite knife to have had this kind of resource when I was in the business. Much of my work involved work with people in the entertainment industry in the L.A. area and there were some monumental egos to stroke. Often they wished to serve a meal and pretend they prepared it themselves so I needed to actually train them on the finish and presentation. I shopped with them for the meal and had to explain why one ingredient was preferable over another so they could answer these questions if their guests asked. I had to be totally discrete. No one has ever heard from me the name of any of my clients. I never had to advertise, it was all word of mouth. When I began I took all my equipment with me and had a complete array of herbs and spices, condiments and staples in my battery. As I did repeat work for clients they learned to stock their kitchens to expedite my work. There were times that I had to be very diplomatic and explain to a client that they would have to ratchet back their plans for a particular meal because it would have been unlikely that they would have been able to prepare a particular item without help. I enjoyed the work, however I did have a steady day job 4 days a week to cover my basic needs. In some ways I taught my way out of a job because with my training some of my clients became excellent cooks in their own right, took cooking classes and no longer needed me. It was fun while it lasted and I don't regret a moment of it.

WHOA! This thing is incredible--but yikes, the price! I can write it off as part of my business. I do pastel portraits of dogs (and some other animals) and have to know for sure that I have good photos to use as a reference when I start the painting. I can show my clients several views of the dog from different angles and they can choose the one they think looks most like the dog. It saves a lot of problems later on.

What you might do is check with a computer club or users group in you area and see if they have information on digital photography groups near you. Here in the Antelope Valley we have a very active Mac club (which I belong to) and we share speakers with the PC club and they have an active Digital photography group. We take our cameras and accessory gadgets to the meetings and share information. That way you can get a hands-on feel for the camera in which you are interested because there probably is someone in the group that has what you want to see. Usually the members get email bulletins about upcoming meetings and if you contact the person who maintains their website, they will give tell members to bring their photo equipment to the meeting. I don't know of any clubs that do not have an open-door policy and welcome visitors. It is usually a nominal membership fee which you get back one way or another. Our club maintains a website which includes some very useful links. Here is the page with links to FREE online Photoshop tips and tutorials. http://www.cyesis.org/workshops/photoshop_websites.htm we are an official Apple User Group. Here is one list of user groups maintained by one organization. http://www.apcug.net/APCUG/Member/user_sites.htm This is probably way more information than you want but perhaps it can help.

It was only passed back and forth among 20 people, and I have had sit-down dinners for more than this without any worry about sanitation. The Greek place of which I wrote, had three long tables set up, each seating 20 people. Each of these three tables were served identical dishes, which were all of their regular dinner items and sides with occasionally a specialty item added. It was a very popular place.

My mouth is watering........ Need I say more??

Consider it is like making jelly, simply without the pectin to make it jell. I have been using a Mehu-Liisa juicer/steamer for several years (made in Finland). It is much easier and takes less work than the convential method. In particular it takes 80% of the work and the mess out of making pomegranate, blueberry, raspberry, etc., juice/syrup. Anything with tiny seeds... I also use it for steam extracting flavor from herbs, edible flowers, etc. (roses) The process is by steam extraction. http://juicer-steamer.com/ I have never used it for anything but juice I have the 10-Ltr. juicer but the 8-Ltr. will probably be large enough for most. I have a very large garden and fruit trees and process a lot of it into juices and jellies, which is why I have the larger one. http://www.ezjuicers.com/mehuliisa.htm

The thing to do with the black cake "batter" is to bake it in the mini loaf pans. I have this silicone one from kitchencollection.com. Don't ice them. If you double wrap them in foil after they are completely cool, then place them in a large freezer bag, you can freeze them and take out only one or two when you want to serve it. Each slice is two bites, easy to eat and is really good spread with cream cheese, or if you like it, mascarpone. The same for "regular" fruitcake - I make three varieties. Some go into mini muffen pans, also silicone, like this: I wrap them individually in colored cello to tuck into gift baskets. It is odd that people will eat these when they wouldn't touch a standard fruitcake.

You hit the nail on the head. If I am going to be away for some time and do not want to haul around my powerbook, I need to download the pics so I can review them without going blind. I have a FlashTrax with a 3.5 in screen which is much easier to view than the one in the camera. I have a Mac and this one is plug and play with it. It makes it unnecessary to carry a bunch of cards around, this fits in my pocket and it takes just a few seconds to download the pics from the card. It also means that other people can look at the photos I have downloaded while I continue shooting.

No, but take a look at Ms. Victoria's blog - I suspect her husband Keifel would have to be voted the reigning expert on it, and he waxed lyrical about his grandmother's. We all drooled. I came across the recipe in Laurie Colwin's book "Home Cooking" at least fifteen years ago. After the first time I made it, it was an instant "keeper" and has been one of my regulars ever since. The fact that it keeps practically forever is a big plus.