Pickles
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Posts posted by Pickles
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See what you think .. until then, simply add it to your daily foods straight from the jar ...
Not a fan of the stuff. I'd have to swallow the pill.
The thought of sprinkling it on my food makes my tummy churn. I can't stand when people load their coffee makers with it and I have to smell the sickly sweet cinnamoney....cinnaminnie...cina....oh fugeddaboudit... 
coffee grounds, the flavored coffee in the pot, the smelly coffee in all the cups and the coffee breath in the room with that sweet, oookie stank. 
Did I mention I hate cinnamon flavored coffee? 
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Pickles - PCN is full of "refugees" from USPCA and APCA, all with the same complaints you have. You're not alone
Ah-HAH!!!! That's you on the main page of that site. You look like Susan Sarandan. At least in that picture.
Thanks for the invite. -
The USPCA charges thousands to "qualify" their chefs, which means exactly nothing except you have spent a lot of money.
I joined the USPCA before I went online. So I had no points of comparison. They touted themselves as the only training system, and I bought into it. I was so anxious to begin...you see. I have also seen the training materials fom the APCA, and they're really pretty much identical. Just common sense, all zeroxed up and bound together. The USPCA offered really no help at all via phone, and if you want extra help after your year was up, you had to pay. Each charges yearly membership dues...and for what, I have no idea. I let mine slide with USPCA. I have watched the training vids the APCA gives out with their package, and they were interesting and somewhat informative. Neither organization gives substantial information on how you do your books, and pay your taxes. I would think for someone just starting out in business ownership, these issues would be one of the most important things they could explain to you. Instead, it's more like "..pack your work vehicle.....wash your hands before you start cooking...be sure to leave your re-heating instructions..." And for this I paid just over a thousand for USPCA. I imagine it's gone WAY up since then. The APCA runs rings around the USPCA in terms of media coverage. If I had it do over, I'd have gone with their training system. An aspiring PC is better off trailing with an established PC if they let you. I personally do not want to train my competition in my own area, but would be happy to have someone from another area trail with me for a day.
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What the hell is bubble tea?
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Well they're comin' to take me away, I guess!
The APCA says in their "training" materials you're not supposed to marinate meats in your own fridge overnight for your clients (but...if you read their recipes, some of the directions say "marinate overnight." I guess you're supposed to sleep over.... ), and you can't even grow your own herbs in your own garden and take them to a client's house for use in cooking.. I think that's horseshit, and I do it anyway. 
My herbs are a lot safer and healthier than store bought. basil illnesses The nice part about being a PC is that I am treated like part of my clients' families and if I plan to make a huge mutha batch of fresh salsa over the weekend, in my own clean kitchen, you bet they're gonna get a jar taken to them during the week as their client gift, just as I'd take a jar to my Mom or to a friend. There's no difference to me. I know the rules are there for a reason, and it's excellent for aspiring PC's to know all these things. Even that I bend these rules. In a perfect world, we never sneeze, the power is always on, and there's a bleach bucket in every kitchen. I don't live in a perfect world, but I operate very cleanly and ethically. So far, so good. -
I hate quinoa. It looks like boogers.
Ewww! Now I'll always think that if I ever make it again and it's so good for you too!
For all we know, boogers might be good for us, too. But I don't eat them.
Well they'd be protein, wouldn't they? High in sodium though.
Someone had a thread up a while back on this topic, and the powers that be removed it. Which I found disappointing. It's only another form of Pica, and we had discussions on that. ::: shrug ::: -
I've entertained the thought of personal cheffing for a long time as well and this thread has just reinspired me. Thanks!
Great, Kate! It's a marvelous job. Once you get your feet wet, and know the ropes it's clear sailing. You work when you want, and as much as you want. I recommend a basic knife skills class, and of course food safety training is a big plus. Every PC operates differently. For example, I wouldn't use any client equipement. I feel it's my responsibility to provide everything to do the job. I also don't want to break their stuff and have to pay for it!
I speak for myself when I say we (PC's) are not under the thumb of the Health Department. I have no dealings with them at all, nor is it a requirement to operate a PC business. Come to think of it, there ARE no "requirements" as this is a relatively "new" businss. I did get a package of information from the United States Personal Chef's Association, but it was basic common sense, and you pay for recipes that you can easily get for yourself. In doing the job you're expected to keep your equipment clean, and prepare the food under clean conditions. You are not inspected by the Health Department. No one has a list of my clients or inspects my car or anything like that. When I said I took food home to cook in an emergency, I had to do just that, and I did it without reservation. The power was out for over an hour, I had a quiche and a roast chicken in the oven. Rather than risk my clients' health, I drove the mile and a half up the road, transferred everything into my own ovens, and went back to the clients' home to finish prepping and preparing a bit later on. My clients were fully supportive and even helped me load my car! I have no regrets doing that and would do it again, if need be. If I were under Health Department regulation, they'd have to show me where this is illegal. To my knowledge, they do not have rules (yet) that govern personal chefs' operations. Not here in NY anyway. When they do, I shall be more than happy to comply. 
Code Of Ethics -
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 think from what you've written, you were more a "Private Chef" than a "Personal Chef." And yep....there's a difference. Personal Chefs don't train clients how to cook. "Private Chefs" deal more with one specific client at a time (rock stars...etc.) rather than mutiple "everyday" families. They'd invite their star clients into the kitchen for the show. As Personal Chefs, we prepare the food, uninterupted, and we leave.
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Beet greens lightly cooked....yummy.
Beet greens overcooked.... Mucous.
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Are they just like pasta/rice with some kind of flavorings/sauce and all you do is add proteins into it?
Yes Yuki, that's about it. Add water. Wish for real food.
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I really have no clue how this industry works
Do you like to cook? Good...so do all prospective PC's...BUT HERE COME THE REALITIES:
1) Can you cook according to the whims of people you barely know? People who may change their minds 18 times before you get to their door with the groceries? Doesn't happen often...but anything CAN happen when you cook for people who are basic strangers.
2) Can you write well? Create advertising copy and brochures? Devise appetizing menus? Write enticing and informative client letters? Very important.
3) How do you sound on the phone? Like one of the mice in Disney's "Cinderella?"
Nuh-uh..... You have to sell yourself mainly on the phone. Get some good diction and a nice telephone manner going for you. 4) Can you lift 50-60 pounds of equipment per day? Groceries, and your pots and pans?? This job ain't for pussies! Lift some weights, or don't complain.
5) Can you negotiate? Placate? Re-locate?? The latter meaning if your client's power goes off, can you, (without a sigh, bitch, moan or complaint)...pack up the prepped and partially cooked foods into storage bins and "emergency cook them" at your own house? Yes...it's happened. I have gas, they have electric...I move!
6) Can you avoid being hooked into the "Personal Chefs Training Systems" for sale out there??? Please say yes to this one....please!! PM me for details.
7) Can you do basic accounting, and keep EXCELLENT records? Keep your books straight?? You must.
If you answered "yes" to ALL these questions, you're on your way. Ask me anything else you like...I am happy to help all aspiring PC's and talk about what I do, and how I do it.
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It's so SALTY!! And...it...it has no TASTE! It really has no taste (to me) other than salt, and chemicals. And ground beef. Which lately tastes like ground up wallets to me.
There are just no herb flavors in HH. And we all know how these packaged travesties rely on ONION POWDER. Oooooook...do I HATE onion powder. I can smell it a mile away. Someone I know recently served a Family Sized Stouffers Veg Lasagna at a party and I could smell that mutha cooking clear across the driveway. I can't be around anyone eating Doritos due to the smell. 
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My Dad liked buttermilk mixed with tomato juice.
My Mom drank that as well!
Really! And we turned out just fine...imagine that!
Actually I remember tasting it and it wasn't bad. Like a tangy, cold tomato soup. My Dad would be in his 80's now if he were still here. I wondered if that was a childhood thing they gave kids? I'd never heard anyone else doing that! -
I was served the "Cheeseburger" Hamburger Helper today, and found it vile.
Tried it once. Never again. There's "cheese sauce" that you're supposed to pour onto one of the lasagna flavors..and it looks like....it looks just like...I can't say what it looks like in polite company.
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Orange juice should always be pulp free
I guess some people like swallowing all that stringy stuff. All I end up doing is choking.
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How about cheese that comes precut into 'cracker sized portions'?
How about it? Some people don't like to cut the cheese, either.
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Now, I know there is a price to be paid for convenience, HOWEVER here are two outrageous things I saw at my local Wegman's supermarket.
I brought this up in another thread somewhere...but I think people forget the handicapped when they marvel at cut up foods. "Why don't people do that themselves?" is an easy thing to say when one's hands are not crippled with arthritis or carpal tunnel...as my 85 year old Auntie's are. Pounding chicken breasts?? Not only can't she do it because of her hands, she won't do it. She's afraid her counters will collapse (I know...but she's elderly...so I pound them for her in her garage on a table...or she buys the pre-pounded ones). I sometimes opt for convenience myself. And one PAYS for convenience. Someone else has done the work for you. You want that you should have it free?
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they take the usual crap o.j and dump 2 lbs of pulp that's being lying around in a dumpster somewhere
Mmmmmmm.....dummmmmpster pulllllllp......
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I have a friend who eats blueberry pie topped with red onions.
My Dad liked buttermilk mixed with tomato juice.
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The crap (red lumps, green lumps and yellow lumps) in most "fruit"cakes aren't "citron" at all. Citron is a REAL fruit.
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Kraut with gin? Never thought of that, will have to try it out today....
I've had it with juniper berries, but not gin. Interesting.
Juniper berries give gin its unique taste, so adding gin to sauerkraut seems fairly logical to me. I love sauerkraut. Add an old gym sock and some rusty nails to it, and I'll eat it. ((Now watch some smartypants say "how could you tell the difference!
))Pickles in tuna saladLeave me outta this!
Seriously..I always add some dill relish to my tuna salad, and I refuse to slink off like a cowering, beaten cur for saying so. -
I could only assume that this was typical of eating habits outside of the class.
Felix Unger: Never ASSUME. For when you ASSUME you make an ASS out of U and ME.
Cater the classes, then, and be done with the judgemental stuff. But be warned...no one likes a Carrot Stick Waver at a Cheeze Doodle Convention. -
I dont' know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies, but I have no idea where's it's written that women can't enjoy some soda or Dorito's during some boring ol' pregnancy class.
I wouldn't want anyone waving their finger at me and telling me what to eat, pregnant or not. You eat what you want and let them eat what they want. What do you care if their kids come out with two heads and glow in the dark? Ain't your business, sistah. 
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Root beer and Dr. Pepper are completely deplorable. A mere whiff of root beer is enough to set my gag reflex in motion.
Will you marry me??
If you're a man, that is.
Broken Knife Tip Advice Topic
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Anyone else just plain flinching?