Wow, My Daughter is a Chef!

Even though I have been working at my daughter’s catering kitchen off and on these past few years – I am constantly amazed at what she does. Yes, she is a Chef who graduated from Pittsburgh’s Le Cordon Bleu’s International Culinary Academy. She did an Internship in Vail, Colorado, where she worked at two different restaurants. Returning to Pittsburgh, she worked at a few country clubs before deciding to set up her own catering business, Erin's Fine Foods -  Catering and More.

 

At first, I watched her from afar as she built up her business. Slowly, I helped her out by being her decorator, and changing her seasonal decorations at her shop. Then I graduated to using my daughter’s dishwasher doing the dishes and spraying myself with the water along the way.

 

At first, her business started off slowly with small parties, lunches or whatever catering opportunities would come her way, no matter how big or how small the jobs appeared. Then she got her foot in the door as one of the caterers at the Great Hall. She began catering wedding there and at a few other places. Weddings would become a centerpiece for her business. When the weddings started coming in along with private and corporate catering, showers, graduation parties and other events, her work calendar started to fill up and this all kept her hopping.

 

As my daughter got busier, I started to help her out with a few more manageable tasks, like simple food preparations. My daughter in turn was able to hire people to serve at the weddings and sometimes to even drive her foods to drop off at other events. At other times when she would need another chef to help, she was able to hire one for a simultaneous event.

 

But the other day, I was in her kitchen helping, while she was preparing foods for a ‘wedding tasting,’ for a few couples. In between my work, I watched her prepare the foods and plate each one up for the couples to sample. The food presentation brought a compliment from my mouth. The dishes looked artistically arranged on the plates…Beef with a Bourbon Sauce, along with friend onion strips; Rosemary Pork Loin with Apple Brandy Sauce; Chipotle Cashew Chicken, and Chicken Piccata. All were accompanied with a fresh vegetable and a potato dish.

 

When the tasting was over, my daughter packed up the extra food and gave it to me to take home for dinner. When I arrived home, the food was still warm, so I sat down and ate it. I delighted in every morsel until there was nothing left on my plate. That was when I thought – Wow, my daughter is a Chef!

Downton Abbey

 

 

What makes this series so interesting, so delicious, and so addictive? Maybe that’s because it is so well written and so well acted. It’s of days gone by and being so British, and so alien to Americans. The acting in Downton Abbey is wonderful. The music is haunting, the scenery is beautiful, and the costumes are exquisite; all reminiscent of a grander day and time.

 

The story of Downton Abbey and the owners, the Grantham Family takes place before, during, and after WWI. The viewers see the beauty and opulence of the grand estate and the gentility of the British and their ways.

 

As viewers, we are privy to the estate, Downton Abbey, going through a transformation: days of grandeur before the war; during the war, the estate becomes a hospital for wounded soldiers, and afterwards, the outside façade of Downton Abbey looks in dire need of renovations.

 

The interior of the estate is like a castle with room after room. Each room is decorated exquisitely with beautiful period pieces and the styles of the era. Each room is truly magnificent. We are also privy to the ways of the British – teas, fox hunting, fishing, games, holidays and the variety of people visiting. All the while the Grantham Family seems to be managing the estate well. Or maybe not?

 

The deliciousness comes with the lives of the servants. This is a story in its own. They, too, have their own class system and pecking order. Also, sometimes treachery is at its best with their stories.

 

If I were to be a character in the series, I would want to be one of the servants, who live and eat well, and are always up to something. The only negative that I might have is that they always seem to be wearing such dark clothes, even though they are well designed. But instead of black or gray, and a touch of white – what about adding a cool mauve or green or blue of some kind to their wardrobe. Maybe a lighter color might make the servants less treacherous.

 

At first, Downton Abbey seems like a slow moving story. But each scene and episode sucks the viewer in, until like me, you go out and buy the series or DVR it. Season Three is over and with it came a shocking ending. Now that I have recovered from it, and am in withdrawal, at least I can go back and watch Downton Abbey all over again, until Season Four starts up.

Scholastic Art Show

I’m sitting at a table at La Roche College in the student lounge. To be exact, I’m in the Zappala Center surrounded by Art! Art is everywhere, in the form of paintings, sketches, charcoal, water colors, photos, jewelry, sculptured pieces and more. Art is displayed on tables, the floor, walls, glass cases, and display boards. The Pittsburgh area middle schools and high schools have entered their art and a number have been selected for this year’s Scholastic Art show. Some of the art projects have been awarded Gold Keys or Silver Keys. Needless to say, to have your art on display is an obvious honor. But being able to view the talent of these students is the real honor.

 

This is the second year that my granddaughter, Hanna, has had one of her drawings selected for the show. Both years, she has been awarded a Silver Key. My granddaughter has a lot of talent. Besides being a fun teenager, she is a good student, a hard worker, and one of the nicest individuals that I know.

 

Years ago, when Hannah was born, and her mother started back to work, I babysat Hannah. I watched her for 12 years. In that time, I’d like to think that we formed a special bond. Hannah was an energetic baby and then a delightful toddler, who loved watching the video The Lion King, over and over. I am truly blessed to have watched her develop into a self-assured teenager. Hannah is fun and filled with a lot of love. She has a lot of friends, both male and female ones, which says a lot about her.

 

One thing that I cherish the most is how Hannah always loved to draw. I enjoyed buying her sketch paper, drawing pencils, and art supplies. I loved looking through her sketchbook. I enjoy Hannah’s art the same way that I used to enjoy her father’s art work. Hannah’s father happens to be my son. I love their talent and their drawings always brought me great joy.

 

As I sit in the lounge, I am aware of the college students’ chatter and the pool sticks breaking the balls. None of this bothers me because I am too focused on my granddaughter’s charcoal sketch that is on display. For the moment I feel a deep connection to Hannah.

Erik Larson's Well Crafted Books

The first book that I read written by Erik Larson was In the Garden of the Beast. From the minute that I started this book, I was hooked on it and how the author wrote it. I have come to admire and appreciate Larson as a writer. What I like about his books is the way he has crafted them. There are actually two parallel narratives going on at the same time.

 

In the Garden of the Beast, the story centers on the first American Ambassador to Germany and the other story is the rise of Hitler and the horrors that he inflicted.

 

Devil and the White City centers around a serial killer during the Chicago World’s Fair. The writer takes the reader through the World’s Fair and how it has come to Chicago and the major people responsible for the Fair.

 

Thunderstruck follows a man who killed his wife as he tries to escape aboard a ship to America. The parallel narrative is about the invention of the radio by Marconi and how it played its part in this story.

 

Isaac’s Storm is about the great hurricane of 1900 in Galveston, Texas, which completely destroyed the town and killed over 6,000 people. The other story is about the meteorologist who failed to understand fully what was happening and failed to alert the people of this devastating story storm.

 

Larson’s books are not just interesting, well-crafted stories, but they are also filled with historical names, facts and moments. That is the way that I love my books to be – hearty, factual, filled with “the meat” and not just filled with fluff.  Larson delivers everything that I want in a book.

Super Bowl Game

I watched the Super Bowl Game. To be honest, it lived up to all that hype. The game was great, as were the story lines. Even though the team that I was rooting for lost, I still enjoyed the game. But I’m pretty sure that the 49ers will make a return to the Super Bowl within the next few years.

 

But what happened to all those great Super Bowl commercials? I was disappointed in most of them. I saw two that I liked, the Doritos Ad and the Anheuser Busch commercial with the baby Clydesdale, who grows up. As for the Go Daddy Ads – all I can say was that they were dumb. Most of the Go Daddy ones were just plain dumb, along with a number of the other commercials.

 

Only in America can the half time show be something that belongs in Vegas. Add the money thrown away on all those high priced performers. That was totally disgusting and a waste. Maybe if we didn’t half such a high unemployment rate and such a poor economy – maybe it wouldn’t have bothered me as much. Maybe I could justify it all. But I can’t.

 

Maybe I’m a purist but when I watch a football game, that is what I want to see and not all the junk like the bad commercials and the dopey half time shows, which seems to be the emphasis of the Super Bowl Game now.

 

Otherwise all I can say is - Congrats to the Ravens. As for the 49ers, there is always next year