Chicagoan Food Orgy

Tonight was #3 of 3 of the Chicago Mega Restaurant Food Orgy.

TRU was simply amazing. I have photos, I have notes. I have a vivid memory and a very willing accomplice to help me recall all the things we ate. All I'm going to say here is that if you are in Chicago and you pass up the opportunity to go to TRU, you are an idiot. I have a new bar by which I will set all future restaurant experiences. Thank you Chef Rick Tramanto and Chef Gale Gand. Thank you to all the amazing folks in the kitchen, and the host who gave me a tour of said kitchen. Thank you to Allison, my wonderful server, and all the servers who worked with her, and to Scott, the spectacular sommelier.

Last thing I ate or drank: a white chocolate truffle scented with Kaffir lime

Technorati Tags: Food and Drink in Los Angeles

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Technorati Tags: Food and Drink in Los Angeles

"YUMMO" goes national

Rachael Ray is getting a new TV show that's NOT on food network.

How's she going to find the time to do yet another show?

Maybe everything on foodtv will just go to reruns...

Anyway, it's one of Oprah's projects. Oprah as Fairy Godmother? I guess I'd sign up for that!

God, and people say that *I* do too much. I don't have 3 tv shows, a magazine and a bunch of product endorsements...

YET!

(let's start referring to Kelly as Stedmond, shall we?)

How did my week get turned inside-out?

I worked on Monday, 6 hours post-event clean up (ugh!)
I worked yesterday, Personal Chef for the S.O. family
I worked today, Personal Chef for my favorite family
I will be working tomorrow, Personal Chef for the Kosher family
I will be working Friday, catering a fancy little cocktail party for 15

...but Saturday and Sunday, I have the day off?!

How the hell did that happen? I feel lost on a weekend day that I don't work. You know I'll just be wandering around, wondering to myself if I forgot that I promised to cater someone's party.



Last thing I ate or drank: glass after glass of refrigerator-cold water. Kelly made dinner, god bless him, but it was too salty!

Technorati Tags: Food and Drink in Los Angeles

For lack of a proper post...

I've been communicating with a guy who has been trying to redesign his site. It's a little on the under-done side, if you know what I mean. He's said that he is "a one man show" and that he takes on so many tasks that at times he misses details. "Wearing every hat in this company has benefits but unfortunately I do miss details. ... Being the developer, president,
marketing director, mailroom guy, shipping room guy etc takes it's toll. While I try very hard to make everything great, at times I make mistakes and do not get things perfect.

I wanted to offer him some advice, so I wrote this e-mail to him.

Dude, we are on the same page. I do planning, shopping, preparation, cooking, service and clean-up for every event, plus inventory, accounting, marketing, advertising, recruiting and market research. Every bootstrapping entrepreneur does it... I'm guessing you're not independently wealthy either, so we can't just hire off the unpleasant or time-consuming tasks whenever they come up.

I, however, spent $70 out of my pocket today to hire a couple people to help me wash dishes from that 300-guest event Food TV filmed, that I volunteered to coordinate. I had a choice of doing it all myself, or hiring help. Since I'd volunteered 33 hours out of the past 72, I wasn't physically or mentally able to tackle a truckload (literally!) of dishes, but I needed them clean for my catering job tomorrow. Should I turn down $200+ of income to do dishes? No, not if I can spend less than half that to solve the problem. I paid two college girls $10/hr each, for 3.5 hrs, and everything is spotless, sorted, and re-loaded in the truck. It was a no-brainer decision, and I met two GREAT workers that I plan to add to my employee roster.

If you can't make money because your website is in a state that people don't want to put money into advertising or whatever... you're actually losing more money than you'd spend. It's a hard lesson to learn; don't learn it from experience, learn it from my advice instead, it's cheaper.

I know this is probably coming across as tough criticism, but please look at it instead as "tough love". It's the Vidal Sassoon principle: If you don't look good, I don't look good.... so it's in my interest to give you the kick in the butt you might need to make yourself look really good. You're so close!

Last thing I ate or drank: a "torta" which is translated on the package as an Aniseed Crispbread. it's a Spanish treat made of flour, sugar, olive oil and sugar. it's like a little crispy cookie, but the texture is more like a saltine cracker. Addictive!

Technorati Tags: Food and Drink in Los Angeles