My niece is having a baby in September.  I figure if I say it often enough I'll start to believe it, so far it's not working, I know she's grown, but even seeing her it's hard to believe! 

I left Friday morning to drive to Pittsburgh for the shower.  I really like driving and the car was loaded.  My husband went also and we had a nice picnic lunch in Virginia on the way up.  I like to stop, relax and enjoy a meal. 

We got to my sister's about 9:30 Friday night because we had to have dinner before I went to my sister's.  In fairness I did call her and ask if she wanted to join us at Carl's Tavern but they had already eaten.  I have to go to Carl's when I go to Monroeville to eat the fried fish, fried zucchini and onion rings.  Yes, everything is fried.  Lots and lots of fried. 

It has been ridiculously hot and even with the air conditioning in the car on the way up, I headed straight to my sister's pool when we arrived.  After eating.  So refreshing to be in the water.  We chatted and floated and all was well.  We made our Saturday plans which for me was cooking dinner Saturday night at my sister's.  Of course that meant a trip to the Strip! 

Saturday morning we picked up my nephew and headed downtown.  It's all about food in the Strip so we waited in the hot, hot sun at DeLuca's for breakfast.  Not as long a line as it was when we left.  I had to have the seafood omelet with Italian toast.  My husband had a breakfast burrito, my nephew French toast.  Once fortified with food, we shopped.

Yes, I made Scampi with Linguine again.  We needed Italian bread from Mancini's, produce, cheese from Pennsylvania Macaroni, a steak for my sister Cathy, shrimp from Wholey's.   We also needed to stop in at Penzey's Spices because we could.  We didn't do too much extra shopping, it was hot and after about 2 hours we were done.   And ready for the pool again.

Saturday afternoon my nephew made salsa for an afternoon snack.  He is growing peppers and wanted to use them.  I made a Caprese Salad, Romaine Salad, heated bread, made scampi for 12 even though we had 10 for dinner we like leftovers and my sister cooked her steak.  On the way home from the Strip we stopped for dessert at Moio's Italian Bakery and picked up a carrot cake, German Chocolate Cake and fruit tart, again planned leftovers.

Back to the pool after dinner. 

Sunday we had the baby shower.  I didn't have to do anything Sunday but attend.  I rode with  my sister Cathy and we headed back to the Strip to Lidia's restaurant for a brunch shower.  The grandmothers and my niece's best friends did a great job with the shower.  Lidia's did a great job with the food. 





We headed home bright and early Monday morning.  Just a quick visit since my gift to my niece is a personal chef service.  I'll go up in my car with all my cooking stuff early in September to stock the freezer before the baby gets here.  He's due September 17th.  My niece loves to eat and this will give her and her husband some easy to get to food when things are busy.  I have to take care of the people who are taking care of the new baby!

We left Monroeville about 6:30 am so we stopped for breakfast about 10:00 and had a real treat.  Breakfast was good but the parking lot was the best part of breakfast.  The Budweiser drivers also stopped for breakfast and gave the horses some air and let customers ask questions and take pictures.  They were headed to the Greenbrier for a golf tournament I think. 





Back to work now.  I have all my paperwork ready for my personal chef client tomorrow.  I have a first  meeting with my contact at a school in the area as part of Chefs Move to Schools and I have two library programs this week also.  Lots of fun, no boredom.

Wow, what a fast couple of days.  Since I did not have camp this week I had free days , or so I thought.  Not so.  I had tons of stuff to do. 

I had to do sheets and bedding from the spare room where my sister and nephew stayed.  I had to go to Costco and get lots of things that fit well into the Element.  I went to Jazzercise after a week away and oh my am I feeling it!  Three times this week, I feel much better even with the soreness.

Yesterday I went to BJ's and Kohl's to pick up the items that Costco did not have.  I think I'm set now on paper towels, cheese sticks, new pillow for husband, plastic wrap, hummus, and yes two new cookbooks. 

I know, it's a sickness.  I bought the Williams Sonoma Preserving cookbook at Costco and Planet Barbecue at BJ's.  I glanced through them last night and they both look great.  More cooking!

Yesterday I decided to make dessert since dinner was simple - ribeyes on the grill, pasta with pesto and fresh green beans.  I made Cinnamon Biscuit Peach Cobbler and it was good.  And pretty.  Not too difficult.  I did use pecans rather than walnuts, we are in Georgia and I like them better. 

Cinnamon Biscuit Peach Cobbler from Taste of Home Magazine
serves 12

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 1/3 cup packed brown sugar, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Filling:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1 cup water
• 9 cups sliced peeled peaches

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda; cut in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk just until blended.
2. Transfer to a floured surface; knead 10-12 times. Pat into a 12-in. square. Brush with melted butter.
3. Combine the walnuts, cinnamon and remaining brown sugar; sprinkle over dough to within 1/2 in. of edge. Roll up jelly-roll style. Seal dough; set aside.
4. For filling, in a large saucepan, combine the brown sugar, cornstarch and lemon peel. Gradually stir in water until blended. Add peaches. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.
5. Cut biscuit dough into twelve 1-in. slices; arrange biscuits over filling. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
   

Today I worked a few hours at Macy's for KitchenAid, then the library, Trader Joe's, the bank, and home for laundry and dinner.  I am ready to relax!  I will be leaving tomorrow to go to Pittsburgh for my niece's baby shower.  I hope to get an early start, but still have to pack my clothes and gather the mountain of stuff from my sister's shopping spree last week. 

I am so glad that I finished the baby blanket a while ago.  I am in process on another for my stepdaughter and need to get back to that.  Life is good, all works out as it should, now to deal with the shopping mountain!

This week went by quickly!  I cooked for a client on Tuesday and then I've just been doing stuff all week.  I teach cooking camp again next week so I'm conserving my energy!

It has been hot here again as it has been almost everywhere.  I don't totally change the way we eat in the summer, but after the holiday weekend I was feeling overloaded with meat.  I like meat, often I crave it, but I needed a rest.

Tuesday for "whatever" night I had leftover mashed potatoes for dinner.  My husband came home from his meeting, asked about my dinner and was a little surprised by my answer.  He had the usual meeting pizza.

Wednesday I had planned for steaks and zucchini but was still feeling too heavy from the weekend.  I decided on the leftover pasta that I had - penne, two kinds of mushrooms, no meat.  I also had zucchini boats  - garlic, butter, parmesan.  Delicious.

Last night I ventured into some animal protein.  My husband works with people who cook and quite some time ago came home with a photocopied recipe.  I have had it on the counter waiting for the perfect time.

I don't know the source, nothing on the page, but it was quick and easy and perfect for summer.  Also no mayo in the slaw!  I made the slaw about 2 hours before dinner and kept it in the fridge.  It was nice and crunchy at dinner, some water was released.  I served it with black beans.

Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Cabbage Slaw
serves 4

1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons sour cream
kosher salt and black pepper
8 ounces cabbage, shredded
1 cup corn kernels
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
8 small flour tortillas, warmed

1. In a large bowl, whisk the orange and lime juices, sour cream, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. 
2. Add the cabbage, corn, and jalapeno and toss to combine.  Let sit, tossing occasionally, for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. 
   
4. Season the shrimp with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Cook until opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Serve with the tortillas and slaw.

Today is continuation of errands and cleaning.  My sister and nephew arrive tomorrow from Pittsburgh for camp week.  I think I may stop at the grocery store so we can avoid that this weekend. 

My menu plan for next week is hopefully easy since my week will be harder.  I'm not sure what I was thinking when I scheduled the week, but in addition to camp everyday I have the Y class Monday night and a library program for teens Tuesday night. 

Tonight I am smoking my first turkey breast with high hopes that it will give me leftovers for next week!  I'll also make a blueberry cake for snacks.

This was a long weekend for me.  A few weeks ago I asked my husband if he'd be off on Friday or Monday for the 4th of July and he wasn't sure.  I decided to mark off both days for me and take an extra long weekend.  Turns out he was off today, so I had my extra day Friday.

I had a peaceful day of a little work and a little knitting planned for Friday.  I did my weekly menu planning early Friday and saw fudgy brownies in Fine Cooking.  I had everything I needed so I made brownies pretty early Friday.  After I cleaned the kitchen and ran the dishwasher, I decided the kitchen was closed for the day. 

I had to run out to get a printer cartridge to get some library program printing done, then home for lunch and knitting.  Small trauma - when I heated my lunch the demon cat ate my knitting needle.  She's fast with powerful teeth!  After eating I ran to the yarn store for new needles.  I need to be very vigilant while knitting. 

We ate dinner out on Friday night and shopped for a new mattress and looked at new refrigerators.  Saturday morning was Jazzercise, grocery shopping and the kitchen was open again for dinner - pork piccata.  I also needed to make my breakfast casserole that was on the menu for Sunday.

I love the cookbook A Real American Breakfast by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison.  The Sunday morning breakfast was another casserole and it is delicious.

Almond-Cinnamon Toast Featherbed

Butter deep 9- or 10-inch baking dish.

Slice bread approximately 1/2 inch thick. Toast slices until crisp and golden (If they are too thick for your toaster, this can be done on a dry griddle or on a baking sheet in a 400-degree oven.) Stir together 4 tablespoons softened butter, cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Spread mixture evening over the toast.

Arrange 2 to 3 equal alternating layers of the bread, bits of almond paste, and mascarpone in the baking dish. Cut or tear the bread slices if needed to make snug layers.

Whisk eggs with half-and-half, amaretto and salt. Pour custard over bread mixture. Drizzle the 3 tablespoons melted butter over the surface. Cover and refrigerate strata at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Remove strata from refrigerator 20 to 30 minutes before you plan to bake it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Plan on a total baking time of 55 to 60 minutes. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and scatter almonds over the top if you are using them. Continue baking, uncovered, until puffed, golden brown and lightly set in the center, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Serve hot.

I used challah bread, a 13 x 9 baking dish and made 2 layers, mascarpone and did not use almonds.  We had some home made breakfast sausage also.  After breakfast we relaxed, read a little, took a little nap and went to a friend's house.

My chef friend Rosemary invited us to her pool for the holiday.  The pool in her neighborhood.  We arrived, got organized, went to the pool, there was a catered bbq lunch, we ate, talked, relaxed in the pool, back to the house for chatting and then home.  We had a very pleasant 4th of July.

This morning we were up and ready for 7:15 Jazzercise.  I had to drag myself there slightly, but did feel better after.  Home for breakfast which was Migas from the same cookbook.  Migas are roasted poblanos, roasted jalapeno, roasted tomato, eggs, corn chips crushed, cheese, cilantro and they are wonderful.

Tonight will be ribs on the grill. Slow cook, easy cook.  Maybe another nap and some knitting.  Maybe the pool.  The weekend weather has been perfect.

Back to work tomorrow with a personal chef customer.  I'm ready though after my long weekend.

Having a good week so far.  I had a library program on Monday, thanks to Rockmart for having me.  I was scheduled to do a cooking program for the teens at 2 pm, so I checked my directions, left the house at 11 and was on my way.

I never thought I'd have a traffic trauma in the afternoon and sailed down 400 on the way to 285 and 75 North.  I was on the ramp to get on 285 about 11:10 and noticed there was no movement on the highway.  Not good.  I looked and didn't see any helicopters and thought that was a good sign.  I was now trapped, had to get on the road, but no movement.  I found a traffic report on the radio which said "all lanes of 285 are closed, traffic accident with injuries, get off and take alternate route".

Great, I was close to the exit but had no idea of alternate routes.  Called my husband who luckily for me, not so much for him, was at his desk.  I explained, told him I thought I needed to exit, he looked online, saw the accident, agreed and I told him he needed to find a way for me to get to 75 North. 

After an hour and 15 minutes, I made it on the road and off the exit.  Not good, I was now sure to be late, even leaving early.  My husband guided me, I called the library and told them I thought I'd arrive about the time the program would start. Of course I still needed to set up. 

After 2 hours, I was on 75 North!  Now I just had to find Rockmart.  I found it, drove past the library only once and was there about 2:10.  There were still teens there for the program, they helped me in with my stuff and in about 10 minutes we were cooking! 

We made island chicken, pasta salad and lemonade.  The teens were great, we all pitched in, we had a delicious lunch and the program ended at 3:30 instead of 3:00. 

Thanks to Ann the librarian for having me and understanding my traffic trauma!

Yesterday was my much anticipated hair cut and I bought some corn.  I like to freeze it for the winter and last year didn't get to do that.  We had some corn on Sunday, it was very good, so I went to Publix yesterday for corn.

This is my regular Publix where they know me and when I got to produce Doug the manager said hi and remarked I was late.  It was 11:30.  I explained I wasn't working and needed some corn, a lot of corn.  He said great, do you need a crate, there are 48 ears in a crate.  Perfect! 

He loaded the crate in my cart, I went to check out with Rebecca who just looked at me and laughed.  I told her 48 ears.  It's on special 10 ears for $1.49.  Andrew walked me out to the car and loaded the corn.  No one thought that I made an odd purchase, I think they just assume most of what I do is odd. 

I just finished a client menu so now will be husking, blanching, ice bathing, cutting and freezer bagging corn.  That should take a little time today.  No corn for dinner!

I had such a nice time yesterday cooking for dinner last night and for breakfast this morning.  Actually dinner for tonight is done since we're having pulled pork again.

Yesterday we got the wood chips soaking and the grill burning so I could get the pork butt on by 6:00.  I wanted to make sure to get the temperature holding between 225 and 250 before we went to Jazzercise.  All went well.

About 4:30 I took the meat off of the grill to cool slightly to shred.  It fell apart so easily and was so delicious. 



Since the pork was cooking without needing attention from me, I made potato salad yesterday afternoon to have with the pork.  I do not like mayo, so I made a salad from The Barefoot Contessa and for fun used purple potatoes.  It too was delicious.



I had to wait for potatoes to get tender in boiling water so I used that time to make a breakfast casserole that we had this morning.  Here are the before and after pictures.  It was very good, a recipe from Ellie Krieger.



Blueberry Almond French Toast Bake from Ellie Krieger
serves 8

• Cooking spray
• 1 whole-wheat baguette (about 18 inches long, 8 ounces), cut into 1-inch cubes
• 8 large eggs
• 8 large egg whites
• 2 cups 1 percent lowfat milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Spray a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Arrange the bread in a single layer in the baking pan. Whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and maple syrup. Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the pan, spreading it around so the liquid saturates the bread. Scatter the blueberries evenly on top and sprinkle with the almonds and brown sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover the baking pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Serve warm, cold or at room temperature.

I have leftovers for brunch tomorrow and I'll pop some in the freezer for another day.  I love having the freezer with ready to go meals.

Since I was in the kitchen anyway and since the berries are beautiful right now, I needed to make my favorite berry pie.  I love Fresh Raspberry Pie. 

All of my cooking is done.  I did not do any knitting yesterday so I think I'll do that today.  We've been to church, had breakfast and now I can hear the dryer telling me the towels are done.

I have a library program tomorrow with teens in Rockmart.  I have all of my recipes ready and just need to get all my equipment organized.  And then the rest of the day is for relaxation!  Sounds good to me.

Last week was another session of kid's cooking camp.  We had the competition on Thursday with guest judges and then invited guests for lunch on Friday.  Both groups did a great job in the competition, the judges came up with a 1.6 point difference between the groups. 

Thanks so much for the great volunteer assistants and the wonderful judges who take time out of their day to come and visit with the kids.  They do get a great lunch but I know they are working, have deadlines, lots to do.  I did manage to remember to take some pictures of the prep and of the food. 

Get all ingredients ready before you cook:



Sauteed apples cooling and the finished apple turnovers:



Raspberry lemonade ready for presentation to the judges (Meghan Foley, Virginia Willis and Mary Moore):



More great looking and great tasting food:



The potatoes were a delicious surprise for everyone.  The team took some pieces of several recipes to create this original recipe.  It was so good we had it for lunch with guests on Friday. 

Twice Baked Asparagus Lime Potatoes by LiJuSa
serves 12

6 russet potatoes, scrubbed
3 cups water
1 1/2 pounds asparagus
3/4 cup butter, chilled
1 1/2 tablespoons shallots, finely diced
3/8 cup key lime juice
2 pinches salt
cooked bacon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Rub potatoes with olive oil, pierce once and bake until tender, about 1 hour.
2. Cool slightly and cut in half lengthwise.  Scoop pulp into a bowl and reserve shells.
   
3. Mash potatoes.
4. Bring water to a boil in a large pot.  Add asparagus and cook until crisp tender, 3 to 4 minutes.  Using tongs, transfer to a bowl of ice water.  Drain and pat dry.  Cut into small pieces.
   
5. Cut butter onto 8 equal pieces.
6. Over medium heat, melt one piece of butter in small saucepan. 
   
7. Add shallots to pan, stirring until softened but not brown, about 30 seconds.
   
8. Pour in lime juice and bring to a boil. 
   
9. Add one piece of butter to the juice whisking until just melted.  While whisking constantly add each remaining piece of butter one piece at a time until each piece is incorporated. 
   
10. Mix about 2/3 of sauce with potatoes, taste, add additional if desired.   Fold in asparagus, salt, pepper and bacon. 
    
11. Mound filling in shells.  Bake in preheated 400 degree oven.
    

No cooking last night for me.  I thawed stuffed pizza that I made a couple weeks ago and it was perfect.  Now I have a raspberry pie almost finished baking.  I have pork slow smoking on the grill, potato salad finished and a blueberry almond breakfast casserole done for tomorrow.  Time to relax!

Wow, did we eat a lot today!  And it was all pretty delicious.   My husband and I do not have children together, but he has two daughters and Chrissy happened to be in Atlanta this weekend so we got to see her. 

She is a wedding planner and had a wedding in Decatur on Saturday.  She knew she would finish about 6 pm and even though Greenville isn't too far, it is too far after a couple days of wedding planning!  She decided to come to our house Saturday to visit, sleep and relax a little.

I worked a few hours on Saturday doing my job of Product Specialist for KitchenAid.  I was showcasing the Food Grinder attachment for the stand mixer at Whole Foods in Buckhead.  I love the attachments and the food grinder is my second favorite (if I had favorites), the first being the pasta roller/cutter.

I told Chrissy that I was picking up our dinner at Whole Foods so we would be having a casual meal on the grill whenever she was finished with the wedding.  As much as I love the food grinder I had thoughts that after 4 hours of making and cooking sausage patties that my own dinner had better be pretty easy. 

I finished at Whole Foods at 3 and checked out the fish counter.  There was beautiful sockeye salmon so I grabbed some.  On to produce where I grabbed some South Carolina zucchini.  Then to the bakery for a baguette and dessert.  I was good to go. 

Dinner was all on the grill - salmon, zucchini planks, warmed bread and then raspberry cake.  This was a very nice, very easy dinner.

Today Chrissy knew she would want to sleep a little, she is pregnant and due in December.  I spent some time Friday avoiding menu planning and finishing the baby sweater so I could give it to her.  I did it!  Sleeves, buttons, ends in, all done.  Very cute, have to get the picture from my husband.

We went to church, the grocery store (I planned my menu Saturday) and then home to make breakfast.  The sausage was so good on Saturday that I needed to make it for brunch for us.  Usually when I demo something for several hours I need a break from even thinking about eating it no matter how delicious.  Not this time. 

I cut the meat, added the herbs, spices, put it through the grinder, made stone ground grits, eggs and juice and we had a very nice brunch.  The recipe was from Alton Brown and I will never buy sausage again.  Luckily it makes quite a bit, I made patties and they are in the freezer ready for whenever.

Breakfast Sausage from Alton Brown

• 2 pounds pork butt (2 1/2 pounds with bone), diced into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1/2 pound fat back, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Combine diced pork with all other ingredients and chill for 1 hour. Using the fine blade of a grinder, grind the pork. Form into 1-inch rounds. Refrigerate and use within 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months. For immediate use, saute patties over medium-low heat in a non-stick pan. Saute until brown and cooked through, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

We had dinner tonight of pork chops with mushroom gravy, smashed red skin potatoes and fresh green beans.  This appears to be a week of pork. 

Tomorrow is the second session of kid's cooking camp week.  We are cooking food for the beach, city and country.  I know we'll have fun and I'll be having great lunches again next week.  Note:  Make sure to get in Jazzercise!

Now I'm going to do some knitting.  I have lots of knitting to do and started an easy blanket.  Not much thinking to it, but good for those after kid's cooking days.

I had some time to try new recipes and am so glad that I did!  Friday night was steak, salad and bread.  Easy dinner except I made the bread and grilled it.  I found the recipe in the latest issue of Fine Cooking and it looked so delicious I couldn't wait. 

Once I started I was a little worried, the dough seemed soft, I couldn't see how it would work, but it did, it was wonderful dough and everything worked like the recipe stated.

I made 10 individual balls of dough and let them rest for about 1 1/2 hours.  It isn't a yeast dough but the recipe said "rest". I also made the pesto like filling and crumbled the cheese. 



After the resting period I just followed the recipe: Grilled Naan filled with Herbs and Cheese from Fine Cooking May 2010.

---

I made mine on The Big Green Egg.  I love that grill!  Mine cooked a little less evenly than they might have with a gas grill, bit the smoky flavor is terrific. 

Saturday I made another easy dinner and used the Egg again.  I smoked some salmon, had salad with it, some angel hair tossed with pesto and grape tomatoes and fresh blueberry cobbler.



Yesterday while dinner was cooking I made breakfast for today.  I love stratas and had a new recipe I wanted to try.  This was called Kentucky Hot Brown Strata from the cookbook Real American Breakfasts by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison.  This is one of my favorite cookbooks and the strata was perfect. 

Kentucky Hot Brown Strata

• 1 (1-1 1/4 lb)  country bread or sourdough bread, crusts removed if thick (1 loaf)
• 6 ounces chopped smoked turkey or roast turkey
• 6 ounces bacon, finely chopped and cooked crisp
• 1 large tomato,  chopped
• 3/4 lb cheddar cheese,  grated (medium or sharp)
• 5 large eggs
• 2 cups milk or half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  

I used sourdough bread, smoked turkey, grape tomatoes, no sage and extra sharp cheddar.  Very, very good.



No cooking tonight.  I made two appetizers this morning while the strata was baking and am taking them to my friend Rosemary's house for dinner.  It will be a nice relaxing evening with good food and good friends. 

Tomorrow I'm cooking for a customer, also Tuesday and then I'm headed to Washington DC!

This week just flew by!  I did not cook for personal chef customer this week and that was good timing.  I have had some problems with my neck and back so I got to rest those muscles and I feel good today.

The first session of kid's cooking camp starts June 7th so I needed to get all of my camp materials ready so The Cook's Warehouse can make copies and make binders for everyone.  I spent a few hours gathering the recipes, making sure they made sense when scaled up or down and finding interesting extra info to include. 

This year I have 4 weeks of over age 10 cooking, 2 different sessions and one 4 day session with the 6 to 9 year olds.  I have Regional Cooking as the Theme for two sessions and Beach,City,Country Cooking as the theme for 1 session.  I got everything done, reviewed and delivered to Cook's Warehouse.  So glad that is done!

I also had to find judges since we do a competition for the older kids and sent that email out.  I had great response from chef friends and have almost all 4 weeks filled with judges.  So glad. 

I am leaving for Washington DC on Wednesday to attend the Chefs Move to Schools event at the White House!  Very exciting and a good time for a little break before summer camps.  I hope to get pictures at the White House and be able to use Facebook while there.  Without getting removed by Secret Service. 

Since I am leaving for the rest of the week, I am cooking for clients on Monday and Tuesday.  Not sure what I'll be making for my dinner on Memorial Day but my Monday clients will be set for meals when they get home Tuesday.  My Tuesday client is having a birthday so they asked for Beef Stroganoff for one of the meals. 

I need to menu plan for us today.  I am thinking about smoked salmon tomorrow, tonight we're having steaks on the grill and some bread that looks good.  Hopefully it will be and I'll get pictures.  Sunday we're invited to a friend's for dinner.  Not much planning to do! 

I might need to do 2 weeks of planning and check out my freezer meals since camp is fun but a little tiring.  I know I have chicken soup, stuffed pizza, chicken curry and spaghetti sauce.  Yes I do love my freezer.

Okay going to call my friend about Sunday and get my planning done.  Then maybe the pool? Or maybe knitting!