I had a pretty quiet weekend, it was nice.  On Saturday I attended a Blanket Ministry meeting at church.  I'm hoping to finish my quilt this year to be donated.  On Saturday we sorted blankets, made sure there were labels and counted them.  We have 200 to be donated to various groups.  I'm hoping to give 1 this year!  On November 30th, Pastor Steve will bless all the blankets before they go on their way.

My husband had to work Saturday and didn't get home until about 9:30 pm.  Apparently his day did not go smoothly.  I went to the toy store to get grandson birthday presents and I really need someone to slow me down.  I saw lots of fun things and decided finally on 2 race cars, one marble game and a fire truck you have to build.  I saw other things but walked away.

Sunday we drove to Greenville to give the presents to Matthew.  We missed the party Saturday due to the not smooth day of work but were able to go Sunday.  We met at Beth's house, opened presents and then went with Beth, Matthew, Chrissy and Chuck to lunch.  Beth's husband Michael had a work thing he had to do so he missed a good Southwestern lunch.

We walked in the park afterwards since it was a beautiful day and the color of the leaves this year is great.  I know it looks cool, but why is there a scary bridge that moves when you're standing in the middle that is fun for grandchildren?  I went on it and discovered my stepdaughter Beth is not good with heights either, so I was not alone in my fear.  Still afraid, just had company.

I took the family picture since I really don't enjoy being in pictures. We headed home about 5:30, got home about 8 and had hot apple dumplings for dinner.  We had had a big lunch so they were perfect!

Today is the normal office work getting ready for this week's customers.  I have to check with one couple to make sure the menu is good.  I'm also doing a class tomorrow night for our women's center so I got ready for that.  I volunteer to do classes for them once or twice a year. 

I have the last of the bushel of apples on and simmering for applesauce.  Yay for me!  That was a lot pf peeling and no I don't use a fancy gadget, just a potato peeler.  The house smells good now though.

Tonight's Jazzercise recipe for gifts from the kitchen is going to be cocoa mix.  I have it all printed to take.  If you like the convenience of hot chocolate mix but don't like all the ingredients listed in commercial products, this is a good choice.

Hot Cocoa by Alton Brown

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
• hot water

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly.  In a small pot, heat 4 to 6 cups water.
2. Fill your mug half full with the cocoa mixture and pour in hot water.  Stir to combine.
3. Seal the rest in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry.  This also works great with warm milk.
4. Yields 5 1/2 cups mix.

October is almost over and it has gone by quickly.  I can't believe that it's been so many days since my last post!  I try, but things - work, Jazzercise, reading, knitting, dinner, get in the way! 

Since I last posted I've been to Macy's twice demoing the wonderful pasta attachment for the stand mixer.  I talked to many people, assured them it was as easy as they saw and sent a few people home with new pasta makers.  They will love them!  Today I am going to Macy's again with the stand mixer and the food grinder attachment.

Seriously now is a great time to purchase a stand mixer if you're thinking about it for a gift for yourself or others.  With the purchase of the mixer, you can get a free attachment (food grinder or ice cream) with many of the stand mixer models.  It's a great offer and good only until October 31. 

On Sunday we went to the Fox to see Wicked.  It was wonderful.  I think my husband was a little concerned that I wanted to see a show about how the WIcked Witch got to be wicked, but we both loved the production. 

Monday I had my usual work in the morning to get ready for the week and then I went to lunch with my friend Scott.  He's also a personal chef and we just don't see each other much.  We made plans and they worked!  He suggested Pappadeaux's.  I had never been but I know Scott likes good food so I agreed.  It was very good.  We had the lunch buffet and it had many things.  It started with a beautiful green salad and a fruit salad, boiled shrimp, catfish nuggets, chicken nuggets, shrimp ettoufee, gumbo, chicken and catfish with shrimp topping.  Yum! 

Yes I went to Jazzercise and have been going 3 to 4 times a week.  Several months ago in response to a request from our teacher, I started taking tried and true recipes to the class each week.  People seem to like them and like trying new things for dinner.  This week I made a slight change.  I had had several inquiries about good recipes to give as gifts so I decided to give food gift recipes until the end of the year.  This is the one I chose this week:

NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Pie

• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell *
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup (6 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream (optional)

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 325° F.
BEAT eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.
BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.

When I gave these to customers as gifts, I bought some ceramic holiday pie plates, put the baked pie (in the foil pan) in the ceramic plate, wrapped it in cellophane with ribbon.  It looked nice and the pie pan can be used later.  It's a tasty gift.  Try the Nestle's site for more good recipes. 

I had customers on Tuesday and Wednesday and am going to Macy's today.  I am planning on nothing tomorrow.  It is Halloween and things get crazy here with traffic.  I think it will be a perfect knitting day.  I also might make muffins since I have some fresh cranberries and orange juice left from cooking this week. 

I mentioned that October is pretty busy and that is a good thing.  On Thursday I cooked for my new customer who appreciated the gift her friend had given her.  Friday morning I got up early and got some beef stew in the oven for a Loving Meal I had to deliver today.  I also got a pork roast ready for dinner for us.

Tuscan Pork Roast from Taste of Home Magazine

• 5 to 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, crushed
• 1 tablespoon Crisco Light Olive Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 boneless pork loin roast (3 to 4 pounds)

1. In a food processor, combine garlic, rosemary, olive oil and salt; cover and process until the mixture becomes a paste.  Rub over the roast;cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Place roast fat side up on a greased baking rack in a shallow rosting pan.  Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.  Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

This was good, I made a few slight changes.  Since I have fresh rosemary growing in my yard I used that, probably about 3 tablespoons.  I also used extra virgin olive oil since that's all I have.  I covered the roast and refrigerated it all day until I started dinner about 5:00.  I'd say it went into the fridge about 8:00 a.m.  The flavor of rosemary was very nice. 

Yesterday and today I was at Macy's working for KitchenAid.  I did demos each day and tried to help customers with questions.  I had a good time and talked to some very nice people.  And sold some KitchenAid products.

We had sandwiches tonight of the pork along with some Roasted Red Pepper Hummus from Trader Joe's.  Very good.  We still have some pork left so maybe Monday I'll need to use it for fried rice.  I haven't made that for a while. 

I didn't deliver the meal today.  I was working from 11 to 3, so my husband delivered it for me.  I like to make sure whoever is getting the meal gets it fairly early on weekends in case they want to eat early.  I didn't know this person, I'm not sure if she has an illness or has been in the hospital but now that it's a little cooler beef stew might help her feel a little better.

Life is back to normal after vacation.  I am very fortunate that I am very busy.  I try to not take that for granted.  Saturday we just got organized from being away.  I did some laundry, unpacked everything, I wanted to take the time so I wouldn't be overwhelmed later.  The Fly Lady really does help. 

Sunday was a beautiful day for the wedding expo.  I do not like to get my picture taken, but my husband snapped a few while I was not paying attention.  I think my table looked pretty nice and inviting to the brides.  A personal chef is a great wedding gift!

If you didn't get to the expo and are planning a wedding, I have great ideas for photographers, cakes, limos, etc.  Let me know and I can send names and websites.  I personally tasted several wedding cakes, the people insisted, and found some good ones.  I also found that even with tiny tastes you can get cake overload, especially if that is all you eat for several hours.  

Since we still had no time for grocery shopping, I always need a menu and list, Saturday was a freezer save meal with spaghetti sauce.  Love the freezer!  I do have a menu now and plan to go grocery shopping today. 

Monday was a normal working day.  I got my paperwork ready for my  2 new customers this week.   The client yesterday received me as a baby shower gift.  Her friends decided that meals would be a great gift.  I am also a gift for the client tomorrow.  She is a photographer, has been working from her home, got very busy and expanded to a location away from home.  She's very busy getting organized and her friend thought meals would help. 

I do love my job and am very appreciative to be considered as a gift for people. 

Friday and Saturday I will be at Macy's at Northpoint demonstrating the pasta attachment for the KitchenAid stand mixer.  If you have a mixer, want a mixer, never knew there were attachments, need holiday gifts for yourself or others, stop by and say hello.

I'm going out to dinner tonight with my KitchenAid boss who lives in Pittsburgh.  In the two years I've been working with KitchenAid I've only met her once!  We talk on the phone and through email though and she's very nice.  It will be good to see her.  My husband will be having vegetable lasagna from the freezer. 

I have a few pictures to post of the cypress swamp.  They were on the laptop and too time consuming to get from there.  You can see the trees, the water lilies, the turtles and even the alligator.  The wood duck lives in the swamp, is shy and is one they have in the butterfly house.

We're back.  The drive is really not far and we'd return to Charleston for a visit in the future. 

In addition to our walking tour of Charleston on Monday we went to the Charleston Museum.  That was a good visit too.  Just didn't want to forget anything we did.  I got to see clothes, silver and quilts there and enjoyed the visit. 

Wednesday we headed out to Cypress Gardens and Mepkin Abbey.  We started at the gardens and were able to get on the list for the 12:00 guided boat ride in the swamp.  Yes, they have boats that you can take by yourself, I thought we should wait for the tour since the guide would have more information.  While waiting we went in the butterfly house and walked a little. 

The tour was excellent.  We had 8 in our boat and the tour took about 45 minutes.  Our guide gave us historical information and showed us turtles and even a couple alligators.  Very exciting!  And beautiful.  The water is black because of the cypress oil and has good reflections.  Of course after the boat tour we had to walk the grounds for a couple of hours and saw several turtles and our own alligator. 

We headed off to the abbey but got there just as a bus was pulling in so we could not take the church tour.  It was overbooked with the bus.  We did walk the grounds and enjoyed the beauty.  There were some carvings from trees that had fallen and this is the burial place of Clare Booth Luce and Henry Luce. 

After that we were pretty hungry and decided to go for very casual food in Monck's Corner at Gilligan's Seafood.  Good fried shrimp, okra and iced tea.  A perfect meal right on the water. 

Thursday we had scheduled a Culinary Walking Tour.  This was a great tour and would be good at the beginning of a trip to Charleston.  Susan was our guide and once we met at the tour place we headed out.  There were 6 of us on the tour so it was a nice small group.  We started at the Dixie Restaurant where we sampled grits and pumpkin cornbread.  Very good.

We moved on to several places - Belgian chocolates, several restaurants, Charleston Cooks store.  Susan told us about the restaurants, the menus, we tasted chocolate and we walked.  Pretty fast, but there was lots to learn.

We headed to River Street Sweets where we watched the peanut brittle making and sampled many things - peanut brittle, pralines, pumpkin fudge, glazed nuts, sugared nuts.  Again good.  We each got a huge praline for later.  I snapped a couple pictures of the peanut brittle process.

We also went to Teavanna and learned about teas, and ended with barbecue and collard greens.  Excellent.  The tour was about 3 hours, we went over some I believe.  It is a little pricy but worth it. 

The tour finished about 12:30 so we still had a good part of the day to be tourists. We were not hungry and wanted to try and see the tea plantation so off we went.  Not too far and very interesting. 

We got there just in time for a trolley tour so off we went.  Our guide explained the process and the plants.  The plants are related to camellias and some were beginning to bloom.  The fields look like fields of shrubs.  Every 18 or so days the new growth is sheared to be used to make tea.  The plants are evergreen and will be going dormant soon. 

Old growth fields                                                            New plants

Ready to be trimmed                                                   

After the tea plantation we snapped a few pictures of the Angel tree and headed to a winery for tastings.  They make wine with muscadine grapes and they also make a Sweet Tea Vodka.  I'll get back to you on that.  I've heard it is wonderful but powerful.   

Thursday night we ate at the Hominy Grill and it was excellent.  I had cornmeal crusted grouper, turnip greens and macaroni and cheese.  For dessert a cranberry upside down cake with orange sauce.  Perfect!  We went back for breakfast Friday morning.

Friday the plan was to visit the aquarium and we purchased the optional sea turtle hospital tour.  We arrived in time for the river otter breakfast feeding and then toured the aquarium.  Out turtle tour was at 1:00 and if you ever go to Charleston, go to the hospital.  The director told us about the program, about the turtles, what they do and what we would see before we went in.  Once in we could see all the turtle patients, ask questions, watch some feeding and learn all about everyone.  Very casual, very unrushed, very good. 

The hospital was full with 8 turtles ranging from 70 pounds to over 300 pounds.  They had various problems - run ins with boats, pnuemonia, fish hook injuries, etc.  They are beautiful.  The aquarium is non profit and relies on donations for the turtle program.  Check out the website and blog.  One woman on the tour had rescued one of the turtles a year ago.  She was there visiting her.  Since they have such slow metabolisms they are slow to heal.  Here are a few pictures, but you have to go.

We ended our day with dinner at Cru Cafe and again an excellent meal.  Now we're home and I'll be serving chicken noodle soup!  

We made it safe and sound to Charleston.  Not a bad drive especially since I read magazines and got a row of knitting done.  We got here about 3:00, checked into the hotel and went for a walk down to the water.  We were having a nice stroll when a huge rain cloud came through with torrents of rain.  We cowered for a while and then headed back to the hotel.  We're staying at Charleston Place and it is very nice.

Sunday night we had dinner at Blossom and had a very good dinner.  Our waiter was okay, he started out strong and then faded, but the food was good.  We were tired after the drive so we headed back to get rested for Monday.

Since I've been back from New Orleans, I've been very busy so my vacation planning was not as done as I would have liked.  I had made time to get a AAA tourbook so we reviewed that Monday morning and made some plans.  Monday was casual touring day.  There were two walking tours described in the AAA book so we took those pages and set out.  We saw churches, houses, water, trees, and had a wonderful time.  We tend to walk lots while vactioning so we put in about 5 hours before we went back to the hotel to rest.

As you can see the rain was gone and we had sunny, breezy weather.  Perfect for all the walking we did.  Monday night we asked the concierge for a restaurant suggestion and he suggested Hanks.  I had heard good things about it so that was the plan.  It was excellent.  I thought Sunday's dinner was good but this was better.  I remembered the camera, I had forgotten it Sunday.

We had early reservations, about 7, because we had scheduled a ghost/graveyard walking tour for 9:30.  After walking all day that might not have been the best plan, but we had tickets so off we went.  The guide did a good job but since I don't believe in ghosts I was too logical minded to be scared or expect to get pictures.  It was a nice evening, we learned some history and we got back to get some sleep about 11:30.  A long day.  But good.

Tuesday we planned to take a little drive and look at plantations.  There were three in the AAA tourbook and we decided on 2, we try and stay reasonable.  It doesn't always work.  We decided on Drayton Hall first and had a wonderful time.  The house has not been renovated, has no furnishings and was beautiful to see.  Our tour guide Leslie did a wonderful job and after the house tour we took a self guided marsh tour.  We decided that we could skip the river walk since we had another place to visit. 

Again, wonderful sunny weather.  We left Drayton Hall to go a couple miles to Middleton Place.  We took a house tour which was furnished, I love to see period furnishing, and then did a self guided walk of the grounds.  As I said we walk a lot on vacation and this took us about 3 hours.  There are formal gardens, informal gardens, a cypress lake, huge live oaks, a rose garden, bamboo groves, benches for resting, and markers to follow.  We had a great time.  I highly recommend the garden tour.  We also saw various displays of what was needed to be done for everyday - the potter, the spinning, the carriages, the animals and the blacksmith.  He was probably my favorite.  He does things the old fashioned way and talked us through the process and loved his job.  We headed to the hotel tired but happy.

We had reservations Tuesday night at the hotel at the Charleston Grill.  Oh my.  The food and service are excellent.  Not inexpensive but perfect.  We had a relaxing, almost 2 hour dinner with perfect food and wine.  I highly suggest trying this if you are in Charleston.  Plan for it and enjoy the experience.

Today we are headed to the swamp and hopefully the abbey.  I excect there will be more walking but that helps with the eating.  We are having a wonderful time.  I've taken many, many pictures but try to be sensible working on the laptop. 

The wedding expo that seemed so far away is almost here.  The date to remember is October 19th and the place is the Mansell House.   If you are in the North Metro area and planning a wedding, you need to attend.  There will be about 60 vendors covering cakes, hotels, catering, limos, carriages, music, dancing lessons, gift baskets and me.  A personal chef service is a wonderful gift. 

I had some time today luckily and spent it getting things ready for my table.  I have signs, brochures and I think all I will need.  I am slightly decorating impaired and not good with crafts involving glue guns so I have tried to keep things simple. 

I've also just gathered all my materials for teaching tomorrow and Thursday.  I'll be teaching for the Culinary Business Academy for people who want to be personal chefs.  The days are always fun. 

Last night I finally tried Curry Simple Sauce for dinner.  I bought it at Cook's Warehouse while I was there teaching on Saturday.  I sauteed some chicken breast added some red bell pepper, spinach, zucchini, carrot shreds and green onions and served it over rice.  It was tasty and easy.  I used the green curry last night and it was spicy but not overly fiery.  It's supposed to be the spiciest and I'll compare when I try the red that I also bought. 

Tonight is "whatever" for dinner and I have no idea.  I am leaning to Amy's Organic Cheese Pizza though.  I have severe carb needs. 

I got a nice surprise in the mail today.  Last October in the Halloween kid's class we had a guest photographer who took pictures for a story that came out this year.  The writer sent me some copies of the magazine and the article is very nice.  If you want to check it out and get the recipes and you are not one of the EMC members that receive the magazine you can look here. 

I have to go now and pick up my printing at Office Depot.  When I called to ask if it was ready they asked if it was the "chef stuff".  I'm hoping that they remembered the chef materials because they were so much fun and so easy to do.    

I haven't posted a recipe for quite some time because I really haven't been using them since I got back from conference.  Once I got back last Tuesday I had customers, knitting class, a meal for Loving Meals, kid's class and KitchenAid demo. 

Last Friday I delivered the meal I made for Loving Meals.  I rarely know the people that I take meals to since we attend 8:00 church services and many, many more people go to church later than that.  I called, made sure they would be home and went with my meal.  I was chatting with the woman a little, she was so happy since the night before had been difficult, she was tired and now dinner was done.  Her teenage son came home, she introduced me as the woman who brought dinner and he gave me a huge hug.  Teenagers normally seem polite with strangers, usually say hello, usually don't hug.  I guess food conquers all.

Saturday after the kid's class I just made pizza.  I always have flour, yeast and water for crust and then can forage in the fridge for toppings.  Sunday I made some seared tuna on a salad and used no recipe for that.  I finally used a recipe this past Monday. 

I get many emails from many sources for many recipes.  This one came from the Cattleman's Beef Board.  It's a new and easy way to serve ground beef.

Buffalo-Style Beef Tacos

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/4 cup cayenne pepper sauce for Buffalo wings
• 8 taco shells
• 1 cup thinly sliced lettuce
• 1/4 cup prepared blue cheese dressing
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• carrot and celery sticks optional

1. Brown ground beef in large nonstick skillet over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes or until beef is not pink, breaking up into small crumbles.  Pour off drippings, if necessary.  Stir in pepper sauce.  Cook and stir 1 minute or until heated through.
2. Meanwhile heat taco shells according to package directions.
3. Evenly spoon beef mixture into taco shells.  Add lettuce;drizzle with dressing.  Top evenly with carrot, celery and cilantro.  Garnish with carrot and celery sticks if desired.

I didn't use the shredded carrots because I made a huge pot of chicken soup Monday and used all the carrots for that - some while simmering the chicken, some for slices after the soup was done.  No carrots left when I made dinner.  Not a problem, it was still good.

I had a number of errands Monday but put the soup on at 9:30 and left it until 4.  I was in and out and checked it when I got back each time.  The chicken was on sale at Publix so now I have 5 good size containers of soup I just put in the freezer.  I love to have it waiting when needed!

Today I meet with a new client who received me for a baby shower gift from her friends.  They thought she would like food after the baby came.  I also have a meeting for the wedding expo that happens October 19th.  I need to work on what I'm doing for that.  A personal chef service does make a lovely gift for many occasions!

Since I taught a cooking class on Saturday, technically work, we decided to have Family Fun Day on Sunday.  We went to church, home for a quick breakfast and then set off for Persimmon Creek Vineyards.

I had received an email from Georgia Organics about a wine tasting and tour and that sounded like fun.  My husband said it would take 2 hours to drive.  The drive was easy especially since I knit a row on my cape on the way up.  One row takes 1 hour so that was a good car activity.  Only one row though, then I looked at scenery. 

We got to the vineyard about 12:30 and since the tour started at 1, we had a little time to look around.  It was a beautiful day!

At 1:00, a tour guide got us and 2 other people and we headed off, up the hill, to the first tasting station.  This station was led by Mary Ann Hardman who owns the vineyard with her husband.  She talked to us about the number of acres, how the grapes are grown, how they control pests and mold and we tasted Georgia Cabernet Franc.  She encouraged us to taste the grapes also.  Delicious!  They have vines that are producing and new vines and some that were original to the property and about 30 years old.

The netting around the grapes is to keep the birds from eating all of the grapes.  They don't use it with green grapes since birds can't see the green grapes as easily as the purple.

Once we left Mary Ann we went to several other stations, tasted the various wines, saw the old spring house and followed the creek back to the house and winery.

One of the volunteers helping out Sunday was their neighbor Stacy.  We had a nice chat with her before the tour and she told us about a vegetable stand that she said was wonderful.  We decided to go and pick up a few things for dinners for the week.  I kept telling my husband "not too much, I'm leaving Thursday."  I got a little too much but the produce was gorgeous!  I got okra, potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, hot banana peppers, corn and a couple regular tomatoes.  We're having a vegetable plate tonight.

If you're in the Clayton area you'll want to check out the stand and the tiny barbecue place beside it.  Yes, we had barbecue.  We had toured through the vineyards for about 1 1/2 hours so needed some lunch. It was very good and very messy.  Totally worth it.

I haven't talked much about the garden this year.  We do have one with our normal things - tomatoes, peppers, herbs and it's done pretty well.  We have had tomatoes all summer but have not been flooded with them.  I have not seen the turtle all summer  and have kept looking, but decided that he moved since it's September already.  I saw tomatoes with chunks out and kept leaving some on the ground but thought doves were eating them.

 I got home today from the dentist today and there he was!  Actually he was on the driveway at the edge of the garage and is lucky he did not get hit by the car.  I was very happy to see him and he didn't even hiss at me when I moved him to the ground.  I also gave him a tomato and he chowed down.  So he is here this year after all.

 It's time to get ready for Jazzercise.  I probably won't write again until Thursday evening.  I have lots of errands tomorrow, a customer Wednesday and then I leave Thursday to go to New Orleans for the Women Chef's conference.  Very exciting!  I plan to drive a few hours, stop somewhere Thursday night, continue driving Friday in time for a cooking class at 10 am.  My husband will be here to eat the rest of the tomatoes and provide technical laptop support.

I usually have many different things to do in the course of a "normal week" and this was no exception. 

I had a fun time shopping at the Super H where I did get my sake but also some dumplings and milk tea which is a new favorite splurge beverage for me.  Also a stop at the bakery for my favorite pumpkin filled whatever.  Since I had done Jazzercise in the morning, I could just look at the driving rain and know I didn't have to go out in it!

Wednesday I cooked for a client that has a frequency of occasional.  She likes to cook but sometimes doesn't have time with twin 5 year old boys, so she uses me as a backup plan.  She'll email me and tell me she needs food and we schedule a day.  No one was there when I arrived but I could get in so I just cooked.  She stopped by about 10:30 to give me a check and had a friend with her.  The friend was fascinated by the whole cheffing thing and asked for a card. 

Once home I checked email and listened for Steve and Tim who were coming to do a pre-install visit for a cooktop that potentially I will be testing.  They were quick and seemed to know what they were doing for the measuring.  I don't know the company or anything much, but will give details when I know.

I also attended a networking meeting that evening.  It's the Wedding Alliance of North Georgia and I've met some wonderful people.  I now know Rolls Royce drivers, photographers, event planners, wedding cake bakers, and more.  If anyone is planning a wedding and needs info you'll want to attend the Wedding Expo event October 19th at the Mansell House.  I'll be there!

Thursday I cooked for clients for the second time.  They are the people who were getting food from another service that they didn't like and couldn't schedule to fit their lives.  They were very happy to have me back.  I take their likes into account and let them get food when they need it.  No throwing away food or money.  We chatted in the morning, they went to work and I chatted with the Yorkshire terrier and the cat.  Not too much though since greeting me exhausted the animals, they needed naps. 

Today is knitting and a haircut.  We're also going out somewhere for dinner since I decided the kitchen is closed today!