My friends I. and V. had been playing recently with creating and editing videos, so the last time we had a dinner together at me place they recorded me doing two simple cooking demos, and now I have them on video:
I got so excited about the videos that I put them on my cooking website and in both my blogs, and now I am thinking of what else I can do on camera: boil water? crack an egg? make Turkish coffee?
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Client frustration, and other start-up issues
I got a first call from my website yesterday. The lady was inquiring about a house dinner party of 14, which is perfect for me. She left me her phone number, and promised to call to discuss the detailes after she gets home from work at 6:30.
She didn't call, and at 7:15 I dialed the number she gave me, and after 7 rings there was someone either very young or very old, who didn't understand what I was talking about.
I'm so frustrated: I already started planning this dinner party...
Caliblini Personal Chef Service had done a hell of a lot of networking recently, and is running out of business cards. So I went to Vistaprint website and ordered 2,500 of them. That's more business cards then I ever had in all my corporate life.
She didn't call, and at 7:15 I dialed the number she gave me, and after 7 rings there was someone either very young or very old, who didn't understand what I was talking about.
I'm so frustrated: I already started planning this dinner party...
Caliblini Personal Chef Service had done a hell of a lot of networking recently, and is running out of business cards. So I went to Vistaprint website and ordered 2,500 of them. That's more business cards then I ever had in all my corporate life.
Monday, July 19, 2010
USPCA Bay Area chapter meeting
The US Personal Chef Association local chapter meeting was the most fun of all the networking events I've been to so far.
The ladies are friendly and supportive; just as I suspected, there are so few of us, and we are spread over such a huge territory, that there is no fear of competition (although there are jokes about it); and, of course, the food is great.
The meeting was in Chef Dawn's beautiful home in Dublin, and consisted of a 3-hour long continuous friendly chat, some of it even about business.
The current business is getting the chapter website properly redesigned, with the goal of it becoming the best site in the Association. Of course I was made very welcome, and added to the website work group right away. With Chef Garbo's beautiful pictures and knowledge of advertizement, and my technical background, I'm sure we can do it!There was also a guest speaker - a digital videographer - and a talk about getting all of us cooking on camera, and then producing one large video for the chapter website, and short individual clips for chefs' websites. Love the idea.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Celebrating the Personal Chef Appreciation Day
According to the message I got from USPCA, today is the Personal Chef Appreciation Day.
I am celebrating by participating in another BNI meeting (Peninsula Connections in Belmont; very small cozy group; the impression that most members are new start-ups with few customers, just like myself, but pretend to be bigger, is still there, but not so strong as in other chapters; humane meeting time - 8:30 on Fridays; awful food; Russian CPA that I may or may not know from my previous life; good looking personal trainer; I'm still not sure that it's worth the fee), California Sauvignon Blanc, figs with blue cheese, and making piroshki for the local USPCA chapter meeting tomorrow.
I got myself invited to the local chapter meeting, and the president told me that it's in one of the members home in Dublin, and, after I asked, that it's OK to bring food. She didn't tell me much more. It appears that most PCs are as introverted as I am, and I rather like it. We'll see.
So I figured that it's my chance to start on my mission of making Russian cuisine one of the recognized World cuisines. I'm making piroshki with beef and with mushrooms. A lot of kneading, grinding and chopping involved. After watching Food, Inc. I don't buy ground meats anymore. I didn't like them before, and I used to complain that you can taste pieces of skin, hoof, and horn that go into them. But after seeng how durty these grinders are, I don't even want to taste the ground meats in order to complain. So I buy top round or chuck roasts, wash, dry and grind them. Even in my temperamental old fashioned manual grinder it only takes a few minutes (+ 30 minutes for the clean-up).
In recognition of local tastes, I am making everything much spicier than my grandma used to make. The beef piroshki filling is seasoned with red onion, garlic, bacon, red wine, oregano, smoked paprika, and a lot of salt and pepper. Mushroom filling got white wine, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and white truffle oil. Yes, I have run out of onions; otherwise it would be mushroom-onion filling.
I am celebrating by participating in another BNI meeting (Peninsula Connections in Belmont; very small cozy group; the impression that most members are new start-ups with few customers, just like myself, but pretend to be bigger, is still there, but not so strong as in other chapters; humane meeting time - 8:30 on Fridays; awful food; Russian CPA that I may or may not know from my previous life; good looking personal trainer; I'm still not sure that it's worth the fee), California Sauvignon Blanc, figs with blue cheese, and making piroshki for the local USPCA chapter meeting tomorrow.
I got myself invited to the local chapter meeting, and the president told me that it's in one of the members home in Dublin, and, after I asked, that it's OK to bring food. She didn't tell me much more. It appears that most PCs are as introverted as I am, and I rather like it. We'll see.
So I figured that it's my chance to start on my mission of making Russian cuisine one of the recognized World cuisines. I'm making piroshki with beef and with mushrooms. A lot of kneading, grinding and chopping involved. After watching Food, Inc. I don't buy ground meats anymore. I didn't like them before, and I used to complain that you can taste pieces of skin, hoof, and horn that go into them. But after seeng how durty these grinders are, I don't even want to taste the ground meats in order to complain. So I buy top round or chuck roasts, wash, dry and grind them. Even in my temperamental old fashioned manual grinder it only takes a few minutes (+ 30 minutes for the clean-up).
In recognition of local tastes, I am making everything much spicier than my grandma used to make. The beef piroshki filling is seasoned with red onion, garlic, bacon, red wine, oregano, smoked paprika, and a lot of salt and pepper. Mushroom filling got white wine, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and white truffle oil. Yes, I have run out of onions; otherwise it would be mushroom-onion filling.
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