One door closes...
And other one opens. Well, this week I decided to close the door on staging at Beckta for now as I have a lot on my "plate" and needed to focus on the development of my business and the opening of new doors. There has been a lot of doors opening since I arrived back to Ottawa and started my business, but like "Let's Make a Deal" I don't know which door to open. I've been opening so many doors lately, and it's been exciting and fun, but also exhausting and overwhelming as well.
So, now I'm trying to take one step back and just see what I need to do first, and what I am passionate about and love to do. It's so easy to get caught up in everyone else's ideas or comments or the idea of the moment, as with anything, and not sit back and think "what do I want?", "what is my heart and intuition saying?", "what would I do if money wasn't an issue?", "what do I need to focus on and where do I want to put my energies?". Lots of questions that I'm putting out there for answers.
I didn't get into the chefing business for money, though I hoped to make decent money from it or a form of it at one point down the line, and I knew there would be little glory. I took the course at the Natural Gourmet as I have been concerned about the food we are eating and the health of everyone, which seems to be deteriorating vs. improving, and why is that? That was one of the first questions I had for my teachers...
Why is it that we've never been so affluent and advanced as a whole and we are getting sicker and sicker, with children getting sicker and at a young age and all around there are people getting diseases? What's the scoop? I don't get it.
Well, one of the first teachers I had paused when asked this question, and said that was a big question but an insightful one, and that I would find answers in the course and would continue to ask questions.
Well, I did get the simple answer to the question. It's the food that we are eating. Not rocket science but I needed to hear it first hand from experts, look at the stats, and read all about it, which I continue to do. But, I also started to have lots of questions and the course helped me to have a solid foundation and made me curious and anxious to learn more. What could I do to help people? I began to feel that I could play some part in taking my experience and knowledge and being an educator, sharer of knowledge, and people could make their own decisions from being observant and learning more on their own.
I think it's interesting that I thought I was quite good in eating healthy and being up to date on food but I was shocked and appalled with what is happening to our food supply system. I guess you think our food, especially for our children, is sacred territory and who would mess with that? It's like our water and air that we breathe. We just take it for granted.
I really didn't realize how much corporations are just into food for the profit margin and for what's best for the corporation and not the people, that they realize that health food and organics are really hot with people now and are trying to get into it through the back door meaning coming up with brands that look like they come from small "mom and pop" operations with no association with large corporations, and that they are making our food unsafe for us now and in the future. What will be the results of eating genetically modified foods in the future on our population? Some countries, who have banned genetically modified foods, are watching North America and our children to see the results. Our children, a human experiment? Wow, isn't that scary?
And, if I thought I was well educated and in the know, what about the thousands of others and much more like me that don't know? And, what if they did know and start to awaken to this? What would they do? What could they do?
A lot of this information is in films that have come out such as The Future of Food, Supersize Me, Fast Food Nation, and books in Canada and the US such as the End of Food and Omnivore Dilemna. I'll try to do my very small part by letting people know through my blog, cooking classes, discussions, etc.
That quote from Margaret Mead has been on my mind a lot as I've been sharing this information with others and thinking of the hard work of dedicated people in Ottawa and other cities to get the issue of food safety upfront and centre.
"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have” Margaret Mead.
This week I had a small catering lunch gig for an association, which I put a lot of time and effort into, probably way too much but it was a good learning experience.
1. Most of what I've learned and experienced to date has been of high quality with the best food and techniques, and it's been hard to bring that down to a level of using food that is not organic all the time, not as good quality as I had back in NYC and San Francisco, etc. and keep within the price limits and expectations of clients. When I went shopping, I decided to choose organics for a client, even if it was not specified or expected, if it was the same price as the regular produce, or even if it was slightly higher, I would choose it. This was twice the amount of work and places to go to as I had to check out produce and prices from a variety of stores. Also, in looking strictly at the quality of produce and what was available and seasonal, I had to make hard decisions about keeping to the proposed menu or making changes slightly at the last minute if one produce was of much better quality than other or if the produce item I had wanted was not available or I had to pay a much higher price than I expected.
Even if it took me much more time and work, I couldn't budge from my strong belief of using natural ingredients and whole foods as much as possible in my cooking. This meant sometimes going out of my way to find recipes and products that were as natural as possible. It's so easy to go on the web or any cookbook to find a recipe for cookies for example but to find recipe that is delicious and made with natural ingredients is another matter. In our substitutions classes, we learned that there are usually some adjustments with substitutions, for example replacing white sugar with maple crystal sugar, which we did a lot. And, when I finally attempted to try out a chocolate chip cookie recipe the morning of the catering gig, after hunting down all the ingredients, including replacements for sugar such as sucanat and brown rice syrup, the cookies just didn't turn out the way I had expected and I had to run out to an organic baker to pick up some cookies. Well, as they say, I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles...
2. Also, I've learned elaborate techniques through school and restaurants, and trying to bring that down to a solo operation with limited equipment available and space is another challenge. Next, working alone is not as fun and interesting as working in a team, where everything is riding on you and you alone for the results. I miss someone tasting things for me and making comments to improve things, sharing in the workload that is both fun and sometimes demanding and repetitive like mincing garlic or chopping matchsticks for a salad, and just the collective thinking and sharing that goes on. You don't get paid much, you don't get much glory when you ask about your food as most people will complain when it's not good or something is not right, and there are long and exhausting hours. So, you have to take the satisfaction when and where you can get it, which brings me to the gourmet dinner on April 13.
I've been working with my former classmate Gregg, who is now living in TO with his wife, and it's been a blast to share ideas and thoughts about our dinner, which coming along splendidly and is quite the work of art, at least in our minds for now. Together, we get the chance to bounce ideas, try out different recipes and thoughts and come back to discuss them, look at how balanced the menu is in terms of different dietary approaches such as the Five Phase Chinese Theory and general culinary guidelines... we need more spice here, more crunch there, another colour here. Also, as the dinner group gets bigger we've had to discuss how to be able to serve everyone quickly a la deux, which determines what you serve and how you serve it, and taking into consideration that we're working from a basic kitchen, which is another challenge for us. We've come from worlds of many gas burners, convection ovens, large dishwashing machines and dishwashers available, and all equipment and supplies easily and readily available. How to adapt from that to this? So, can't tell you about the menu yet but it's almost done or "baked" and we'll be able to release it soon on the web site. The good thing is that along the way we've discussed and tested several recipes for future dinners.
The demand for the already sold out April dinner continues to be constant, with no promotion really, so we feel that we will have no problem filling up future dinners, especially when we really promote it. The challenge continues to be to find the right space that has the right feeling and vibe, would be big enough to accomodate a group, which continues to get larger every day, and where there would be an adequate commercial kitchen if possible. That's what we're struggling with in Ottawa and in Toronto and have several options but each one has had problems, which we don't know if we can overcome or live with. The April 13 will be held in a retreat house as the initial launch or promotion but we need go bigger and have a larger more professional kitchen, perhaps wishful thinking, for the next one. So, the search continues for the next venue and I'll let you know shortly. We welcome any sugestions or leads...
So, now I'm trying to take one step back and just see what I need to do first, and what I am passionate about and love to do. It's so easy to get caught up in everyone else's ideas or comments or the idea of the moment, as with anything, and not sit back and think "what do I want?", "what is my heart and intuition saying?", "what would I do if money wasn't an issue?", "what do I need to focus on and where do I want to put my energies?". Lots of questions that I'm putting out there for answers.
I didn't get into the chefing business for money, though I hoped to make decent money from it or a form of it at one point down the line, and I knew there would be little glory. I took the course at the Natural Gourmet as I have been concerned about the food we are eating and the health of everyone, which seems to be deteriorating vs. improving, and why is that? That was one of the first questions I had for my teachers...
Why is it that we've never been so affluent and advanced as a whole and we are getting sicker and sicker, with children getting sicker and at a young age and all around there are people getting diseases? What's the scoop? I don't get it.
Well, one of the first teachers I had paused when asked this question, and said that was a big question but an insightful one, and that I would find answers in the course and would continue to ask questions.
Well, I did get the simple answer to the question. It's the food that we are eating. Not rocket science but I needed to hear it first hand from experts, look at the stats, and read all about it, which I continue to do. But, I also started to have lots of questions and the course helped me to have a solid foundation and made me curious and anxious to learn more. What could I do to help people? I began to feel that I could play some part in taking my experience and knowledge and being an educator, sharer of knowledge, and people could make their own decisions from being observant and learning more on their own.
I think it's interesting that I thought I was quite good in eating healthy and being up to date on food but I was shocked and appalled with what is happening to our food supply system. I guess you think our food, especially for our children, is sacred territory and who would mess with that? It's like our water and air that we breathe. We just take it for granted.
I really didn't realize how much corporations are just into food for the profit margin and for what's best for the corporation and not the people, that they realize that health food and organics are really hot with people now and are trying to get into it through the back door meaning coming up with brands that look like they come from small "mom and pop" operations with no association with large corporations, and that they are making our food unsafe for us now and in the future. What will be the results of eating genetically modified foods in the future on our population? Some countries, who have banned genetically modified foods, are watching North America and our children to see the results. Our children, a human experiment? Wow, isn't that scary?
And, if I thought I was well educated and in the know, what about the thousands of others and much more like me that don't know? And, what if they did know and start to awaken to this? What would they do? What could they do?
A lot of this information is in films that have come out such as The Future of Food, Supersize Me, Fast Food Nation, and books in Canada and the US such as the End of Food and Omnivore Dilemna. I'll try to do my very small part by letting people know through my blog, cooking classes, discussions, etc.
That quote from Margaret Mead has been on my mind a lot as I've been sharing this information with others and thinking of the hard work of dedicated people in Ottawa and other cities to get the issue of food safety upfront and centre.
"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have” Margaret Mead.
This week I had a small catering lunch gig for an association, which I put a lot of time and effort into, probably way too much but it was a good learning experience.
1. Most of what I've learned and experienced to date has been of high quality with the best food and techniques, and it's been hard to bring that down to a level of using food that is not organic all the time, not as good quality as I had back in NYC and San Francisco, etc. and keep within the price limits and expectations of clients. When I went shopping, I decided to choose organics for a client, even if it was not specified or expected, if it was the same price as the regular produce, or even if it was slightly higher, I would choose it. This was twice the amount of work and places to go to as I had to check out produce and prices from a variety of stores. Also, in looking strictly at the quality of produce and what was available and seasonal, I had to make hard decisions about keeping to the proposed menu or making changes slightly at the last minute if one produce was of much better quality than other or if the produce item I had wanted was not available or I had to pay a much higher price than I expected.
Even if it took me much more time and work, I couldn't budge from my strong belief of using natural ingredients and whole foods as much as possible in my cooking. This meant sometimes going out of my way to find recipes and products that were as natural as possible. It's so easy to go on the web or any cookbook to find a recipe for cookies for example but to find recipe that is delicious and made with natural ingredients is another matter. In our substitutions classes, we learned that there are usually some adjustments with substitutions, for example replacing white sugar with maple crystal sugar, which we did a lot. And, when I finally attempted to try out a chocolate chip cookie recipe the morning of the catering gig, after hunting down all the ingredients, including replacements for sugar such as sucanat and brown rice syrup, the cookies just didn't turn out the way I had expected and I had to run out to an organic baker to pick up some cookies. Well, as they say, I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles...
2. Also, I've learned elaborate techniques through school and restaurants, and trying to bring that down to a solo operation with limited equipment available and space is another challenge. Next, working alone is not as fun and interesting as working in a team, where everything is riding on you and you alone for the results. I miss someone tasting things for me and making comments to improve things, sharing in the workload that is both fun and sometimes demanding and repetitive like mincing garlic or chopping matchsticks for a salad, and just the collective thinking and sharing that goes on. You don't get paid much, you don't get much glory when you ask about your food as most people will complain when it's not good or something is not right, and there are long and exhausting hours. So, you have to take the satisfaction when and where you can get it, which brings me to the gourmet dinner on April 13.
I've been working with my former classmate Gregg, who is now living in TO with his wife, and it's been a blast to share ideas and thoughts about our dinner, which coming along splendidly and is quite the work of art, at least in our minds for now. Together, we get the chance to bounce ideas, try out different recipes and thoughts and come back to discuss them, look at how balanced the menu is in terms of different dietary approaches such as the Five Phase Chinese Theory and general culinary guidelines... we need more spice here, more crunch there, another colour here. Also, as the dinner group gets bigger we've had to discuss how to be able to serve everyone quickly a la deux, which determines what you serve and how you serve it, and taking into consideration that we're working from a basic kitchen, which is another challenge for us. We've come from worlds of many gas burners, convection ovens, large dishwashing machines and dishwashers available, and all equipment and supplies easily and readily available. How to adapt from that to this? So, can't tell you about the menu yet but it's almost done or "baked" and we'll be able to release it soon on the web site. The good thing is that along the way we've discussed and tested several recipes for future dinners.
The demand for the already sold out April dinner continues to be constant, with no promotion really, so we feel that we will have no problem filling up future dinners, especially when we really promote it. The challenge continues to be to find the right space that has the right feeling and vibe, would be big enough to accomodate a group, which continues to get larger every day, and where there would be an adequate commercial kitchen if possible. That's what we're struggling with in Ottawa and in Toronto and have several options but each one has had problems, which we don't know if we can overcome or live with. The April 13 will be held in a retreat house as the initial launch or promotion but we need go bigger and have a larger more professional kitchen, perhaps wishful thinking, for the next one. So, the search continues for the next venue and I'll let you know shortly. We welcome any sugestions or leads...
posted by Caroline at 6:47 AM
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