Look what I got!

Look what I got!
Originally uploaded by foodchronicles.

Hee, hee! Who says you can't have stuff you want! No, I didn't buy it myself. One of my super daughters bought it and had it shipped to me! Yay! Thank you very much #2! I love it. She also included the spatula, clear with little bees embedded in it! Very cool of you!

I took another picture that showed it off better, but I can't get flicr to rotate it. so if you want to take a look at it turn your computer sideways and have at it!

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The Beatles

The Beatles
Originally uploaded by foodchronicles.

Fun day at work. This is one of the cakes I did. It is a birthday cake for a 6 year old. I am not sure he'll even know who The Beatles are, but I am sure his parents do. It was their request for the cake. I love the little statues and the bandstand!

I of course had to do the hands of the crowd for the front of it. A few song titles on the other sides with musical notes. All in all a fun day. We played the Sgt. Peppers album (CD) while I decorated it.

Here's the front view:

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Cross over to the HOT side

Years ago, sometime early in the 1990s we decided to take a trip to Albuqurque for a family outing. We piled the girls in the car and set off to go to the Fiery Foods Show. We had a small cajun grocery store we ran and wanted to see what was new and exciting in the fiery foods arena. The driv e was beautiful. WE had never been through Flagstaff before and the snow was a wonder to see in the deserts of Arizona.

The show was such a blast. We met some very nice people and tasted some very spicy sauces, mixes, rubs, and all things HOT! The girls had a great time seeing their Mom appear so business-like and talking about food. It was a great trip, until I stumbled upon a new guy embracing the hot sauce business by storm. Firestorm I mean.

Dave's Insanity Sauce was the hottest new sauce at the show. I am not a light wieght in the hot sauce circle so I thought, sure I'll try it, I can eat at the grown up table. Well, one small taste of his sauce, and I met my maker. Yes, the show became known from there forward, as the show mom where mom died. Albuqurque is now referred to as the city where I died once. The sauce, this insanity sauce, lived up to its name. Anyone willing to try it definitely was insane. I was insane. It was so hot and spicy that it made grown men writhe in pain and cry actual tears. Me? I just wanted a glass of milk. Please, a glass of milk anyone? No we got some beer! Well, I'm not a beer drinker. It became quite a scene for the girls. Seeing mom, desparate to get some form of milk in her (you see milk counteracts the pain of capsaicin), even to the point of begging a woman for her baby's formula! She was desparate.

I never again fed at the trough of Dave's Insanity. I did however, buy his other products. And at thios most recently passed Fancy Foods Show he introduced a sauce I can recommend to you! It won't make you cry, but it just may help you be a better gardener. Many people have commented that they are planting a agrden this year. Well, Dave's going to help you out! He has developed a brand new product he calls his Adjustable Heat Sauce. It's a spray on product that you can spray as little or as much as you want to use and set your own heat level. Great! How does it help be a better gardener? Well, he recommends you take it to the garden and spray your plants with it too! It's a multi-purpose spray. We all know bugs don't like hot sauce. They will not eat plants that are sprayed with them. And isn't it better to give the plants a natural heat spray then that diazinon? Yep. give it a try. I know I'm going to use the spray.

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Johari Window?

I saw this at Lisa's place. It is a little observational scale on how you see yourself versus how others see you. I'd love to see what you think about your perceptions of me through the things I've told you on this blog. If you don't mind, go here: Johari place and select a few adjectives on how you view who I am.

It'll be interesting, for certain. I love this kind of stuff. No it's not food related, but it is fun to see the social anthropological aspects of things occasionally.

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Busy, busy, busy

My blogging is suffering. My cooking is suffering. My yard is suffering. My career? Not suffering. I have been working a lot lately. Just this past week I was made the manager of the bakeshop. Weeeeee! It will mean more hours to attend to business and less to attend to other things. I will take a bit of time to adjust and then all should fall in line and things will be back to normal.

That's the hard part about not working full time for me. I find rather than staying on task and getting things done, I feel I can let things slide and have a "oh I can do that later" mentality. It is the worst part of me. It's why I hated being a broker. I found that if on the first dya of the month I made enough money to spend and pay obligations I just didn't work all that hard the rest of the month. You see, I am not money driven. I recognize that. I am task oriented. So working full time again will bring me back into the fold of getting things done-land. Yay.

I am excited to begin my new role soon. I was talking to a regular customer on Thursday and he asked if this was what I would classify as my dream job. I told him yes. If I can't yet have my own production facility - which is in the works - I'll be glad to run the bakery for a while. He also started off working at the same chain grocery store years and years ago (I didn't know him then) and his dream job would be to work at a boutique grocer like Trader Joe's. I told him I completely understood.

In fact, I think there are a lot of us, second or third career people that are opting for the dream job now. We;ve done the I need this job for the money, prestige, career advancement thing. We're now looking for satisfaction. I am working for the money. Don't get me wrong. We paid for three weddings in four years. Yes, there's some debt there we need to pay off. However, this does not pay anywhere near what my job at the food processing plant paid, not even close. The trade off of doing something I truly love, with people I really care about makes up for the loss in money. The intrinsic value is far better. At least, for me, it is.

So I'll post my travels at the bakery now. You'll see the occasional experiment, and attempts at things I don't think I've mastered. Can we say Jaconde? I've always wanted to try this, and with a little help from Wendyand the crew at eGullet, I just may have a shot at getting it right.

So as the say, see ya at the bakeshop y'all!

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New Vegetables!

I am thinking about planting a garden. It is time to begin thinking about setting out a few tomatos, carrots, radishes and possibly some herbs. I was looking through Burpees's latest offerings.

These look so neat! I can hardly wait to take some photos of the harvest!







Tell me, what are you thinking of planting this year?

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More stuff I want.

Marketing is evil! I got a catalog in the mail Saturday from Sur La Table. It is pure evil. It made me want so many things! I don't have money right now for these things! I still want them! I want this crock. It has a beehive motif and it is the perfect color of yellow. It would compliment the walls in my kitchen so well. And everyone knows, well those who know me in person, know that I am the bee queen. It is even on the logo for my consulting business.

Not only do I want the crock at the left, but there is a whole assortment of matching items to go with it. Oh now if I could only sell a few Sunspots!

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And they wouldn't import our beef.

A story in today's Tri-City Herald made everyone stand up and take notice today. It a story about a cattle farm in Hokakaido Japan that currently has 45 cows suffering from the dreaded disease, Mad Cow. These cattle will be destroyed in hopes of staving off a larger epidemic.

And they didn't want to buy beef from us! Again I'll say, it's important to know your meat purveyors. It will become more and more evident to all of us in future years.

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Here goes a big RANT!!!!!!!

Today in the news there is a story about an eight year study about low fat foods. Once again the news in not good. After an eight year study, scientists have found that there is no correlation between eating low fat foods and being healthy.

When oh when are we going to figure out that the scientists out there are guessing as much as we are about all of this? It has been a guessing game for years it seems. The food pyramid has been faulty. We told people to eat a certain way using the food pyramid, and now nearly 25 years later, the people in the United States are more obese than ever. Science is at best getting a failing grade. It's sickening.

If you want to lose weight, eat less than you expend in energy. And that isn't even a sure fire cure. There are some people that just have to work harder because of their body chemistry. Why don't we set aside all the diets, and just allow everyone a visit or two to a really good endocrinologist. That way they could see just how their body reacts to food and what they need to do to be at their optimal self. Instead of trying to treat the masses, let's treat everyone individually.

Someone at the NY Times agrees with me.

Tell me how you'd like to solve this problem.

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Cool Sale at Crate and Barrel

As stated in the past one of my very favorite stores is Crate and Barrel. I could spend all my money there. But, I don't. I got the most recent email from them yesterday. Wowzer! My favorite style glass is on sale.
These are the best glasses and at $1.95 a piece I simply can't resist! And I don't even drink wine! However, for celebrations a good sparkling grape juice, will do just fine. Hey I might even enjoy a glass of water out of one too.

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Update on Mr. Potatohead!

Early in my blogging career I shared with you the infamous Darth Tater. Now he's got a few sparring partners to play with. I bring you a potato trooper and R2potatoo!


I have a granddaughter that would just love these guys!

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Con Agra

You've heard of them. They're in the news. Interesting news. They've put their cold meats arm up for sale. This includes Butterball Turkeys, luncheon meats, Armour Brands. It's a very interesting move. Speculators have begun the task of trying to choose just who will end up with the company. Some say Sara Lee, others Kraft. I'd bet a third unknown, not so well known, company may emerge as the best suitor.

But that's not what I'm interested in with this sale. On the mounting scares of mad cow disease, bird flu, and lysteria problems in the world of processed meats, I think Con Agra has just finally had enough. Of course that won't be the company line, but I do think it is helping make this decision. I know I'd be more than happy to get rid of perceived future troubles. It is a growing problem in the food processing industry. More and more, processors are finding the old ways of dealing with bacteria just aren't working. Germs are becoming more resistant and new ways of dealing with them seem to always be a step behind. This is an article talking about the coming bird flu epidemic from the Orlando Sentinel

Watch the news. It will be interesting to see how this sale goes.

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