I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before, but my husband, Sean, tried to get me to take an oath to blog three times a week! And he was serious! I must admit that blogging takes a lot of time for me. I don't just slap some words on the screen, overlook the grammatical errors & move on. I put lots of thought & care into my blogs. However, they do come out quite wordy & very lengthy. Today I am turning over a new leaf; I am attempting to blog more & less...more often, but less words.

So, now to answer the question, where has Jamie been? Being that we live in a seasonal tourist community, winter is my slower season for my private chef business. I do have clients that come into town throughout the year, but I am not as busy as in the summer. This winter Sean & I have worked hard on the Airstream. I should really say that Sean has worked hard on the Airstream. I am so grateful to have a husband who believes in me & loves me so much to work as hard as he has to make my dream a reality. We are converting the Airstream into a commercial kitchen & plan to open a natural foods cafe next month! However, for the record, I will DEFINITELY continue my private chef business; I love it!

In the past several months I have catered some weddings and large charity fund raising events, such as Walton County Habitat for Humanity's Christmas party & Paint A Difference, as well as participated in some cooking demonstrations. (I will include some photos from some of those events.) I have also been developing & testing my recipes for the cafe. It's all very exciting, but lots of hard work. Today was a very exciting day, I finally submitted my building permit application to Walton County! Now I will anxiously await their response! We do have a website for the cafe & Sean has been blogging about his progress in the 'Stream (my loving nickname for the big, silver bullet). Please check out the new cafe website. And for any of my regular clients or potential clients who may be reading this, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email, I am still very much in the private chef business.

And to the foodies out there, more food posts to come soon.





















































































































































(Obviously a cooking demonstration!)

Labels: Airstream cafe, airstream trailer, Dietrich's Cafe, Habitat for Humanity, Paint A Difference, personal chef, Private chef, vegan chef, vegan cooking, vegetarian chef, Walton County

My Daddy went to the curb market last week & called me while he was there to see if I wanted anything. Twenty-eight minutes later (that's how long we were on the phone discussing the selection) he had me a basket full of goodies from the "clearance" area! I got eggplant, zucchini, red bell pepper, tomatoes, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, corn & bananas (the latter three were not from the clearance area). One night I made tempura tofu & veggies, very tasty! A couple of nights ago I decided to try my hand at ratatouille, being that I had all the vegetables here & they needed to be eaten. (We made ratatouille nightly in the restaurant that I did my internship, but it was a quick skillet version.) This was a labor of love & well worth every second! I used Julia Child's recipe which I found online (I just added more eggplant & zucchini than called for, I later read she had increased the amounts in another printing of the same recipe-- my measurements are listed below). I wanted to serve it as a main dish, so I also made polenta to go with it (I added Parmesan to mine, but left some plain for Sean). Next time, there will definitely be a next time, I will leave more juices; seeing as I was serving as a main course & over polenta--more juices would have been good soaked into the polenta.

Sean was working, so when he got home I was excited to see what he thought about it; he loved it, he ate 3 bowls full! I saved a little to try the next day, to see how the flavors melded overnight. I had an appointment yesterday morning & didn't get home until well after lunch & was starving. I went to the refrigerator & pulled out the polenta & started searching for the ratatouille. Frantic, I couldn't find it, I went to the sink & to my horror there was a small container with what appeared to be the remnants of my beloved ratatouille in it. I was on the phone; I told my Mother that I would have to call her back, she quickly hung-up, not wanting to hear my wrath. I called to Sean in his office, indeed, he had mindlessly eaten my precious leftover ratatouille while talking on the phone & not thinking of my request for him to leave it alone. What ensued is not printable! I had to go to him later & apologize for being so angry. It had taken me a couple of hours, or longer, to prepare this dish! He was sorry that he had eaten it & all was well...except I had not gotten to taste my day-old ratatouille...that he informed me in the middle of my screaming "was even better today"! Thank you very much!


















Ratatouille

1 lb. eggplant
1 lb. zucchini
1 t. salt
7 T. olive oil, divided
2 c. thinly sliced onion (I used yellow)
2 green bell peppers, thinly sliced into strips
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 lb. firm but ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded & cut into 1/4 in. strips
3 T. minced fresh parsley

Peel eggplant; cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, then cut into 3-inch-long, 1-inch-wide strips. Cut zucchini into same size strips. Place vegetables in large bowl; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Let stand 30 minutes. Drain; dry with paper towels.

Heat 4 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add eggplant and zucchini to skillet; sauté until light golden, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to plate; reserve.

Add 3 tablespoons oil to skillet; heat over medium heat. Add onion and peppers; sauté until just tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

Place tomato strips atop onion-pepper mixture in skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover skillet; cook over low heat until tomatoes begin to juice, about 5 minutes. Uncover; baste vegetables in skillet with juices. Boil until juices are almost evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer 1/3 of onion-pepper-tomato mixture to 2 1/2-quart pot; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon parsley. Top with half of eggplant and half of zucchini, then remaining onion-pepper-tomato mixture; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon parsley. Layer remaining eggplant and zucchini over; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon parsley. Cover; simmer over low heat 10 minutes. Uncover; tilt pot and baste with accumulated juices. Increase heat to medium; simmer uncovered, basting several times with pan juices until only 2 to 3 tablespoons juices remain in pot, watching closely to avoid scorching, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cool slightly. Cover; chill. Serve at room temperature or rewarm over medium-low heat before serving

I have very much been enjoying corn lately; in different forms, though. A week or so ago I prepared food for a very casual lunch & had some Mexican cornbread muffins left over. A favorite lunch of mine last week was a fried egg, Mexican cornbread & a tomato; very nice combination of flavors & textures. Today, I reheated a piece of polenta & ate it with a fried egg & tomato--again, delicious! I think I may be onto something!

I realized a couple of days ago that this month is Vegan Month of Food or VeganMoFo; it's basically to bring awareness to veganism & vegan food bloggers commit to blogging about vegan food 5 days a week for the entire month of October. I love the concept & even considered making the commitment. However, I just don't have the time; the Airstream is rolling right along (pun intended!) & is requiring much of my time & energy. I am looking forward to reading so many vegan food posts by so many talented cooks & funny bloggers!

Speaking of the Airstream, we received some very positive news last week regarding the location we are trying to get approved to open our all-natural, slow food, organic, mostly vegetarian cafe. As a result, we are working towards obtaining a building permit & finishing out the inside of the 'Stream as quickly as possible. We have set some goals & a timeline & are very excited about all that is happening! It will give me an outlet to cook the food that I am passionate about, healthy food, & also, a kitchen to prep for my personal chef jobs in. Speaking of which, I better head to the kitchen & get busy with some prepping that I need to get done for another job!

Labels: airstream trailer, Julia Child, personal chef, polenta, Ratatouille, vegan blog, vegan food, Vegan Month of Food, VeganMoFo

This Saturday morning I am going to be making waffles out as Seaside, Florida (this is where The Truman Show was filmed). Here's the deal, there is this chick, Jen, who owns a juice bar in an Airstream trailer, called Raw & Juicy & they are celebrating their 1-year anniversary this Saturday. During the summer she normally has a farmers market set up around the trailer, along with other vendors who sell things likes sprouts, handmade bags, baked goods, preserves, eggs, etc. This week for the celebration Jen wanted to have fresh waffles, so she called me! I am really excited about it!





Here is my quandary, I eat waffles the plain old way, with butter & syrup. I don't add any toppings, I am a purist if you will. So, my question is: What do you eat on your waffles? I don't want to take a whole ton of toppings, maybe just three or so. Please help me figure out the most popular toppings for waffles! Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks!

Labels: airstream trailer, Florida, Raw and Juicy, Seaside, The Truman Show, toppings, vegan chef, waffles