Blatant Self-Promotion

still somewhat recovering from the Christmas mayhem............haven't quite managed to find my mojo again, but it's getting there :)

Just thought I'd write a few of the 'happenings' in my life, as of late.

Just before Christmas, Noelle Chorney, a freelance writer with Flavours magazine (for those who don't know about it, or live anywhere in western Canada where you can find it, it's a lovely, glossy magazine published quarterly & made avail. in liquor stores..........full of glorious food porn & interesting articles about fine food & drink, local chefs..........) contacted me about doing an interview for the Spring 2007 issue regarding my cooking classes. Of course I agreed. After the interview, a couple dishes I selected to be in the article were photographed, & moi aussi. It was pretty cool seeing how photo shoots are done!

Then, at the last Market before Christmas, a person from ShawCable (our local community information/news station) was looking at my products, & asked if I'd be interested in doing a segment for their "In the Kitchen" series. Of course, I said yes :) They came to my kitchen on Jan 8th to film the segment - I chose my mustard straws, & it aired the next day, & throughout that same week. I was more ok being filmed that I thought - running my cooking classes was definitely good preparation - but I was pretty much beside myself just before the first airing. It didn't help that I had told everyone I knew when it would be on, & I hadn't even seen it myself. In the end, I was greatly relieved, & surprisingly happy with how it turned out.

One particular Farmer's Market vendor asked that I 'remember the little people' when I'm rich & famous................I guess I will ;)

Other than that, things are slowly swinging back to normal (other than THE GREAT BLIZZARD OF 2007 that occured a little over a week ago - why did I move back here again?!). I had a momentary panic attack when I hadn't had any calls for catering during the 1st week of the New Year, & then, to my relief, the calls all came on one day, & now we're all back to the usual.

I also had my inaugural meal assembly night at my store last week. For those who have not heard of this concept, it's become quite the trend south of the border, & as is the usual way, is taking it's time catching on here. As far as I know, I'm the first one in the province to be doing it. The idea is, I do all the shopping/chopping/browning/mixing............the customer comes in (after pre-selecting their dishes & quantities), & does the final 'assembly', usually into a reheatable foil tray, complete with reheating instructions. The dishes are all freezer-friendly. That particular night was arranged for a woman who was due the following week with her second child - I wish something like that has been around when I had my babies! Stocking up a mom-to-be's freezer with prepared entrees is a GREAT idea.

signing off for now

m.