Events

2011 USPCA CONFERENCE – ORLANDO, FL

Earlier this month Elizabeth Bourget, Kara Lee Falcon and Garbo attended the 20th annual USPCA Conference in Orlando, FL. The classes I attended were quite good. I particularly enjoyed the Food and Wine Pairing Classes and the Food Photography and Styling class taught by Helene Dujardin. Although the conference was lightly attended, our new leader, Larry Lynch, spared no expenses when it came to food. All meals were excellent! Below are some photos of the meals we enjoyed during the day and our evenings at night at Disney World.

USPCA Kick Off Cocktails Party - Cucumber Appetizers — USPCA Kick Off Cocktails Party – Cucumber Appetizers

2011 USPCA Conference - Tomato Salad — 2011 USPCA Conference – Tomato Salad

2011 USPCA Conference - Dessert Plate — 2011 USPCA Conference – Dessert Plate

2011 USPCA Conference - Dessert Plate 2 — 2011 USPCA Conference – Dessert Plate 2

Digital Food Photography & Styling by Helen Dujardin- Garbo's Plate — Digital Food Photography & Styling by Helen Dujardin- Garbo’s Plate

Chef Vince Likar, Garbo & Canadian USPCA Chef

L to R: Kara, Elizabeth & Garbo at Disneyworld Downtown Bus Stop

Dark Side of the Epcot Center and the Moon

Overall the 20th Annual USPCA Conference was a more intimate affair and definitely worth the journey across the country. I look forward to the 2013 Conference in Orlando again!

Another Visit to C.J.Olson Cherries

By SF Bay Area Personal Chefs

Last month Elizabeth Bourget invited the Chapter to another visit to C.J Olson’s orchards. This time we experienced the Apricot harvest. It was beautiful. What follows is a photo essay or our lovely day together with Deborah Olson.

C. J. Olson's Fruit Stand — C. J. Olson’s Fruit Stand

Deborah Olson - Proprietor of C. J. Olson Cherries — Deborah Olson – Proprietor of C. J. Olson Cherries

Freshly Harvested Apricots from C. J. Olson Orchards

Apricot Pineapple Jam Recipe from C.J. Olson Cherries

This final shot sums up the unique experience of having harvested our own apricots and then having the pleasure of making home made apricto jam. Yum… what an exceptional treat!

A Visit to C.J.Olson Cherries

By SF Bay Area Personal Chefs

Wow! What a wonderful trip to this icon of fruit farms in Sunnyvale, California! A group of us visited C.J.Olson Cherries www.cjolsoncherries.com for a tour of their orchard and retail store. We were joined by Kellie an employee of Martha Stewart who has recently moved to San Francisco from New York. Our guide for the day was Deborah Olson, fourth generation owner.

Deborah proudly explained the history of their current location on West El Camino Real since 1899 with some great anecdotal storytelling about when she was a young girl working for the family business, delivering delicious Lebanese food prepared by her aunt to the rest of the family. She spoke of the two main groups of employees that worked for her family…primarily families from Saudi Arabia and Mexico and shared that the company still employs a couple of women who are in their eighties!

We walked over to an active orchard where picking was being done. A bonus was a visit from her father who rode up in his pick-up and greeted us all warmly and then proceeded to explain how badly the cherry crop this year has been affected by the rain! 36,000 growing acres throughout the state normally produce 9+ million pounds of cherries annually but his year produced only little more than half that amount! Devastating cracks and mold ruined the crops and cost the industry dearly. In the orchard we were treated to a tasting of 7 different varieties of cherries from Garnet to Rainier to Bing…only a very few of the hundreds of varieties of cherries! Who knew?

Afterwards, we returned to the chamring authentic looking circa 1950’s retail store where we were served delicious cherry pie, chocolate covered cherries, and a light, flavorful cherry juice! We all made purchases from the beautifully displayed items for sale ranging from fresh fruit and jams to nutritional supplement tablets made from cherries that are purported to help with joint pain! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and are grateful to the generous hospitality of our hostess, Deborah and her staff! We’ll be back to see and sample the apricots…my personal favorite fruit of the summer!

Bay Area USPCA Chapter Retreat

By SF Bay Area Personal Chefs

By Chef Garbo, www.chefgarbo.com

This last Fall Chef Garbo invited the USCPA Bay Area Chapter to spend a weekend Retreat with her in the beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore. They stayed at her family cottage in the charming town of Inverness. The intent of the Retreat was to experience culinary field trips to several famous Point Reyes food purveyors, strengthen our bonds as a Chapter, and explore marketing opportunities via our new Chapter Web Site. Most importantly, we wanted to have fun while we developed our team building skills and showcased our talents as Personal Chefs.

CULINARY TOURS

The first stop for the fine ladies with big knives was the Hog Island Oyster Company were we tasted several varieties of oysters including the tiny Kumamoto’s which were salty and briny and the extra-small Pacific’s which were sweet and plump. The Hog Island Oyster Company is a destination picnic spot for oyster lovers. We learned that Chef Suzette was not an oyster fan and had never eaten a raw oyster in her life… So naturally, we didn’t leave the premises until she had done so! The next event was at the Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station where we enjoyed a cheese tasting. We sampled many of their award-winning cheeses including Devil’s Gulch, Inverness and Pierce PT which is made from organic whole milk from the Chileno Valley Jersey Dairy, washed in a muscato wine and rolled in dried herbs from the Tomales Bay coastal region. Many of us purchased cheese samples to use in our dinner later that night.

TEAM BUILDING VIA KITCHEN BRIGADE

When we arrived at Garbo’s cottage, everyone assembled in the kitchen and executed their mise-en-place. Garbo ran the kitchen brigade and assigned each Chef their work station. Polina was in command of the BBQ detail where we indulged in more oysters only barbequed this time around. Polina worked her grilling magic tending to the old-fashioned kettle charcoal grill. In addition to oysters, she grilled chicken, lamb, beef, and vegetables. Meanwhile back at the kitchen brigade, Chefs Suzette, Kathy, Renee, Kara, and Dawn prepared their appetizers and side dishes. Chef Garbo took charge of the cocktail detail where she prepared her signature Side Car plus, she filmed numerous mini demos of each Chef preparing their dish while explaining step by step what they were cooking. The purpose of the video session was to practice, review & analyze our camera presence as well showcase our culinary skills. The end goal is to ultimately post the video cameos, once mastered, on our websites or YouTube to further promote our businesses. Chef Kathy made bruschetta with a Mexican influence as well as a chocolate fruit fondue for dessert. Kara prepared her original recipe for braised pork belly BLTs with Balsamic sauce. Renee made a savory asparagus risotto, Suzette prepared a caramelized onion sauce with a Cow Girl Creamery blue cheese for the steaks as well as beautiful mixed berry tart with a honey custard filing and Dawn made her trademark broccoli and tomato salad. In a Julia Child fashion, Chef Garbo made sure that everyone’s Side Car glass was full.

MARKETING CHAPTER WEBSITE WITH OUR BLOG

Dinner was a knockout performance which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. The main dinner table discussion revolved around how to exploit our newly developed Chapter Website. Garbo announced that the site was officially up and running thanks to Polina’s stellar programming skills. Essentially, Garbo created the content and design and Polina managed of all the back-end programming work. The Chapter decided upon the WordPress blogging platform because it’s easy to use, cost-effective and has built in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Garbo stressed that everyone in the Chapter should blog away under our Blog Tab to promote their businesses and get more visibility on the web via our site. Our strategy is to achieve the #1 spot by continuing to add blogging content to our Chapter website.

The Chapter had a very productive Retreat. The big take away was to continue to do Marketing, Marketing, and more Marketing and have fun doing it!