u/Tasty_Impress3016

I do some catering. I'm no longer in the business, retired but I will cater sit-down fundraisers at cost for some organizations. So I have no staff at all. I met this little girl named Natalie. She was 12 interested in food service and she could really use the money, family not at all well off. So I would hire her as kitchen help, service, general gopher for events. I'd pay her $50 for 4-5 hours. (Yes, I realize I'm breaking child labor laws, tax laws by paying cash, but it's for charity and everyone benefitted) People who I also drafted to help would make a point of how much help she was, how intelligent and quick, how nice. The poor thing would often just sit on the floor and doze off waiting for parents to pick her up end of event. Everyone considered it a win/win.

So now Nat is 18. She applied and was hired at one of the better local restaurants. She put me down as a work history and reference. The punch line: The interviewer asked how much she had been making doing this. She told him and he asked "Where do I apply?"

Just an update, a post mortem so to speak on this post from a couple days ago. I served last night. 30 people crept up to 40, but I always over prep because this always happens. It was a success, a couple lessons learned.

It's difficult to cook in one location and serve in another, even if it is only 3 minutes away by car.

• I solved the safe hold problem by cooking them last minute, transfering in a small cambro and putting in a chafing dish. Sauce was transferred in a 1 gallon igloo thermos.
• The chicken breasts I bought were from giant mutant chickens. Close to a pound each. So each one made roll about 13 inches long. I don't think too many people could eat one that size so most I just cut in two before breading and baking.
• And speaking of breading, when I prototyped for dinner the previous night I realized I had forgot the key hack I had used 5 years ago. Brown the breadcrumbs first. Just add melted butter to the breadcrumbs to a wet sand consistency and toast in the oven to brown. Looks more like fried, and actually improves flavor.
• The sauce just kicks butt. Essentially a bechamel cheese sauce with good parmesan and dijon mustard. Good ingredients make a huge difference. I cheaped out on the ham, I won't make that mistake again.
• I used Emmentaler cheese to stuff, which is just about perfect. A bit of a nutty flavor and a perfect melting profile.

One woman complimented it and said that she had heard it was my specialty. I laughed. "This is the second time I've made it in 5 years.

That is all, just to complete the record. Thank you for all the help in the previous post.

I got a very nice compliment the other day. I made Chicken Cordon Blu for a friend for his anniversary party of about 50. Now 5 years later he wants the same for another party, only 30. Since I am not a professional and don't want to use a deep fryer, I use a pretty simple prep:

Pound out chicken breasts, season.

Add swiss cheese and ham, roll and secure.

Flour, egg wash and roll in Panko (this does an amazing job of kinda looking like it's fried)

Bake a sheet pan in high oven 425?

serve with a dijon cream sauce.

Does anyone have any suggestions for reducing workload or simple improvements? Not a big seasonings crowd and mushroom aversion. Rich is kind of the direction. I was thinking maybe spray the pan with melted butter before baking?

I checked the wiki and the archived post for this question is over 8 years old. So here I go.

The details: I had my spring maintenance done on my AC. The news was not good. I have a larger house, 2 units, one in the basement, one in the attic. According to the "guy", I'm probably best off just replacing everything. (What an odd thing for a person selling HVAC to say, right?) The one in the basement has a freon leak. (or whatever they use now) Could be in the evaporator coils, could be the compressor, could be anywhere in between. But it's dead Jim. He said it could be a small leak anywhere but charging it would be a temporary fix. Replace both.

The one in the attic works but the outdoor motor is about shot. Everyone in the neighborhood can hear it when it kicks on. The fan motor is on last legs, condenser is shot. Consider replacing.

Now in his defense, All of this is about 20 years old, and as they love to tell you, the expected lifetime is 12-15 years. Now I did learn this lesson. A few years ago the blower on one blew up and I had it repaired to the tune of about $900. Less than a year later I had to replace the whole thing, so money out the window. Plus I guess laws are changing at the end of the year and the new standards will increase the price significantly. At some point a heat pump might be mandated.

To replace both is easily in the $15,000 neighborhood. I have research to do.

tl;dr If I wanted to install all new HVAC, who would you trust for a fair appraisal and a good job. Doesn't have to be cheapest if you trust them to not do unneeded work.

I have an international conference next month. I am hosting a hospitality room for Colorado who is the host city, everyone is coming here. These things are usually chips and nibbles with drinks. I would like to elevate and make a good impression so I want a snack that is quintessential Colorado. IMHO there is really no cuisine in this state. It's not horrible, but we really aren't known for anything. So my concept is game sliders.

Elk and/or Bison sliders. I'm thinking classic White Castle style. Pueblo chili seasoning. maybe local cheese.

But what makes you think Colorado? It doesn't want to be fancy, should be hand friendly, and for an afternoon event.

My wife and I were just in Chicago for a wedding. We are both over-60s, I much more than she. We were walking back to the hotel in the heart of downtown (like Wacker and Michigan) and it was just after midnight I guess. It was only about .6 miles from the reception so we just walked it.

A car with purposefully noisy exhaust and a stereo turned up to play over it stopped at a light, we were waiting for a walk light. A window rolls down and I see 3-4 very dark faces (we are very white people) I looked over at them and a guy yells out the window at us -

Lookin' Sharp There!

I did omit that we were coming from a black tie affair and honestly did look pretty sharp that night. But it was not what I was braced for. Just yelled Thanks! Back at you. At they made the turn.

That's all. We are getting the captain of the national women's team in a couple months.

There are hundreds of recipes for each. In general my understanding is that Krautchi tends to use slightly less aggressive spices and uses head cabbage rather than Napa, but either can use any number of vegetables.

I am making ribs soon, and normally would just put them on kraut, but I'm looking to switch it up a bit. Thoughts? Opinions?