[Sca-cooks] My first paying gig

[Michael Gunter]

I have a friend who was a professional home chef who now has become an
estate manager for a wealthy client so she no longer does the professional
chefing business. One of her clients asked her to do a birthday party buffet
and she referred me. So I took on the job. The lady was very nice and
wanted me to basically do some snacks for 16 for her husbands birthday.

Hey, easy work and, considering I still have no nibbles on the computer
technician front, I really could use the money. So I agreed.

I had a menu drawn up and had a couple of corrections from her and finally
started to work on the snacks. On the day before the party she called me
in a panic. Seems like her husband wanted to have dinner waiting for him
and his buddies when they got back from their golf game. So, instead of
some snacks for 16, could I make dinner for 16? Gee....no problem.
We brainstormed a few ideas back and forth and I came up with some
additions to make the buffet more substantial.

On the day of the party I went to their home and was amazed. It was the
most glorious place I'd ever seen. This guy is the building contractor to
very wealthy clients so he had the best of everything. The kitchen was
every cook's dream. Professional Viking Range, Sub-Zero, warming oven,
salamander, convection microwave, huge deep sink, etc...wow.

The final menu was:

Smoked Salmon mousse with smoked salmon & caviar on whole wheat crackers.
Vegetable crudite with homemade hummus.
Baked baby potatoes stuffed with a spicy crab dip.
Baked Kaseri cheese drizzled with olive oil and lemon served on toasted 
pita.

The main course-
Chicken Satay
Italian Grilled Chicken Breast
Pork Loin with a Peach/White Wine glaze
Mustard Crusted Sirloin
Sourdough Bread drizzled with olive oil and grilled
Vegetable Quesidillas
Bernaise Sauce
Horseradish Sauce

Basically they made open faced sandwiches with the meat, bread and sauces.

Dessert-

Individual Cheesecakes in puff pastry cups.
Kahula Brownies
Double Chocolate Brownies
Puff pastry twists filled with either strawberry, raspberry or lemon curd.

It was evidently a big hit and very successful. I handed out several of my 
brand new
catering business cards to rather wealthy potential clients. The hostess 
even called me
the next day asking for a couple of recipes.

I charged $150 for the whole thing and was actually given $200 by the 
hostess. I've
been told by those in the know that a professional caterer would have 
charged around
$500 for this. Well, that was all she had budgeted and it got my name out.

It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. You never know, maybe I've found a 
new job.

Gunthar

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