The First Step

For a couple of years, people have been telling me that I should start working for myself.  I should open my own restaurant or sandwich shop.  I should be a personal chef or give one-on-one cooking classes to people in their own homes.  All of those ideas could happen someday.

This year I was approached with a challenge from a good friend of my wife. 25 candy boxes for holiday gifts, using recipes I've been testing and developing over the years. My first reaction was nervousness, as I had never created such a large number of packaged products from start to finish. How many pieces of candy should I put in a box? What kind of packaging should I use? How do I plan for overhead costs? Am I really organized enough to plan this out and have a product delivered in a timely fashion?

I realized I could walk away from the offer, or accept it and use this experience to learn about what it takes to work at home and for myself. I accepted and got to work.

My wife, Sahra, helped me organize my thoughts and form a plan. At this point my confidence was shaky, but she really helped me feel as though this project was going to be a success.  For years, my chocolate-covered peanut butter squares and homestyle caramels have been a hit with friends and family, but this was going to be their first trial in the hands of clients. We ran test batches to figure out our yield and critiqued each item endlessly. The peanut butter squares were too large. The chocolate coating melted too quickly when picked up. The caramels could use a touch of extra vanilla.

I put a lot of work into refining the recipes before starting production. Fixing the vanilla in the caramels was simple - just add more!  The biggest issue was the texture and melting point of the chocolate. I have to say, chocolate is both temperamental and challenging. I made an executive decision to increase the quality of the chocolate we were using. Goodbye to Nestle's, and hello to Couverture!  I used a 54% Cocoa dark chocolate coating. 

I researched and learned how to temper chocolate, which involves pre-treating so it dries hard and shiny.  I had never done this before, but I could not wait to try it out for the first time!  I got the chocolate chopped, my double boiler on, and I waited, stirred, and watched the temperature rise and fall accordingly. The texture looked perfect - the only problem was the temperature in the kitchen was too high to properly cool the chocolate. It took almost 30 minutes of constant stirring and icing to get the chocolate ready to pour. I filled the molds with walnuts and covered them with my tempered chocolate.  I cleaned up the edges of the molds and chilled them and anxiously waited for them to set.  A few hours later I pop 'em out of their silicone molds - holy crap it worked!  A fairly polished looking chocolate that did not melt when picked up.  I was thrilled with the results.



After a successful test run I felt ready to tackle the packaging. I wanted a presentation that was minimalistic but appealing.  Not too polished or fancy - that wouldn't be me.  I love recycled materials and natural motifs boxes and simple designes. We found a recycled box, some colored raffia, and created a beautiful sticker logo for my newest business endeavor.

At this point I was feeling really optimistic, so I took on an additional order for 15 boxes. The night we made the first batch, I packed up my supplies and had a blast making everything in my in-laws' kitchen. As much fun as we had that day we learned an important lesson about time management. We ended up working until almost 2am finalizing the boxes. The cranberry-colored raffia we picked looked amazing and the bow turned out nice, thanks to Sahra's sister Lisa.
          

I need to thank everyone who supported my effort making this season's batch of candy! Thank you Sahra, Mom, Matt, Grandma, Annette, Ronna, Al, and Lisa for your support and your late-night help in assembling the finished product.



I got both my orders for 15 and 25 boxes completed on time and received excellent feedback from satisfied customers. I may open up shop again for Valentine's Day but for now I need to put it down and take a breath!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to move towards working for myself, and proud of what I have accomplished.


-Kevin

Arroz Caldo

I wake up on a cold morning in October. It's my day off. I can hear my wife getting ready to go to work. Cars driving by the apartment window. It's wet out. I can hear it; the way the tires sound driving on wet asphalt is a very distinct one. On days like this I look for simple, hearty meals that bring comfort with every bite. I open my eyes and ask if its raining. My wife says yes, and it's game on! 

Arroz caldo is a Filipino dish that my Mom used to cook when I was growing up. It is definitely a dish to be served on cold fall and winter days. It's also my go-to for when someone is feeling a little under the weather. Let's get to it. 

The Hardware:

• Cutting board 
• Knife
• Vegetable peeler
• Stirring spoon 
• 2 quart pot

The Ingredients:

• Peanut oil or vegetable oil 
• 4-6 cloves of crushed garlic, or 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 knob / 1 in. ginger root
• 1 medium onion
• 2 chicken legs or breast.  Either is fine, I used both! (Bonus: Soak the chicken for several hours or overnight in salty water before use for the most tender thang you ever put in your mouth.)
• 1 1/2  cups of medium grain rice
• Approx. 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 4 cups water
• 1 chicken bullion cube
• Salt and pepper
• Green onions

As a rule, start any cooking adventure by taking time to put together your mise en place. If you don't know, mise en place is a stuffy french term for "Git yo' shit together." Doing this before you cook will save you time, and those "Dammit I forgot something!" trips to the grocery store. Here's mine:

-Chicken, green onion, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, chicken bouillon, pepper, medium grain rice, yellow onion-

STEP ONE

• Dice chicken breasts and/or cut slits into drumsticks. The bones in the drumstick add a lot of extra flavor that a bouillon cube can't give you.
• Cut off a one inch knob of ginger, peel it and mince it. 
• Give your onion a rough chop. Uniformity is not important...unless you have someone to impress.         

STEP TWO

• Coat the bottom of your pot with oil and turn to medium-high heat.
• Smash garlic cloves and add them to the oil as it heats up.
• When your garlic starts to brown, add the chicken.
• Salt and peppa!
• Brown the chicken for a couple minutes per side, then add onions and ginger.

STEP THREE

When adding the fish sauce, I like to add it slowly, holding my
nose above the pot in order to smell the change in flavor.

• Add rice, fish sauce and water and bouillon cube. 
• Simmer until the rice becomes tender - about 15 minutes.

  As far as cooking goes, you're already done! Before feeding it to loved ones, make sure you double check that your chicken is thoroughly cooked. Survey the fruits of your labor. It doesn't look like a spectacular dish at this moment, but we'll get there.                                    

The most basic way to consume this dish is with green onions. Take note of the foreshadowing bottle of Sriracha in the background. I'im getting there guys.

-This is what I would call "vanilla." My wife is white and she doesn't even eat it this tame-If you're like me, green onions this is not enough to satisfy! Bring on the Sriracha, hard boiled egg, and crushed pork rinds!

-Smothered and covered. Aw yeah, baby.-


Lastly, you're going to want someone feeling full and appreciative to help you clean. Ain't it good to be the cook? 

-Fin-

Have fun guys. Thanks, Mom!

- Kevin