Home from Home

A cabin up in Sullivan, Mo is where I would love to be right now.  It is a place where only members can go to be off by themselves.  There is trees, quiet, lakes, wildlife.  It is only a 50 x 90 lot that has nothing on it except a cabin, a picnic table and a hole for the campfire.  The lake is very close at hand just about a block away, so it is walking distance.  The cabin is 10 x 20 and fits nicely on one side of the lot so I can fix it up for a home away from home.   Nothing is in it except camping equipment and air mattresses.  This place is where I go to leave everything behind and just be me.  There is no stress when I am there.  The peacefulness is so overcoming that all you want to do is bring out the hammock and relax and just enjoy the time that you are there.  There is not running water, no bathroom or shower, and no electricity.  Just you, nature and the items you came with or have in the building.  My family owns lots that is near mind and we try to get together there and visit.  The place is the halfway point so it is easier to meet there and caught up than on or the other driving the 4 hours to visit one another.  This is the place that we have been going to since my oldest daughter was 2 years old and now she is 25 years old and now she has a child of her own.

It has aroma of clean, crisp, fresh air.  You can also get a hint of fish from the lake water due to the wind blowing in your direction.  The hickory and cedar from the burning of the wood in the campfire that you are using to keep warm.  The musty aroma from the cabin as you open it up because it has been a year since you have been there.  You open up the window so the fresh, clean air can come through to help getting the musty smell out.

You can feel the roughness of the logs that you are putting on the fire and notice you gave yourself a splitter.  The ground is hard because there is no grass growing and there hasn't been much rain lately.  You can feel the wind blowing softly has it hits your body.  The picnic table has became rough feeling because the tarp has been blow off.  The campfire is warm as you sit down by it and feel the heat from it.

While in the cabin, you can hear the winds brush up against the cabin.  As I walk through the cabin, I can hear the ego inside because there is nothing in there to capture the sound.  As I go back outside and rest on my hammock, I can shut my eyes and hear the birds singing, the squirrels wrestling in the leaves that has falling for the trees.  You can even here the crickets chirp if you just listen to the sound around you.  You can even here the waves on the lake that the wind has made.

 You bring out the food to prepare something on the open campfire.  It might be a hotdog.  Hotdogs taste so good when cooked or should a say roasted on an open fire.  You taste the flavors from the wood on your hotdog because the smoke marriages with the meat and it is cooked.  You bring out the supplies for S'mores.  It is not a campfire without S'mores. 

The trees have started to changing to fall colors.  They are vibrant and colorful.  You notice that things are starting to finish up the season and preparing to go to sleep.  You see the squirrel gathering nuts for their home.  At night you notice that you friendly raccoon is starting to put on a heavy coat and put on some weight.  The cabin looks like no one has been there for awhile.  Everything is closed up.  There is no light getting into it. 

Meet Chef Lori Saviello

I have had the love for cooking since I was little.  I enjoyed being in the kitchen with my mom and watching her prepare the food for our family of seven.  It had amazed me how she would measure her ingredients by using her hands and her palette for the flavors of her dishes.  By watching her make her creations it is what inspired me with food.

After turning sixteen, I went to work for a fast food industry for twelve years and I swore that I would never go into food again.  I still loved to cook and prepare dishes for my family.  I decided to go back to school and get my degree in culinary, hospitality management and baking because it is  still deep down inside that I wanted to create dishes.  After having a bad experience, the year my baby sister decided to get married, it made me  realizes that everyone needs to experience excellent service and be able to enhance their palette.   I felt that I could make a difference.  Everyone deserves to be on the red carpet.  That is why I decided to start my own catering business.  It doesn't matter what the event is, you are the star and your event should show it from decorations, entertainment, and all the way down to the food.  Food is like art, the ingredients is the colors and the plate is my canvas and with me and my staff that is what we pride ourselves in. 

So with the support of my Heavenly Father, family, and friends, we will give you a memorable experience through our service and specialty foods that will enhance your palette.

Gekos vs Humanity

The picture of the gekos and blanket was live and vibrant. You feel the warmth of the colors coming from this painting.  Even though the colors are bold, you feel that the artist was feeling something inside with each paint stroke on the canvas.  What was the artist trying to tell us?  As you look as this painting and feel the warm that that bring you back to the warmth that you felt what your parents gave you a hug?  Or the warmth that you feel from the sun?  As I look at art, I try to feel what the artist is feeling.  I want to understand what made them feel that way.  I feel that art has so much more meaning than what people actually see.  I get excited when I see that someone has taken something that we see or use everyday and make something very unique like a painting.  The basic colors of a color wheel and see the creations that has occured.  Only what you truly see is what you get from this picture of the feather and the gekos.  It means so many things to each individual.  But it does mean something.  Just like each and everyone of us are an unique individual but our perspective is different.

Gekos In Colors

Geko in colors is very bright and vibrant.  They seem to change with the way their enviroment is.  They are very shick and slinder.  They try to fit in.  There are three gekos.  One blends well with its surrounding but the other two do not.  They seem to stand out more.  Why is that?  Do they feel like they are not good enough?  Has the other geko made fun of them?  What really makes them so different?  They all are the same species so why so different?  Isn't that the way we are in our world today?  We are all human but there is something different about each and everyone of else.  But should that make us not get along?  Everyone has there own opinion about things; there culture, religion, nationalism, sex, hair color, etc.  But that should not keep us from getting along.  These might only be just a small, slinthering creatures but as we as humans should not judge on outside appearnce.  It is what is on the inside that should make the differents.  Just like these three different colored gekos.  There life style might be the same, they might eat foods that are very similar but on the inside they are made just the same.  Just like us as humans.  We are all made the same on the inside but it is the outside that gets judged.

Board Games

A family fun of entertainment, board games are a great way to interact with your family.  Why do we feel like we need that?  As a family, we as parents would like to know what is going on with our children's life.  Sometimes we notice things but are afraid to ask or feel like it would work itself out.  As a family, we had made a promise to turn off the TV and play board games, Wii, or Xbox so we can have the bonding time together.  We enjoy the board games.  We have a wide selection of them, like dominoes, scrabble, all the way to puzzles.  By playing board games it has help the communication between the family members.  On some games, it can stir up conversations on things that you needed to ask your child.  This has opened some doors for us as parents.  It has also opened doors for our children to ask questions that have been weighing on them but was afraid to approach us.  I can remember playing board games with my parents and siblings when I was younger.  As of the today's world, I think we should play more board games so we can interact with our children and hear what is going on in their lives.  It seems to also help us grow when we take the time out to spend with our family.  We sometimes have a few that doesn't want to do it anymore but once they go ahead and participate, we are all laughing and having fun.  Board games are great invention to share with others.  You just never know what you would learn about people when you play board games.

What would you do with $3.000?

I really don't know.  I know that I would first find out where this money came from.  Did it belong to someone?  Why is it here?  Why would someone leave this kind of money on the desk?  If I found out all the answers to my questions then I would sit and think what can I do with this money that is right.  I know that I would give some to my church to do the Lord's work.  I would then just put the rest away for emergencies.  You never know when something might come up and you don't have the extra money for it.  This way I will.  We are a family that lives paycheck to paycheck.  But I know probably a lot of people now of days live paycheck to paycheck.  So whenever we have a little extra (that is the money left over from taking care of our needs), we put it aside for those raining days or emergencies.  Sometimes it is very hard to set money aside especially when you have children that still live at home or in college.

To some people, they think that $3,000 might be nothing.  They can't accomplish much with $3,000.  But in some eyes $3,000 is a lot.  You would be able to take care of some of those fires that weighs on your shoulders and add stress to your life. It may give you some relief but it just puts off the stress.  I would use the money wisely to where it can help you more than hurt you.  I know that sometime with this amount of money you would just like to go and enjoy a day with the family, usually you would not be able to because you live paycheck to paycheck.  So I would say to be safe, do some serious thinking about how you would spend $3,000.

I Believe A Mom's Work Is Never Done

Throughout your life have you ever stopped and watched your mom?  Have you ever notice that she seems like she is the energizer bunny that keeps on going and going?  Since I have become a mom, I believe that a mother’s work is never done.  I stop and think of my mom and how she was able to manage five children and a husband.  I sometimes wonder how my mom was able to get everything together and still have time for her. 

            I think back as far as I can to see if I can catch a glimpse of how she did it.  Being a kid, we all just paid attention to what was going on with ourselves or our siblings (if you were not the oldest).  I know that I appreciated my mom for being there when I was down or being picked on by my brothers.  I know that I would always tell my mom that I loved her but did I really take the time to tell her thank you for being my mom.  I believe we take our moms for granted.  Moms are loving, caring, a comfort and someone to pick us up when we are down.  Moms don’t ask for anything in return.  They love us for who we are.  I know through my younger years, my mom was always there for me at school.  Since there was five of us, mom would be a room mother every year for one of us kids.  Back when I was a child, a room mother, was several moms getting together and planning the holiday parties for the classroom, not the teacher.  They would make the cupcakes, popcorn balls or cookies, and the items were all homemade not store bought.  She would start with the oldest, and then the next year would be the next sibling in line.  I can remember the smile on her face when it was my turn; she would come in to celebrate the parties with us and my classmates.  It made me feel so good to see her walk through that door with the goodies and a smile on her face.

            As we all got older, even though we should have stepped in and help around the house without being told, we took advantage of our mom.  I know I felt like, why should I do chores when my siblings are not.  When I was little, my mom made it fun but at that time there was only three of us.  It seemed harder when the other two siblings came along.   Even as we got older, mom always would put us kids and my dad before herself.  I could never understand why.  Why would she put us before herself?  We would have our ups and downs but mom would always end it with a hug and say “I love you and I will always be here for you”.  As the time goes by I still did not notice that a mom’s work is never.  My mom would always sit down and make a list of the day to come.  I had asked her why she was making a list.  This is when I heard it for the first time, which a mom’s work is never done.  She would make a list to help her remember things that needed to be done that day before tomorrow came.  She would have on her list the time she needs to get up to start her day, places where she needed to go for us kids or for items that she needed for the house.  What kind of snacks she was going to have for us kids when we got home for school and what she was going to make for supper.  I really never had seen my mom sit down for a long period of time.  She was always on the go.  She was also the last person to go to bed. 

It finally hit me that mom’s work is never done when I had children of my own.  From the time they arrive into this world, you are always doing something for them.  It would be when they wake up in the middle of the night to be fed when they were infants to waking up to comfort them from the storm that is outside or the nightmare they just had.  I do believe a mom’s work is never done; you are usually the first one up to make sure that the children are awake to make it to school.  While you are getting ready to start your day, you are asking if they have lunch money, are you eating breakfast here or at school, do you have anything after school.  Then if they are in some kind of activity at school, church or an organization, you need to put that in your calendar and make sure you don’t forget about it.  When your work day is done, you come home and then you start planning what you are doing to do for supper.  You ask your children if they have homework and are they working on it.  You try to get them to do some chores around the house and sometimes that is a lost cause but then you think back was I like that to my mom?  You take care of supper and if there are no activities going on at school or other places, you get up and clean up the kitchen.  Then you realize, “Oh, I have laundry to do” so you start working on that.  The day is ending quickly and you still have a lot of things that you need to complete for you go to bed.  You wondered is a mom’s work ever done.  You know that no matter how your day is going, you always make sure that your husband and children are taken care of first before yourself.  It comforts me know that I have done all I can do for that day when I finish out the day when I say goodnight to my children and tell them that I love them.  Because I know even though my work is never done, I know that my family loves me for doing the best that I can for them.  It might not always turn out perfect but I know that I have tried to do what I have always seen my mom do.  Now that my children are growing up and I now have become a first time grandma, I get to see my daughter become a mom that her work is never done.

Moms are always the last impression that is left upon you but sometimes you don’t get the chance to say thank you for being my mom before they are gone forever.  So I truly believe a mom’s work is never done because when they are gone you still have their memories of how they were able to accomplish the day with a smile on their face and the words they say, “I love you”.

Mushrooms.....

There are so many varieties of mushrooms. They are used for so many things in the culinary world. Mushrooms help enhance flavors to your sauces. A mushroom would be considered a umami sense (a fifth sense that was founded by the Japanese). Umami senses help you know more of bold, earthy flavors. The most common mushroom that is used is the button mushroom. It is a small mushroom and is white in color. These are the ones that you would most likely see in the supermarket. The Portabella mushroom is a large mushroom and you using would used the cap of this mushroom for stuffing are putting on a sandwich. I know people say they do not like mushrooms because it is a type of fungus and it grows in moist, shaded areas. But the mushroom adds so many flavors to your cuisine. Have you really look to see if there are mushrooms in some of the things that you eat? Today society is getting to the place where we are always on the go and so they stop to pick something so they do not have to cook because they are tired. Unless the mushroom is one of the dominant ingredients when might not even know that it is in the food. For example: béchamel (which is a cream sauce) has finely chopped mushrooms in it. It helps with the flavoring of the cream along with the onion, bay leaf, and clove. Once it has cooked for a length of time, you would strain the items from the cream. The flavor comes out wonderful.  You should try the different types of mushrooms that are out there and see the different types of flavors that each one has.  You will be surprise.

Habits.....

 I would said one of my habits is organization.  If you ask my husband, I am OCD.  I was raised in a house with seven people.  My parents and 5 children.  I am the middle child but the oldest girl.  When I was about 5, I would love to help my mom with house work.  It gave me more time with my mom.  She would set up an ironing board and let me iron with her as we watch TV.  I would be in the kitchen to help her bake cookies and other goodies.  But as I was getting older, it was becoming more of a chore not so much to just hang out with my mom.  I had ask my mom why it seems like she doesn't sit down to just breathe for a few minutes (in other words, to take time for herself)  My mom had said that you never know who would be knocking at your door to visit so it is best to at least have your living room, kitchen and bathroom clean just in case. 

I didn't understand this so much until I had to share my room with two other sisters.  I didn't like making my bed but it had to be done day.  So I got to the point where the covers would be tucked in nice and tight.  I would then climb up on my pillow and shimming my way into my covers without getting them messed up.  My mom said that I would not even roll around in bed while I was sleeping.  She said it seemed like I knew that I would have to make the bed when I wake up if the bed was messed up.  I look back on this now and laugh because I still cannot go to bed if it is not made.  If the husband is already in bed and the bed is messed up, I will straighten the bed while he is there and tuck in the covers before even climbing into bed.

Successful People have Successful Habit. Unsuccessful People Don't!

Success?  Take a look around you and do you see successful people and wonder how did they become successful?  We all would like to become successful but just don't know how to go about it.  But if you take a look at some well known people around you, you would be able to see how they became successful.  It could of all started out as a dream and once they thought about it and kept playing it through their mind, I believe that the next step would be putting it into motion.  You first need to make sure you have motivate yourself to be successful.  You have that dream, you can see yourself in the future running this company or accomplishing that dream.  You know that it won't do it on its own.  You have to apply yourself to this adventure.  You need to motivate and keep your eyes on that goal.  Look at a local business man here is Springfield.  His name is Jack Stack.  Him and several others had worked for a company name National Harvesters.  The company was closing their doors do.  Jack and several others did not want this to happen.  These seven people had a dream.  They did not want to loose their jobs.  They wanted to continue.  So seven employees put a business plan together and went to the bank for funding to by out National Harvester.  The bank took a gamble on this.  The bank loan them the money and the company became known as Springfield Manufacture Company.  This was a dream for these seven people.  But they all had to be motivate.  They all had the same goals.  There is now 13 sub-companies for SRC.  This is an employee own business.  All the employees have invested themselves into this company.

Matches......

How would you use matches when it comes to cooking?  Matches gives you fire that helps you expand the flavor of your food.  Be it that you are grilling, baking, roasting, saute' or even smoking.

Let us talk about smoking and how matches get it started.  If you have a char-broil grill you will need the matches to help get things going.  After you have soaked your wood chips in water and added fuel to your charcoal, you would need to have something to light it with, that is where matches comes in.  You would open your box of matches and strike it on the side of the box for it to ignite.  Once the match is lit you would then carefully place it on your charcoal so your coal will get out and make your wood chips start to smoke.  Once the charcoal is lit, blow out the match so you will not get burned.  While this is all coming together you have time to gather up the products that you want to smoke.  It can be different kind of proteins, vegetable, fruit or even cheeses.  When it comes to the protein, I would have to say that it is very important to have a meat thermometer so you can keep an eye on the internal temperature of your meat.  I picked one up at Wal-Mart and I love it.  The probe goes into the meat to the center then it has a cable that is couple of feet long that connects to a base.  You have a body that is detachable from the base.  So while your smoker is going.  You don't need to go back and forth to look at the temperature.  The body is wi-fi to the base so you know that whole time your smoker is going.  The only thing that you would need to do is to continue to had your wood chips when need be.  But you don't have to worry about the temperature of the meat because you meat thermometer will tell you.  When it is done the thermometer will set off a buzzer.

Chocolate.............

What is chocolate?  Where does it come from?  Chocolate actually comes from the cac0a bean that is grown in Africa.  This is the only place that you can grow the cacao  because you need the hot climate.  The cacao goes in a tree and when it is time to harvest the fruit, you pick the fruit and then remove the outer shell.  Once you have remove the outer shell you will find the cacao bean.  You then need to lay the beans out to dry.  This takes several weeks.  Once the beans are dry, they are then transported to the USA to chocolate maker or you could say people that like to be Willie Wonker.  You then have to mill the cacao bean to squeeze the chocolate butter out.  The butter is used to make white chocolate.  The rest is used to make dark chocolate.  By adding a milk product to dark chocolate you will then get your milk chocolate. 

There are several varieties of chocolate.  There white, dark, bitter, semi-sweet, and milk chocolate.  These are the basic or foundation of chocolate.  We have chocolatiers that enhance their chocolate by adding flavors to them.  They way that you can full appreciate chocolate, you would need to know the proper way of consuming it. 

Chocolate is like wine.  When you have a glass a wine, do you inspect it?  Do you look at the color? Do you smell the aroma of the bouquet?

Fall Is Coming....

How do you know Fall is coming?  What makes you think or feel that it is here? Is it the weather or the colors?  There are so many things that makes you feel that Fall is coming.  Just take a moment and look outside.  What do you see?  The sun is out and shining but the temperature is not as hot as the summer.  The temperature stay around the 70's.  Look look out further and start noticing the plant life, are the trees starting to go to sleep, are they changing colors?  You notice the people are not wearing shorts as much, you notice that they are in sweat pants or jeans.  They might even have a jacket on or a hoodie.  Everything around you is starting to slow down.  You notice that people are doesn't seem as rushed.  Even yourself, you start noticing that you don't feel as stress.  You decide to go outside and feel for yourself what you have notice.  There seems to be a calmness around you.  You get a closer look at the trees and you see that the leaves are starting to change. so you know that the tree is getting ready for the winter sleep.  The last of your summer flowers are falling off there stems.  It is time to trim them back and prepare them for there winter sleep.  The mums are blooming and bring the beautiful autumn colors to the world around you for the last season until winter comes.  You feel like you need to go to Starbucks and get that cup of coffee so you can sip it as you are gazing upon the Fall has it is coming.  You wonder how long will this season will last.

What Type Are You?

     I have had the opportunity to take the Myers-Brigg Type Test several times in my life.  It has been for business that I have worked for to see if I am was in the right position for the company.  Now I am here doing this test for my English Comp. class.

     It is very interesting to see if I have changed any from the past.  Oddly enough, I have not.  The test shows me that I am an ENFJ which means Extroversion, Intuition, Feeling, Judging.  So before I go farther let me just highlight one.  Extroversion means I like to talk to people.  Which I totally agree with that.  I like to learn about the different type of people that makes this world.  Intuition means you imagine the possibilities.  I know that I always look and listen to the situtation, then I always try to see the outcome by the different paths that I would take.  Feeling means you consider people.  This one is the hardest one for me.  The reason for this is everyone has a voice and I would always put them before me.  We are all different but no matter how bad things are for me, I believe that someone is worse off than me and I want to help.  Last is Judging.  This does not mean that I judge people.  It means that I am organized and time management.  Well if you ask my husband, he would say that this is so true.  He tells me that I am major OCD on organization and everything has its place.  I told him that I am not so he had to prove to me that it was true.  So he had taken an angel that I had on a shelf in the living and move it to the shelf above it.  He then looked at me and said, "You will not last long with this angel here.  You will move it as soon as my back is turned."  Well, I was very hard for me not to move the angel back.  Everyday that I sat in the livingroom and saw that the angel was not in its place, I had to continue to tell myself not to move it.  I wanted to prove my husband wrong.  Well.... I did I lasted a year and when that time was help, I moved it back.  Well that is a little about me.  But how is this going to help me be a better student and writer?

     As a student, by being an ENFJ, I know that it will stay organized by having my planner filled out with my weekly function.  My days will be fulfilled by being around people and learning more about them.  Watching their body language.

     As a writer, I might struggle a little because I have some much going on upstairs.  I am always full of ideas but when I put it down on paper, I feel like I need to write like I am talking to someone.  For me, even if I need to write about rock, I would make it come alive.  It needs to have character.

    So this is the beginning of my blog.  You have learned a little about me but the blog will be more on my adventures of becoming a chef and a caterer.  How this all came about.  So come along on this journey with me and enjoy.