I've met a lot of you the last few weeks that I have been hanging around in Letterville but I should probably introduce myself. My name is Kimberly (Zanetti) Purcell and I am the late Alexander Zanetti's daughter. I live with my husband Clay and my daughter Samantha in Palm Springs, CA.
The real reason for this post is to let you know that I own my own catering company and also maintain a cooking "help-line".
Feel free to email me with ANY cooking/culinary questions you might have. There is NO such thing as a stupid question if you don't know the answer.
Email your questions to: CulinaryArtistry@aol.com and please put something in the subject line that will let me know that you aren't just some yahoo inviting me to check out the latest site devoted to goats and teenage sex-addicts.
My site at www.sfpnn.com/chef_raven.htm contains an archive of my culinary tips which I send out once a week via email. Just ask if you'd like to be added to the mailing list.
Thanks for the welcome you have given me. I grew up in the sign world and it's nice to know that I can still keep my toe in the water even though my dad is gone.
Posted by cheryl nordby (Member # 1100) on :
Kimberly....I am a lousy cook....so I may just have a question or two sometime soon. I think it is great you are keeping involved with the sign community. Take care! and Thanks!
Did you help your Dad with alot of sign jobs? And if so...what was your fondest memory? My Dad passed away in '93 but he would sit and watch me letter my signs on his garage floor alot. We would have the best chats. Plus he would help me with my pricing. I was always too low....and he was amazingly high..but I got what he told me to charge! I miss my Dad every single day. He was a gem just as yours was.
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
I love to Cook as it's the next best thing to doing Graphics. Always Expriementing with Formulas!
Thanks......
Posted by FranCisco Vargas (Member # 145) on :
Hi Kimberly, the other day I was looking for a way to cook the Yucca root, I found this web site http://chef2chef.com/cgi-bin/amb/view.pl?board=work sort of like a BB like here except it's for people who love to cook. I asked a question about it, it got an answer although it wasn't how it was made the way I ate it in Cuba. Maybe you or your husband might know. Take a look at the site I have a post there to my question.
Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :
Hey Cisco,
To be honest with you, I wouldn't know a Yucca Root if I tripped over one (I'm from New Jersey!) but I'm sure that I can round up some info for you. Stay tuned and thanks for asking!
I ate some yucca in Venezuela that was a knockout. It's a bigtime souirce of fiber. You can steam it with some lemon water. Add your condiments afterwards.
Posted by John Cordova (Member # 220) on :
Hey, I'll have to try that yucca some time. Unfortunately, it is our state flower and although it grows abundantly all over our state, it's illegal to dig one up.
We can purchase them to plant in our yards from nurseries but they cost like a bazillion dollars (ok, that's a little exaggerated but you know what I mean). My sister has one in her yard about 12 feet tall, I'll have to rip some off her plant.
Posted by FranCisco Vargas (Member # 145) on :
Thanks Kim, yeah if you saw one you could trip over one, they are sort of big roots. Oh I forgot to say I have fried it before like potatoes, with just cooking oil, it still wasn't the same, but it was still good.
Yo Adrienne, I found this other site that said the same thing you did.
it even has a few more things, but sad to say it it wasn't the way the lady made it. If I wasn't sick that day I would have paid more attention. But after going back to this one site I think it might be sort of like the Calabazas Frituras. Which is like a Pumpkin or Squash, I might just have to try it with the Yucca.
Santo, hey man you have been just almost everywhere huh? I might have to try Yucca that way too.
Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :
Hey Cisco, I found you a recipe for Yucca Fritters but it is in Spanish!
Cheryl, I've been meaning to answer your reply. Yes, I spent a lot of time helping my dad in his shop. The shop was part of our house so it was just all part of my world.
The elephants are of course a big "memory" for me but I have a funny story that I told my husband last night. We had a cocker spaniel named Misty. Well one day, my dad lettered a 20 foot paper sign for someone. It had a lot of work on it - a bunch of flourescent bursts, etc. Anyway, he layed it out on the living room floor to dry because he had a bunch of other stuff to start in his shop. I guess he forgot about it because someone let the dog in the house (she hated being outside) and she trampled all over it. The paint was dry by then but her nails went through it. Of course the more he yelled at her the more she ran around on it. Completely ruined it. God was he mad.
Posted by FranCisco Vargas (Member # 145) on :
Thanks Kimberly, I'll figure it out...
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Cooking is kinda like painting with tastes! Some of us can read a recipe and almost taste it and often know another ingredient that will really set it off.
I like the kind of cooking that reveals itself to your palette in layers. The same way a properly made espresso works.
Teach us Kim!
Posted by Deb Fowler (Member # 1039) on :
Welcome Kimberly,
The only job that I felt good at(as far as cooking) was salad chef work since the age of 15. I always got hired because I answered the question right and that answer was to "tear" the lettuce not cut it! Similar to that, I was told the reason I got a job at a signshop after 80 applicants failed was because of telling them I would use a cheapo bristle brush on a wall job when others came up with using a quill or whatever they could dream up. To make a long story short, I would enjoy your info, actually flattered to touch base! Man cannot live on salad alone! And I could really use some help with homemade pizza and breads! Never did have a knack for those heavenly grains! dfo7503884@aol.com ps. among my salad chef escapades I used to work in the country club where CaddyShack was filmed!
Posted by Kent Smith (Member # 251) on :
Glad you are keeping your toe in the water and feel a connection with the Letterhead bunch as much as we do with you and your family. I have found that the talent for the culinary arts is similar to the talent needed for lettering arts. Some years ago I took some chef's courses to expand our possibilities as empty nesters since I am the main cook. The idea is to minimize repetition and boring meals as well as quick fixes when we both work such a full day in this industry. It is great to have a source for answers for those questions that you just can't seem to find in an a cookbook. Thanks for offering this resource.
Posted by AdrienneMorgan (Member # 1046) on :
Cooking has always been a hobby in our family...I remember going on vacation with my family at Sea Ranch and staying inside reading Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' (volume 2) while my little brother (12 years old at the time) was out in the woods hunting wild mushrooms....which, by the way, he would cook for us at dinner...we ate them trustingly...never got sick, so he must have known what he was doing. I became the artist in the family, he became a famous Executive Chef in San Francisco...
for those of you watching the Food Network, watch for him, James Ormsby on an upcoming episode of 'Appetite for Adventure' with Joey Altman, featuring Napa California.
A
Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :
Adrienne,
You sound like me! When my husband's family goes on vacation everyone else goes hiking or biking and I hang out with a book.
Have you read KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL? He (Anthony Bourdain) gets a little melodramatic at times but for those who've seen the behind the scenes of a commercial kitchen, it was pretty funny.
Posted by AdrienneMorgan (Member # 1046) on :
Seen it, but not read it yet..my brother and I exchange books we like, maybe he has it, OR, I'll get it and share it with him! A Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :
It's funny you guys talk about creativity in cooking...I remember one time my husband (an executive chef) saying that he wished he was creative like my dad. Helllooo?!?!? You have to be VERY creative to cook well. Layering the flavors like Rick was talking about.
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
I wish I had more understanding of how layering flavors works. I appreciate it when I tast it, and have a couple dishes I prepare that do it, but how and why is missing from my understanding. Is that something that can be explained like the color wheel? I've tried thinking in terms of opposite and complimentary tastes. That's what makes sweet and sour so interesting. Kimberly, can you provide some simple principals that might help?
