Guess who’s coming to dinner
Personal chef can enhance mealtimes

by Christopher Key

Is having a life interfering with providing hot, nutritious meals for your family at dinner time? Are you tired of eating rubber chicken and library paste pizza? What you need is a personal chef.

Entrepreneur Magazine has identified the personal chef industry as one of the 12 fastest growing businesses in the country and it has now grown into Whatcom County. Recognizing that many people do not have time to prepare a fresh meal from scratch and hate the idea of nuking some unidentifiable frozen lump, Carl Oekerman is ready to cook for you.

He has spent the past four years as an at-home Dad, cooking for family and friends. Oekerman has a lifelong interest in cooking, especially baking. His formal training came through the American Personal Chef Association.

The head chef of Home for Dinner will meet with you to develop a menu tailored specifically to your palate and eating habits. Then, he goes grocery shopping to ensure the freshest, best quality ingredients. Finally, Oekerman prepares the meals in your own kitchen and packs them away in your refrigerator or freezer. All you do is warm them up and enjoy.

“I cook the same kinds of meals that you would cook for yourself,” Oekerman said, “if you had the time.”

Not only does this provide you with healthy, nutritious meals on a moment’s notice, but Oekerman can help meet your deep seated need for garlic, highly spiced foods, or even portion control. Special dietary needs like low fat or low sodium meals, food allergies, or vegetarian preference can all be accommodated.

As your personal chef, Carl offers hundreds of recipes in his repertoire, ranging all the way from gourmet delights like Roasted Chicken Breasts with Gremolata to comfort food like meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Whatever he cooks, the Personal Chef buys locally grown and produced ingredients whenever possible and makes a special effort to recycle and minimize his waste stream.

Most people find that the cost of personal chef service is offset by reduced spending on eating out. Home for Dinner shops only for what will be cooked the same day. This saves money by cutting down on impulse purchases and also saves on the amount of fuzzy blue food you end up throwing out because you never got around to fixing it.

 

New massage business
rubs you the right way
LMPs join forces to share resources

by Christopher Key

Ann Brinitzer home schooled her two children until they were 12 years old. Once they entered public school, Ann was looking for a new challenge. She realized that most people live busy and stressful lives, so she wanted to create an environment where they could slow down and relax. She decided to attend the Spectrum Center School of massage in Lake Stevens.

There, she met Cathleen Kunz who was seeking more control over her life after 20 years in banking and finance. She had her first massage less than two years ago and thought it would be a good way to work and make a difference in people’s lives.

Marjorie Scarlett has a master’s degree in body oriented counseling psychology and has studied several forms of body work including Jin Shin Jyutsu and Tui Na. She wanted to practice professionally and needed her LMP (Licensed Massage Practitioner) certification to do so. She also ended up at the Spectrum Center, met Ann and Cathleen, and a new business was born.

They joined forces, located a house for sale on Elm Street, purchased it and remodeled to suit their needs. The three share a philosophy that is expressed in their mission statement:

Cascadia Massage Group is a cooperative community of massage therapists committed to…promoting relaxation, stress relief and injury rehabilitation treatment as part of a holistic health program.

In addition to massage services at the Elm Street location, they also offer on-site seated massage services for stressed office workers. Treatment modalities available include Swedish and deep massage techniques, trigger point therapy and myofascial release.

Some of their specialties: cranio-sacral therapy, which uses a very light touch to release blocked energies, release pain and harmonize body, mind and spirit; Jin Shin Jyutsu, a gentle form of touch therapy; polarity therapy, which promotes deep relaxation and revitalization by balancing the body’s energy; and Tui Na (“tway nah”), vigorous energy work especially effective for stiffness, pain and stress release.

“We make intense contact with our patients,” Scarlett said. “They always participate in the process of healing.”

She pointed out that most health insurance programs now cover their services.

“We’re part of a health care team,” Brinitzer said. “We work together with other health care practitioners to treat the whole patient.”

Having several practitioners working together benefits everybody.

“Our goal is to build a network of massage therapists,” Kunz said, “that can support each other with different styles. We realize that Bellingham is a relationship town, so we build our business through personal contacts and networking with other professionals.”

 

Manila House pioneers
Philippine cuisine
Restaurant serves art and culture

by Christopher Key

On days when Marilyn Limvalencia says she’s in love, she cooks. On days when she’s not in love, she doesn’t. Fortunately for all of us, she’s in love most of the time. She and her husband Wilson have just opened the Manila House Restaurant next to Haggen in Ferndale.

For many years, locals have known the location as the Great Wall Restaurant. When the owner of the Great Wall decided to retire, the Limvalencias saw a great opportunity. They have been selling Filipino food at the Bellingham Farmers Market for about four years now.

“People kept asking us at the market, ‘Where is your restaurant?’” Wilson said. “Now we can tell them that we have one.”

Wilson was born in Manila and came to this country in 1986. He says business has been very good considering he has done no advertising. His customers come from word-of-mouth and from drive-bys on busy Main Street. Wilson and Marilyn will be back at the Farmers Market next year since that is their best source of customers.

Those unfamiliar with Filipino cooking can expect some tantalizing treats from Marilyn’s kitchen. She uses a lot of vinegar and sugar to produce sweet and sour contrasts. Most of the food is simmered.

Some of the featured dishes are Lumpia Shanghai, a small eggroll, Adobo, pork or chicken simmered in soy sauce and vinegar, and Tocino, which is marinated in vinegar and sugar then stir fried. The dishes owe a lot to both Southeast Asian and Spanish influences.

Marilyn has no formal training as a chef, but Wilson says it just comes naturally “when she’s in love.” Manila House is the only Filipino restaurant in Whatcom and Skagit Counties and as such will also serve as a center for art and culture.

The Limvalencias promise good food and service along with an opportunity to expose your taste buds to something new. They’re open 11:30 - 8:00 Tuesday through Saturday and 12:00 – 8:00 on Sunday.

 

Ready To Eat on Main Street
Restaurant offers slow food instantly

by Christopher Key

Everybody wants to have a tasty, nutritious meal in the evening, but not everybody has the time to fix it. Ferndale residents now have an option that doesn’t involve fast food. Ready To Eat is the brainchild of two sisters and their husbands, one of whom, Anthony Collins, is a renowned chef and teacher.

His background includes work at McCormick and Schmick, Palomino, and Plenty in Seattle. He has also taught cooking at Whatcom Community College and Goodwill. Keith Jennings says they scouted a number of locations before settling on Main Street in Ferndale.

“This seemed right for what we want to do,” Keith said, “which is serve good food to take out or eat in.”

It’s not exactly a deli, but there’s a huge case featuring many dishes that can be wrapped to take home or eaten in the cheerful café. Once you look more closely at the offerings, you know it’s not a deli.

How about Herb Crusted Chicken Breast Stuffed with Bacon? Gingered Noodles with Chinese Black Mushrooms, Water Chestnuts and Bamboo Shoots? Beef and Potato Cottage Pie?

Those are just some of the main dishes available. You can also get soup, salad, dessert and even wine to accompany the meal. All you have to do is warm it up when you get home.

Jennings and his partners want to make Ready To Eat a friendly place to hang out, especially for brunch on weekends. Brunch features such goodies as Eggs Sardou, Broccoli and Fontina Fritata, Rock Shrimp Linguine and Roasted Garlic Cream.

They make an effort to buy locally, from produce to cheesecake, and make everything possible from scratch. Ready To Eat supports local organic growers and uses recyclable packaging.

According to Jennings, art on the walls is what will help make the place inviting, so local artists are invited to submit work.

“What we provide here,” said Jennings, “is good food served quickly as opposed to fast food. We will have certain core items, but otherwise our menu will change every day.”

Ready To Eat is currently open 9 - 7 Tuesday through Saturday and 9 – 2 on Sunday. As soon as they recover from getting the business started, they plan to expand their schedule to include dinner service.