Exciting Opportunity: Cooking Show & Kids Show at Retirement Community!

[Cindycooks]

Please pray this works out! I have just been handed the coolest opportunity! I live in a "retirement community" on the water. Lots of senior citizens here but to be honest, as they get older (and passing away) more and more families are starting to move in...anyway, we have just built this awesome community center with a party room. The manager called me today and wants me to do a cooking show once a week! I can pick the night! We have vacation condos here too which are always full and it will be for the vacationers and people that live here. They will do the advertising. They are looking for different vendors so as to fill the room everynight...a local "potter" one night, an artist, a quilter etc...and me!

Now I just have to figure out how to do all this! This is going to be more like "teaching cooking" you know....yes I want to sell, but that isn't the idea. There is no stove in the room. I am fine with that...PC has plenty of non-cooking recipes, I can even do the Veggie Pizzas and bake the crust at home and demo the toppings. The touchdown taco dip...etc.

During the summer, we are full of families at the vacation condos and I will be doing a kids show one morning each week.

Any ideas you can throw my way are welcome! I am trying to think of seasonal themes...the bbq tools (we are beachy here)...kids idea, man show...etc....I start in 3 weeks! So Easter......

I'm so excited I am beside myself!

 

[soonerchef]

Congrats on getting this, sounds exciting. It seems as if you are on the right track with the ideas you have, what about doing some type of scavenger hunt?

Good luck!

 

[varga11]

garnish?PC has a lot of easy ways to make fun garnishes. You could do a garnish class. Which would show a lot of the PC tools. You wouldn't have to push PC products but if they wanted to know where to get some of them you could offer. Also in consultant corner there are the show stoppers that are pretty cool (like the fruit Luminaries). Good luck with it. It sounds like a ton of fun!

 

[pchefinski]

* Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals is so big right now.. why not do your own "30 Minute Meals" segment? Do a different theme each week (bbq, pizza, italian, asian, dessert, breakfast, healthy but still good!, quick lunches, garnishing, cookies, kids, men, women, date night, family fun, microwave only!, yummy snacks, fast food favorites, race/competition between teams, etc) and at the end of each week, have a half or quarter pg flyer plugging next week's theme. Maybe incorporate a table-scape like you'd see on "Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee" or something.

* You could definately do recipes with the cookware -- just purchase an inexpensive portable burner from Wal-Mart or another department store. Plug it in, and you've got a quick, easy way to showcase a super hot product without having to turn your back to the guests and stand at a stove!

* Buy an inexpensive microwave (you can even find them in the local trader paper for $25 or so) and set it up in the community center. (You could probably write off the cost of it as tax deductible--check into that.) When you have the kids shows, you can help them make their own little omelettes in the microwave, or for desserts, individual brownie sundaes, using the prep bowls. Help them make a cake for their Mom for Mother's Day, using just a microwave cake recipe.

 

[pampered1224]

And don't forget...A simple, single burner "hot plate" is only about $20. This means you could use cookware and make hot dishes like the new Risotto recipe in the Season's Best. And it is so small, you put it back in your bag when your done and take it home.
I wish you great success! Sounds so neat for you!

 

[Cindycooks]

Bumping to thank you all for the ideas and to keep more coming! We are touching base this week and I should have my first show sometime the end of April. I have the hot-plate already, and I'm going thru our "theme'show" thread. Thanks so much for help - love the "30 minute meal" idea BTW.

 

[kristenskitchen]

Yeah, about the omelets, you can do them with the kids in the micro cookers or even a ziploc! Just use some of your other tools for cutting up the ingredients and the cheese grater to sprinkle some cheese on them. What about some sort of fondue? Using fresh fruit and some chocolate in the micro cooker or if you have the fondue insert for your cookware.

Sounds like an awesome opportunity! Have fun with it, I'm sure you're business will take off from all the leads you'll get from that. Yay!

~Kristen

P.S. I am from Wilmington...Go HEELS!