I’m going to get a personal chef. Or rather, I’m going to have someone cook me some food once a week.
Getting cancer young sucks for many reasons, but one of which is that all your friends are too busy to make their own food, let alone do the typical food brigade. But later in life, when most people get cancer, people are retired, or at least their children are grown. I know that my mother has been involved in several food support networks: someone brings over soup and a casserole once a week or something.
Well, here in NYC, alienating move-it-or-lose-it NYC, you can’t find friends with the time, energy or skill to make you food and deliver it (and I don’t blame them!!!).
BUT you can find someone who you can pay to do it for you. In NYC you can get just about everything delivered… for a price. From you groceries, to custom shopped clothing, to Cocaine: someone will deliver it.
So I emailed with someone whose card was up on the board at my favorite coffee shop. Hopefully this works. out.
Lets try it, even if you only can cover through the end of March. Even those three weeks will be a relief for me. And if it works, maybe you can set me up with someone when you leave.
Why don’t you propose some specific dishes (a grain or pasta salad, a casserole/baked dish that I can reheat, and a soup.)
I have lesions in my mouth and on my tongue. (fun, right?)  I have noticed that acids hurt my mouth really badly, and that things like bread crust also hurt a lot, so no tomatos, citrus, or nuts. Cheese, Cottage Cheese, pasta, Oatmeal, soft breads are all good. I’ve been told that beets are great for chemo, but I haven’t made any lately. I should go try some, but I’m banned from all Buffet/Salad bars (e.g. Whole Foods) b/c I’m immunosuppressed.
I can’t quite quantify what $50/hr means in terms of volume of food. Can you propose some specific dishes, and estimate how long the whole thing would take, what ingredients would costs, and assuming it is within my budget, we’ll go forward.
I would be happy to start this as soon as you can
Thanks,
m
On Mar 9, 2009, at 10:34 PM, DBN wrote:
Hi,
Thank you for getting in touch with me. I would be interested in working with you, but want to let you know that I will be moving out of Brooklyn at the end of March. Although this would be a short term arrangement, I am happy to cook for you, and could arrange for someone to take over when I leave.
I generally charge $50/hr for my services, and charge for ingredients separately, however this is negotiable. I can propose specific dishes, or since you gave me guidelines of what you are looking for, I could go ahead and prepare things that would be more gentle on your system, and you would not need to select the menu.
I hope that your treatments are not too difficult on your body, and that you are headed for a speedy recovery.
Please let me know if you’d like to work together.
Best,
DBN
long story short…
but I actually had a personal chef for a while.. if they aren’t doing all the menu planning (eg you have to tell them what to make every day) it becomes a surprising amount of work.
however, I think having someone do this for you is a BRILLIANT idea. Id love to see this work, and have you take car services instead of the subway etc etc etc..
If she doesn’t work out, let me know, I have some other names. 🙂
oh, she worked out! yeah, the initial menu discussion took a bit of time, but when you start with the farmers market as your menu, there are only so many things one can make. so it was not so bad. and it is something that i only really have to have once; she figured it out so well on the first try.
but she is leaving for india in three weeks. but she said it would be no problem to connect me with another person in the food making community to take over.
yeah, cleaning person, car service and taxis, fresh direct, and a personal chef. plus two studio assisstants and an intern…