For Catering and Personal Chef Services see my other website at http://flatironschef.wix.com/yummy
or email me at Connie@fastandfreshfood.com
Why do I feel I need to inflict my opinion about cooking, restaurants and cookbooks on the world? Because I truly believe that it is vitally important to play with your food. Disregard what your mother said when you were young and just play. I cook 8-12 hours a day professionally and then go home and cook for my family. I read cookbooks in bed at night like novels. I become mesmerized by sauteing veggies popping and dancing in olive oil. I peer over the mixing bowl and watch delightedly as the dough changes during kneading. I can get giddy over good cheese, a rich olive can make me swoon and a crisp perfect salad will stay in my mind for days after I eat it. Ok, so that may be weird but it is who I am. I have been cooking professionally for years. I have catered over 300 events in Boulder Colorado, my biggest being 2400 people for the Democratic party victory party during the last presidential election. I plated appetizers and sobbed with happiness. I ran a successful dinner delivery business in Boulder Colorado and transitioned into running a business that provided healthy school lunches. Mostly organic and all made from scratch. Then I made a leap to owning a business that provided cafeteria services at the Department of Commerce in Boulder Colorado. I loved all of those jobs but decided to step back and focus on my family more. Owning your own business means you never get to clock out and my work week was usually 60+ hours every week. I cooked for the last year and a half for a retreat center in the mountains and enjoyed the challenge of changing a mostly pre-made and very un-healthy menu into a kitchen that provided all foods made from scratch. It was a challenge but very fun. I am now back living and cooking in Boulder, Colorado. This delightful community snuggled up against the Rocky Mountains is full of foodie shops, fantastic restaurants and a constant steam of festivals, events and food related gatherings. I could not live in a better place. When I am not cooking or hanging out with my family you can find me on one of the many trails that wind into the foothills around Boulder. So many lovely trails, so little time…
Very cool, Connie! This looks like a pretty good template for a blog. The Wise Women’s Story Circle would benefit from something like this. Thanks for sharing.
Fondly,
Kate
beautiful blog….thanks for the “like”
Your blog is great. I was reading your about you page. It’s good to know I am not the only one that reads cookbooks in bed at night. I would rather read a cookbook than any other type of book. Thank you for the comment about the spaghetti squash.
Hi Connie,
Has anyone told you lately your blog makes them hungry? Well, I’m here to tell you it does, LOL! I love your “About”. So cute! I’ve been nosing around your space here. I like it. You have a bit of everything going on. I think I gained 5 pounds just looking at all the food! Thanks again for visiting my blog and leaving such a kind comment and subscribing. I really appreciate it! I am looking forward to getting to know you Connie! Margie
Nice site – I’ll be revisiting often
Thank you. I have your book on my wish list. My husband has said I cannot buy anything else this month so I have it on my calendar for March 1! You are a talented photographer.
You are living my life! Or rather the life I want to live someday. I LOVE and adore food and want to open a bakery someday. I know it will be alot of work, but then again, what isn’t?! I’m gonna read through your blog and get inspired!
Go for it. I decided what I wanted to do and just did it. If you know what you want and visualize it then when opportunities arise you can take it.
Hi! thank you for visiting my blog!
Yours is really nice too. I haven’t met a chef-blogger before and I hope to be a regular visitor as well! 
More chef’s are starting blogs to further their careers. I just do it because I love it. I am happy with where I am at right now.
You have been nominated for the Liebster Award. Check it out over at rantingchef.com.
Wow. Thank you very much.
Hi there! Thanks for following my blog
Just wanted to drop a quick note and let you know that I have moved over to wordpress.org, so to continue receiving updates, you may have to sign up via email or RSS at http://ringfingertanline.com
Confusing, I know… but worth it
I really enjoy your blog so I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. More information at http://remcooks.com/2012/04/02/versatile-blogger-award/. I’m sure you have already received it but I enjoy your blog and thought I would share it with you again. Happy Blogging.
Thank you! I think someone did send it to me awhile ago but I did not pass it on because I lost track of …well…everything. Been a crazy busy spring as I am seriously understaffed at my kitchen.
I remember those days all too well. It makes for very long, hard days. Hopefully, there will be relief/help coming.
Yes. I hope so too. I am interviewing today. It is hard to hire up in the mountains.
Awesome blog!!! some fantastic recipes i will most certainly be trying!!!
Thank you. Thanks for visiting and hope to see you soon.
I stopped by to say thank you for subscribing to my blog. After reading about you, I am learning that so many people have chosen family over career lately. Love how you’ve transitioned, so inspiring! I look forward to reading your posts. Happy cooking chef, and cheers to a wonderful life and loving food and everything about it.
Thank you. It is beautiful up here today and I am very glad to have made this change 1 year later. It is very important to choose family over career. It has not been easy but well worth it.
I wanted to thank you for visiting my blog last week ~ so I decided to visit you. I have to say you’ve made me smile ~ I just love how you feel about food because that’s how I feel too. It’s always fun to find someone who gets that feeling of wanting to make every mouthful as awesome as it can possibly be, relishing it and remembering it fondly days later. You are in a good place with your family and your kitchen and people to feed daily. It sounds wonderful and it looks beautiful there too:). I’m looking forwarding to visiting you often.
Thank you and it is beautiful here!
Fantastic blog!
Thanks for following mine, it really means a lot that an actual chef like you would find my random little recipes interesting! I totally see parallels between your cooking for your family and my cooking for my roommates who are like family to me and it’s just great
Your story is captivating. You’ve chosen to mould what you love into something that is compatible with other important facets of your life. I love it! I am a Culinary Arts student in Boulder- maybe I can take the short trek and meet you sometime. Lovely blog- look forward to following.
Thank you for visiting Deb. We often need weekend help for private group catering at Cal-Wood. If you are interested drop me your resume and a quick note. chefconnie@calwood.org!
Thank you, Chef Connie. I will
Hi Connie,
I love your blog. All of the recipes you’ve posted sound amazing, I can’t wait to try some.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! your food photos and recipes are making my mouth water. i think i may try the Cider Brined Chicken! I’ll let you know how it goes
Yes. Please. Let me know how it goes. Love your blog!
I nominated you for a Versatile Blogger Award because I think you are pretty awesome!
Congratulations. Check it out: http://bit.ly/IOaIxe
Here are the rules:
* Thank the person(s) who nominated you and link back to them
* Share 7 things about yourself
* Nominate 15 bloggers you admire
* Contact your nominees and let them know
Thanks for visiting my blog. Any ideas for making a salt-free diet interesting? I’m a good traditional cook and baker but have lost interest in food since the diet was imposed 2 weeks ago – I’m losing weight.
Well… that is a hard one for me because I use salt and maybe too much of it. There are lots of great resources on the internet. Try these sites. http://www.alsosalt.com/saltfree.html
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Yours is beautiful.
thank you, I’ll have another trawl round. That video was very interesting: it would never occur to me to put two TABLESPOONS of sugar in a small amount of pizza dough! Do you think he meant teaspoons? I love the topping he did.
viv sighs: everything I want to use has salt in it eg harissa, ham, smoked salmon, sausages, celery,soy sauce, mayonnaise – imagine home-made mayonnaise without salt, yuk Even my normally splendid home-made bread is not good without salt. Maybe I should decide that at 74 it’s not worth being miserable and say to Hell with it!
Hello, I have enjoyed your blog and nominated you for the blogger Versatile Award http://cookingwithmamamiyuki.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/the-versatile-blogger-award-and-my-200-likes-badge-hooray/ Hopefully you have time to copy paste, say 7 things about yourself and nominate other 15 bloggers
I love your blog! And really like the premise of it
Thanks for visiting mine!
Glad you like it. Your blog is great too!
Now, I ask you, why would chef Connie choose to Follow art rat cafe? I am greatly honoured by your choice yet curious as I rarely post about food – perhaps it’s the occasional artratcafe-CAFE menus? You have a mouth watering site here Connie…
Because it is a great blog. The name alone grabbed my attention.
Lovely lovely lovely! Simply and utterly! Thank you Connie for sharing what you love. We love it too!
I do love it!
Thank you for popping by Veggiewitch today! I’m so glad I found your blog. =0)
Veggiewitch ♥
No problem. Love the name of your blog…VeggieWitch.
Good morning! Thank you for stopping by my blog and signing up to follow me. I am now signed up to follow you as well, and look forward to your posts!
~ April
I absolutely love the name of your blog. I made me lol. I cook gluten free for myself but at work I have to cater to all different types. I love personal blogs because home cooks can be so freakin creative. It is an inspiration for me.
Connie, *bless* you for crying into the appetizers when Obama won in 2004! I’m often terrified by preparing meals even though I’m a decent cook and have enjoyed the creativity of it—just part of my bipolar express. So, what you do seems like magic and pure courage to me.
Thanks for visiting my site and leaving a schmear.
Hey Sandy,
Not exactly sure why I am not terrified when I take on some of these gigs. Just insantiy I guess. Or love….
Hi ChefConnie,
Thanks for visiting & following my page. You’ve got so many superlicious dishes. am so following your blog! ;D
Thank you!
love your blog–it is going to become a mainstay for me–wow, what vast and wonderful experience you have–I will learn much from you, I can already tell
Wow… I stopped by your blog to thank you for deciding to following along at FWW and now I am starving and itching to get back into a kitchen! Your blog is amazing! Since we’ve been traveling around I’ve only had a real, albeit tiny, kitchen in one place. It’s been a nice way to realize the things I’ve taken for granted over the years. I never thought I’d say I miss doing dishes in a real sink! lol
Thanks again for the follow and for publishing a such a great blog here! I’m looking forward to reading through it all
You miss dishes? I know what you mean.
You could have been writing about me. We are alike in so many ways. Thank you for dropping into my blog.
One of my children did an stint as a volunteer in one of the summer camps in NY State.. He loved the experience.
Thanks for following my blog. Your bio is impressive! I can’t wait to try your parmesan and thyme crackers. They will go lovely with a yogurt cheese I am going to make soon. Thanks!
Pingback: My 100th Post, The ‘Liebster Blog Award’ | A HEALTHY LIFE
I have nominated you for the Liebster Blog Award. Check it out at http://ahealthylifeforme.com/2012/05/06/my-100th-post-the-liebster-blog-award/
What fun that you popped over to All Mussed Up and are following along! And what a lovely story you have.
I just wanted to let you know that i enjoy your blog so much that I have nominated you for the “One Lovely Blog Award”! Go to http://alotonyourplate.wordpress.com/ for details
Congrats, you deserve it! – J
Oh yea! Thank you!
Chef Connie, another blogger recently gave me the Liebster award, and now I’d like to pass it on to you. You’ll find some more information here: http://alittlesaffron.com/2012/05/13/five-things-4/
Wow. Thank you very much!
You’re very welcome!
Hi there – thank you so much for stopping by my blog and for the follow. I too, am enjoying your blog and will look around some more!
Thanks!
I read cookbooks in bed at night like novels, too. (And I also sobbed with happiness that night!) I look forward to seeing what you cook up next.
Alright sister!
I like your style, Connie!
Fabulous!
Thanks for following my Not Just Sassy… blog. Wanted to let you know my persona always shows up as Bluegrass Notes, my other blog so I’m already following you through that one but I won’t ever show up as “Sassy” — if there’s any way to follow or comment as something other than your main blog I haven’t figured it out…
WordPress can be a mystery to me also. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Connie. Thanks for following my blog. I’m signing up here! Nice to find some other chefs out in the food blog world.
I also like your attitude about good ingredients. I had the opposite experience at the restaurant where I was employed — everything from scratch — never a can in sight. It turned me into more of a purist.
I want to work there!
Yes, it spoiled me. I now put restaurants in 2 categories – fresh food and “Sysco” restaurants, where all the same food falls off the truck and gets dressed with a local topping
My local Sysco rep is working hard to get me lots of local fresh foods but yes I do have to curtail her when she suggests pre-made stuff.
Not so much anymore but in the beginning because the last cook (I hesitate to call her a chef) at Cal-Wood bought almost everything pre-made. GASP! My Sysco order is veggies, fruit when in season, flour, wheat flour, yeast, sea salt, whole beans etc. Here our Sysco also carries many organic items. My budget is very low and I feel tons of people so I have to make due with what I can but making stuff from scratch is cheaper so I get by. I am also planting a huge garden this year and building a greenhouse!
Hey Alice (my sysco rep who follows the blog) maybe you could chime in here?
Thanks for the information as I now have a different view of Sysco. The only places I worked that used Sysco bought only pre made. The main place I cooked bought only farm direct and didn’t use Sysco. Now I know that Sysco offers both. I will now stop using my “sysco restaurant” label. Sorry Alice :-/
From a very amateur chef to a professional – thank you for “liking” my blog
Thanks for liking and following my blog. I love your “about” page. Your blog is wonderful.
Great reading.You have a terrific sense of humor. Love the recipes and photos.
Thanks for the follow. Interesting blog you have. I’ll be back. I love cooking, am not saying I’m a great cook but my grandchildren always look forward to weekly dinners at my place. We plan the menu together.
You have such a lovely space here. Plenty of fabulous food conversations too. ENjoying my time browsing.
Thanks for liking my blog, Connie!!! Looking forward to your Delicious recipes!!!!!
Hi Connie, thanks for stopping by my blog, I just had to pop over and check yours out too; it’s great! You live in such a beautiful part of the world, I’m really looking forward to reading more of your recipes.
it is wonderful to meet you my new friend and follower. wow, what a fantastic life you lead. you have helped so many with your wonderful foods, and to know that they are all made from scratch is the icing on the cake. i hate frozen prepared or boxed meals. they have no flavor and yet are full of sodium and fillers. i will take your foods any time!
Hi Connie, thanks the the follow, glad to have stumbled upon your blog (like everyone else before me, haha). Looking forward to reading about the mountain life and the recipes you have to share.
More awards flung your way. I nominated you for Food Stories Award for Excellence in Storytelling because of your interesting and tasty looking blog posts.
Go here for more info (no gold or silver but plenty of accolades.) http://foodstoriesblog.com/food-stories-award/).
GTFO…..I am so honored. This is a new one and I will check it out.
You make me laugh. But, you deserve it. I love your blog.
Thank you for following my blog.
I think your blog is great. Like you, I love reading cookbooks. At the moment, I like reading them very relaxing with a nice glass of wine. I like to see what I can make and change some of the ingredients to suit my family and my taste…sometimes the end results always seem to amaze me how wonderful a meal turn out to be. I just that’s the joy of cooking. Continue with your fab work and looking forward to reading some more from you.
Hi Connie! It was great meeting you last night – lets talk more about getting together again.
Best,
Katie
Hey Katie,
It was the chocolate crinkle cookies that I made from your website. I will give you the conversions.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Connie – I just wanted to take a minute to tell you how nice it was to chat with you at the Bitter Bar meet-up last night! Your website is fantastic and I’m looking forward to trying out a few of your recipes! I hope to see you at the next one!
Allie (Coup d’Cuisine)
Hey Allie,
Thanks for stopping by. See you at Colterra next!
Thanks for visiting my blog. I love your blog title and tag line. I will visit again and see what’s new.
You’ve been tagged! No hard feelings if you choose not to participate.
http://weirdandcoolstuff.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/i-got-tagged/
Thank you I will check this out.
hi connie! so, turns out i do know you and your blog! it wasnt till i got home that i made the connection, as i hadn’t seen a picture of you here! it was great to meet you in person & i am looking forward to seeing you at the next meetup (and am thinking of a reason why i can make 240 brownies…..ha!)
Hey Cory,
It was so much fun meeting everyone. I would love to organize an afternoon soon to have everyone up for a hike and lunch here at Cal-Wood. You can divide the recipe for brownies and make it for any even denomination easily! I can’t wait to go to the Colterra meet up.
Cheers!
Connie
Thanks for following my site ChefConnie. I have been reading through your blog and there is so much good information here. I will be following your blog to learn whatever I can while I take on my own journey. Thanks for sharing this in the blogosphere
Oh my goodness! Someone who loves Meyer Lemons as much as me. So good to meet you, Connie. Love your blog, and your big fat loving heart which is expressed so well in all you cook and write about. {{{HUGS}}}
xx
Gotcha! I’ve nominated you for the Lovely Blogger Award, drop in to my page http://eat-o-live.com/ for details – congrats!!!
Hi…Just to let you know, I really like your blog and nominated it for a Beautiful Blog Award.
Hey, I just nominated you for the Beautiful Blogger Award!! Check out the details here: http://lillysuesbitesandbrews.com/2012/06/30/life-is-beautiful/
I’ve nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. I take forever to do these posts and now I’ve officially quit so however you want to take this is okay by me: http://bluegrassnotes.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/more-awards-and-official-no-more-awards-notice/
Hi Connie
Thanks for following my blog. What I find so interesting about reading other people’s blogs is how different our eating habits are.
Hi Connie,
I am an intern at Rocky Mountain PBS. We would like to add you to our email list so we could send you an email about a new food show on RMPBS that we are launching this Friday. The show focuses on great local ingredients. We would be happy if you commented on it on your blog. Please let me know if you are interested. You can contact us at 303-892-5620.
Thank you!
Hi,
I do not have a TV. Can you watch the show online??
I am honoured that you liked my post about Red Velvet Cookies, although I did not come up with the recipe! I will check out your recipes! Is it still snowing there? Snow just started blowing here in Kansas!
The snow has stopped. It is sooo pretty here right now.
Thanks for stopping by … glad to have found you as well … will be following
where do you cook in Boulder now? would love to stop in if I could.
I am working for private clients. I will update in my blog. Look for my cooking classes soon….
Wow, Connie, what an amazing, varied career you’ve had! I’m so glad to hear that you’ve been on your feet cooking 12 hours a day for years and that you still enjoy it. I’ve been contemplating a career switch and going into pastry but everyone tells me that what I love doing as a hobby I’ll hate doing as a job. I haven’t made any decisions yet but you’ll never know until you try, right? Thanks for visiting my blog. Glad you enjoy the blog name
I can’t believe marijuana’s been legalized in the US before BC (where we’re famous for our bud). I’m loving what I see here so you’ve got a follower in me for sure. Cheers!
Thank you for following my blog! I’m so flattered that an amazing chef like yourself is following me
You have a nice blog. Very pretty.
It is such an honor to have you stopping by my blog so that I can discover your wonderful work. Your blog is amazing!
Thank you.
thanks so much for stopping by Connie.. do come back to visit again.. cooking for 2400 people…WoW that’s quite a feat! Hope to read more of your posts..
charu
I am a big fan of food and Colorado, we lived on the Western Slope for 4 years back in the late ’70s. I am following your blog and anticipating some great recipes.
Thank you for following my blog,
Allan
Thank you and glad to have you.
Hi, thank you for following me! I’m honoured as your blog is just fantastic
I can’t wait to have a proper look through it when I have more time 
wow! You have such an amazing blog and quite a “life story”.