Sam Johnson's Gourmet to Your Doorstep offers quality catering for large functions.

Life often demands a choice between quality and quantity. But Sam Johnson’s catering company — Gourmet to your Doorstep — brings heaping helpings of both.  Johnson frequently serves up outsize portions of Italian, Caribbean, and American cuisines.  The Trenton-based chef delivers his multinational menu throughout central New Jersey, but learning his trade has taken him around the world.

Johnson’s  journey began when he left his native Nigeria for Belgium, where he enrolled in flight school. But when rising fees grounded the would-be pilot, he changed routes. He became the kitchen aide at an upscale Brussels restaurant, where the demanding French chef recruited him as an apprentice.

Johnson mastered French cuisine, but he longed for a change of scenery. He came to the United States, landing a chef job at Atlanta’s international airport before becoming sous chef at the city’s Marriot Marquis Hotel. His next test would be the high standards of Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino.

Shining there led him to several other kitchens, including those of the New Brunswick Hyatt, Kingston’s Main Street Bakery, and Merrill Lynch’s corporate headquarters. He cooked for two New Jersey governors and two state assemblymen, but his career’s most taxing turn had yet to come.

After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Johnson drove straight to New York. He joined the staff of Nino’s Restaurant — a Canal Street fixture that had become a soup kitchen for firemen, police officers and volunteers — and soon became executive chef, serving 7,000 meals per day.

Grateful Ground Zero rescuers, who had previously subsisted on hot dogs and hamburgers, eagerly awaited Johnson’s chicken Marsala and pasta primavera. “I could see the smiles on their faces,” he says.

Johnson returned to New Jersey with a desire to help those in need. So he brought his culinary talent to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, where he supervises the kitchen staff. He still makes meals from scratch and serves thousands each day. But for the first time in years, the veteran restaurateur has some time on his hands.

Gourmet to Your Doorstep can be reached at (609) 346-0318. They offer a range of catering options, including:

Fruit Cocktail Platter
Serves: 20
Price: $50

Lobster Bisque
Price: $2.50/person

Chicken Marsala
Serves: 20
Price: $50

Lasagna
Serves: 20
Price: $70 (meat), $60 (vegetable)

Janice McMillan's Everything and More takes care of common household chores.

In a gadget-crazed world, the Smartphone is king. It can check e-mail, manage money and fire off Facebook updates. But believe it or not, there are some things your Blackberry cannot do. It cannot wait for the cable guy, bring your dog to the vet, or fix you a home-cooked meal.

That’s where Janice McMillan comes in. Her business, Everything and More, is about tying up loose ends. “I take care of the little things people don’t have time to do,” she says.

For the past five years, the Piscataway resident has made her clients’ lives a little easier. She’ll do the laundry, prepare dinner, watch the kids, and wait for that phone company employee who swears he’ll come by between noon and 5 p.m.

McMillan has made a career out of supporting others. She’s worked for 25 years at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where she arranges programs that educate underprivileged high school and college students about careers in medicine. She’s logged enough years to retire, but she loves her job and wants to remain active.

Plus, there’s the networking. Among the clients of Everything and More are medical students with no time to clean their apartments, and co-workers whose private practices have eaten up their free time.

The idea for Everything and More came from McMillan’s memory of being a single mother. For years, she says, she couldn’t go out with friends, couldn’t spend time alone, and couldn’t even run errands without bringing her kids along.

“You need to have your own time,” she says, “when you don’t have to answer ‘Mommy’ questions.”

McMillan wants to give her clients more time to be alone, to work, or to do whatever they would like. And who knows? With everyday stressors out of the way, you may decide to spend more time with your family and less with your phone.

Everything and More can be reached at (908) 705-3995. She charges on a sliding scale that dips as low as $10 per hour.

Tamara Apollon sells baked goods — such as her famous Mango Tart — to fund an education center in her native Haiti.

When Americans think about the nation of Haiti, a rich culinary tradition is not the first thing that comes to their minds.

Which is unfortunate, says Haitian emigrant and baker Tamara Apollon. Few in the developed world, she says, can look beyond her country’s poverty and reliance on foreign aid. “People think we only take and do not give,” she says

She hopes to change that perception by bringing a variety of French-inspired Haitian treats to the American palate.

Apollon’s repertoire includes Marquise, a creamy, frozen dessert with layers of cookie and ice cream; Buche de Noel, a log-shaped Christmastime cake flavored with chocolate or Gran Marnier liqueur; mango cheesecake, and cupcakes with pineapple and grandia (passion fruit) topping. She also makes gingerbread and peanut butter cookies.

Though she has yet to take her business full-time, Apollon’s desk-bound day job provides ample opportunities for market research. “Every time I cook for work,” she says, “people are saying, ‘When are you going to start your own business?’”

Now, her business, Kids Can, allows her to boost appreciation of her native culture, and eventually, she will use its proceeds to improve the lives of her compatriots. Her goal is to generate enough revenue to create a center for disadvantaged girls in Les Cayes, a city on Haiti’s southern shore.

Apollon says that a lack of education and job skills forces many Haitian females into domestic slavery.  She wants to hire teachers to train them in hairdressing, cooking, sewing, and starting a business. “I want to empower them,” she says.

Kids Can can be reached at (908) 400-0910.

Their Marquise serves 7 to 8 people and costs $15. Cheesecakes are $20 to $30 and serve 10, Buche de Noel costs $30 to $40 and serves 20.

Cookies cost $7 per pound, and a dozen cupcakes costs $15.

Sean Lewis parlayed his expertise into On-Center Glass, offering novices a taste of the glass-blowing. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Johnson Digital)

At 21 years old, Sean Lewis was a few semesters away from a Tufts University engineering degree. Sticking around a little longer would have earned him a safe, fiscally sound career path.

It was becoming clear, though, that the responsible route would not be the most rewarding. Always artistically inclined, Lewis found no room for creativity in his engineering course load. He liked the idea of transforming blueprint designs into 3-D structures, but he wanted something with hardware heavier than a calculator.

When he learned that a family friend ran a glass blowing studio in Tucson, Ariz., he left school and moved west within a week.

There, he found his passion. And after all, what’s not to like? You plunge a steel rod into a 2,000-degree furnace, lift up some molten glass (which, at that temperature, drips off the steel like honey) and mold it into a slender vase, a colorful ornament, or a million-dollar chandelier.

“It’s the best job in the world,” Lewis says, “ It’s one step away from alchemy.”

A few years ago, Lewis returned to New Jersey — his home state — with his wife, Marin. The two have started On-Center Glass, a business that invites outsiders into their fascinating world. They offer evening events for those who want a taste of glass blowing, and a semester-long course for those who seek to become experts.

Their “Blow Your Own” ball hosts up to ten guests for an evening party replete with food and music. Each guest helps make his own souvenir, such as vases or ornaments. Attendees then watch as Sean crafts stunning pieces of glass art from the furnace.

For those who want to take it a step further, On-Center offers half-day sessions, weekend-long classes, and individual lessons. At each stage, guests take home a glass souvenir they helped to make. It’s a creative outlet that demands focus, forcing guests to leave their worries at the door.

The Lewises seek to create a community around glass blowing. And in New Jersey, there’s a precedent. Around the time of the American Revolution, Sean says, glass was big business in the Garden State (think “Glassboro”). Craftsmen found sand — the main ingredient of glass — abundant at the shore and used the state’s famous pinewood for furnace fuel.

By inviting customers into their studio, Sean and Marin hope to spread awareness of a craft they’ve come to love. They also seek to create a safe and fun hangout for veteran creative-types and young, budding artists.

For information about pricing and reservations, e-mail Sean at info@oncenterglass.com.