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My sister had a friend in Yakima Washington looking for a caterer for a doctor's group's Christmas party. Their budget was big enough it could cover my travel, so I took it on. Luckily Ari and Tia could make it with me, and my sister was feeling better enough to help, so I had a few more pairs of hands on deck.
The best part was the lovely table I was able to put together. there was a great rentals place there in town that had real silver for flatware, and some great china and crystal. They were a pleasure to work with to.
The home where we held the event was rather imposing as we drove up to it. The front looked a little like the White House. But the hosts were warm and down to earth, and the kitchen had a double oven, and a separate warming oven that was a joy to have on hand!
We made pies from scratch.
Along with a variety of rolls.
The salads were the best though. I have done this salad before with feta crumbles, but doing cashew crusted goat cheese rounds put them over the top for me. Also I got the blackberry vinaigrette dialed in with a little more acid.
We didn't get on the job main course pictures, Tia recreated these for me later. Close enough! Salmon glazed with ginger, honey and soy, with a wasabi cream sauce.
Herb roasted Prime rib with a balsamic dried cherry reduction. That sauce was good enough to put on ice cream haha. THe only snafu with this job was that I locked my keys in my car as soon as we had it unloaded (luckily not before everythiing was out!). With the spare key back in Utah, I had to call a locksmith. The first one failed to get the car open, and by the time the second one had done the trick, it meant getting to bed around midnight. Such is the life of a caterer though --there is always something that goes wrong!
Other things we have done this season include the river lights cruise on the Provo river.
Turns out is was a little more geared to kids than adults, but now we can say we tried it.
We watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional (from our church) with my parents, and afterwards we looked at Tia's mission pictures.
We went to Mapleton's Christmas celebration when they light the trees and do a gingerbread house and wreath competition.
We went to Provo Covey center's Nutcracker with the Metropolitan ballet. This was the best production I have ever seen. The costumes and set were spectacular, done by Cassandra Barney . I actually met her when we were both chaperones for an elementary age camp for our daughters.
Then we had our family traditions. We got all of our cookies out to the neighbors with a couple of days to spare --late start after the catering job. This year we had close to a hundred families to do. It was a big fun job. Ti a has helped me out with decorating too. That was a nice little change.
Christmas is the best time of year anyway.
