Catering a winter party.

 

 I did a wedding lunch last summer, and decided that was my last catering job.  I love the creativity, and the sense of accomplishment, but it seems like my Graves disease gets really bad whenever I have a job.  It really is a high stress situation where the forgetting of one tiny detail, or the mis-scheduling of half an hour can ruin an event.  However, I've got a friend that can talk me into anything, and she asked me to do her husbands work party.  I did their last party and posted about it here.

 

 They did this party instead of a Christmas party, but we obviously couldn't use Christmas decor, so decided on a winter wonderland-type theme.  I'd done this as part of a party at the University of Utah years ago with my sisters.  I've got a big curly willow tree in my neighborhood that I was able to beg branches off of, and we painted them silver, stuck them in hurricanes filled with salt, and poked a mini flashlight into the middle to shine up into the branches.  Then I took a bunch of glittery fabric and sewed table runners for all of the tables.  Sigh.  I was covered in glitter for a week and my floor still looks like the silver brick road, but it looked pretty nice anyway.

 We probably could have used a little garland or something between the chafing dishes too, but it slipped my mind.  At least all of the chafers were silver :)

 Pork medallions with apples, cranberries, and cherries.

 Tuscan rolled chicken with feta, sun dried tomatoes, pinenuts, and fresh basil.

 Garlic-rosemary roasted red skinned potatoes.

 Balsamic roasted vegetables.

 Strawberry - Wonton salad with strawberry balsamic vinaigrette.

 Dessert!  Raspberry White Chocolate cheesecake, and Chocolate Caramel Decadence layer cake.

I split this job with my catering partner and we each took half the work.  This made a HUGE difference in being able to handle this job, but I still had a bad week or two with the Graves.  I bought a Bodymedia Fit --which is kind of like a bodybug (it tracks the calories you burn all day and night ), and the day before the party I burned 2900 calories.  That's not a typo.  Granted, I was working pretty hard, but that's kind of outrageous a calorie burn for someone my size.  Day of, I burned 3349.  Luckily, I'm getting back to normal quickly.  I taught my weights class, and moved all day yesterday cleaning dishes and the house after a week of neglect, and although I had 200-300 more steps than Thursday (the day before the catering job) I burned 300 calories less.  That tells me I'm getting back on track which is good.  I have an appetite that goes through the roof when I'm Gravesy and I'm a lot more impulsive in my eating, not to mention the heart stuff and anxiety.  I finally feel a little calmer this morning.

I have to say though that Friday night was so fun!  It was hard work (did I mention 3200 calories!?), but I just love doing that stuff.  Maybe someday when I get completely healthy I can take catering back up again regularly.

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Sandy wedding luncheon.

This is a week late being post, because as soon as it was over last Saturday, I had to pack up and leave for "Girl's Camp" with my church congregation. I was in charge of the food, and basically it was really stupid of me to take on both right on top of each other. You know me though, and the chance to make beautiful food for a beautiful event is too much of a temptation to resist.

The bride and groom are a young couple; he is the son of a friend of mine, and she is just a lovely girl from the next city over --think Audrey Hepburnesque. They were married in the temple right near my parents' house which was nice for me to have a last minute prep station near the venue.

We started out with an appetizer station for everyone (picture above), because as per usual with these sorts of things, the bride, groom, and photographer arrived quite a bit later than everyone else, and people were ready to eat their hats. Great idea from the groom's mother. Of course being extra hungry always makes the food go over better with a group:)

I did my little crudite basket with Tuscan roasted pepper dip, and also a hot artichoke cheese dip with torn French bread cubes,

But this was the hit. It was an "Italian Torte" which had layers of sun-dried tomatoes, a type of cream cheese mixture, and pesto from my own basil. I pressed fresh herbs around the outside for pretty. That platter was scraped clean.

The main luncheon was then served when the bride and groom arrived. The colors were mauve (ashes of roses ) and burgandy. It's hard to tell with my cheap camera, but the topper on the table is a sheer pink.

We started with Strawberry-wonton salad with candied cashews and strawberry balsamic dressing, and a variety of fresh rolls.

The centerpiece was from my perrenial garden, where my irises were at the height of bloom. I had some the perfect color: a mix of mauve and burgandy.
We also did balsamic roasted vegetables, and a herbed wild rice which I stupidly didn't get a picture of.
Main dish was Lemon-Rosemary Chicken with preserved lemon slices, and a Lemon Rosemary Cream sauce. I thought when I made it the other night it could really use some sort of sauce, and so used some marinade as a starter for this sauce. I think it went over much better.

We waited to put out the brownie assortment until the last minute, because people were eating them before lunch started, and so I didn't get any pictures. I'm so bummed because they turned out really cool! I did Raspberry White Chocolate (raspberry jam and white chocolatew chunks baked into the brownie, and topped with the same, and fresh raspberries at the last minute); Andes mint (chopped Andes mints baked into the base, and topped with from scratch chocolate icing, and more Andes mints); Turtle Pecan (pecan brownies topped with chopped chocolate, pecans, and from scratch caramel sauce); and Pecan Coconut Blondies topped with pecans, and caramel. Just imagine for me OK? I made myself sick eating edges and toppings, so I can assure you they were good.

I just got back from girl's camp Friday afternoon, and Jeff and I took a night together in a hotel. We got back this afternoon, and I'm thinking I could use a good long break from everything. I do have the race coming up this weekend, but until then, you can find me puttering around in my garden. Yum.

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Cake Buffet

We did a reception last night at city hall which turned out beautiful. My friend has a wedding decor business, and every time we do a reception together she just wows me with her abilities and resources. For my part we did a served cake buffet. This reception was supposed to be for 500-600 people, and I was really nervous about serving that many people by hand without having a big line back up, but it turned out fine. I don't think we had quite that many, but still, I really appreciate the opportunity to try it, because now I've got the confidence to do it again. I had some of my favorite helpers too to serve, and that makes it more fun.


OK, now for the cakes. The star of the show was Lenora's world famous cake from Magleby's. I had one of my ladies cutting just this cake. With it's four layers, it's got amazing presence, but also takes some skill and patience to serve.


Dulce de Leche Cheesecake. Cheesecake is always popular, but the flavors my client chose went over really well.

Classic Carrot Cake --also one of the popular choices. I think carrot cake is almost always my favorite.
The little girls especially liked this Peppermint Chocolate cake (it IS pink). The crumbs were pretty yummy though --that's real melted chocolate drizzled down the sides, with crushed starlight mints on the top.


Double Chocolate Godiva Cheesecake. Noone had to push that one.


The kids really liked this fancy Oreo Cake too. I think the Oreo cake and the Peppermint Chocolate were the prettiest on the table.




Anyway, we did it. The bride was beautiful, everyone was happy with their cake, and now I'm going to go put my feet up!

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Two catering whirls.

First off I have to apologize for the lighting in all of these pictures. I switched my camera back to daylight setting and then forgot to change it back when the light was low in these rooms, so nothing looks as exciting and sparkly.

I had two catering jobs this month, one right before Disneyland and one right after. That was a little tricky, but you know I'm always up for a party, even when I'm "the help" :) These pictures are actually from the most recent job, a dinner party for a friend's company. It was a small group, but still a fun job. I got to try some new stuff, and they still decided on a buffet display, so that was fun. The above picture was of the main dish, a chicken stuffed with a mixture of wild mushrooms, fresh thyme, and Parmesan and drizzled with a tomato-cream sauce. First time too for the sauce, and I liked it. Not health food though :). I didn't get a picture of the wild, brown and forbidden rice pilaf. I love that forbidden rice. I love the name of it. It's pretty too --kind of a purpley color when cooked.

Roasted root vegetables. I used three types of beets from my garden (!), and parsnips and carrots (garden again yay!) along with a few other kinds for color. I love all the caramelizing that goes on in the roasting oven.

Here's the centerpiece. There are candles in the middle of all the cranberries, but we hadn't lit them yet.

The cheesecake to end all cheesecakes. I went to cheesecake factory a few months ago, and wanted to order every kind because I didn't think I could ever replicate them at home. Well that's kind of been bugging me ever since, so for this job, four of the six dessert options I gave them were cheesecakes with names directly copied from the Cheesecake factory's menu. Yeah. They picked one:

• Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake: white sponge cake base soaked with raspberries, lemon cheesecake filling, loaded with raspberry ladyfingers, topped with a white chocolate lemon mousse and garnished with raspberry coulis.

I had to learn how to make a sponge cake, find a lemon filling recipe, figure out the whole ladyfingers thing again (I had made them a while ago for tiramisu), get hold of some marscapone --which I ended up "making", and make the mousse and coulis. Then figure out how long to bake it . Then there was the whole presentation issue: what would it look like at the end. It took me a whole day, not counting the test recipes I made, but I felt like Julia Child when it was done, so way worth it.


The first job was for my friend's husband's work party, and it was all appetizers and mini desserts. Not health food, but that's the point of a party in my book --party food! I had a tragedy on the way in the door though, and the mini pitas with basil pesto rotisserie chicken salad and roasted peppers ALL FELL OUT OF MY CAR when I opened the back. This was extra rotten, because it took me days and a trip to Salt Lake to find the dang mini pitas. Luckily I had some back up mini deli bread things, and we were able to whip up a few in the kitchen before serve time.

This was Artichoke two cheese fondue, with french bread chunks. I was so happy to find an artichoke in the store for the center. The fondue isn't super pretty without it.

Cranberry-Orange meatballs. Those are orange not lemon slices around the edge (told you the lighting for these was screwy).

Shrimp Cocktail with fresh mango chutney. I tried a different recipe for this party than the last wedding with the chutney, and I was really pleased with the flavor. I've been using it for a salad dressing mixed with a little tahini at home --which is also good. You can barely see the corner of the chutney jar in the picture (the shrimp platter was prettier).

Here are the "back-up" sandwiches, and also the Spinach-Italian sausage savory tartlets. We were so lucky to have late frosts this winter. All of my herb garden was still in full swing for this party, and the rosemary smell filled up the kitchen. If they ever make a rosemary perfume that smells like the real thing I'll buy it. As it is, whenever I'm working with it, I rub it all over my hands and arms. It makes me happy. Like catnip I guess.

This was a Praline-cranberry marscapone dip with sugar cookie dippers. A couple of them got a little brown, but they needed to be a little crisp to dip. I loved this dip. I do think it was better with the praline chunks crispier, so if you ever ask me for the recipe, leave those out until the last minute, and stir in just before serving.

Eggnog with fresh grated nutmeg --the fresh grating makes eggnog 2000% better. In fact I realized a couple of years ago I liked eggnog just BECAUSE of the nutmeg, and started putting it in milk, protein shakes, you name it. When it's fresh it's just yum. There are also some streuseled apple pastries in this picture. These were fast and good too. Anyway, the catering and vacations are done, and now it's on to Christmas! (Oh heaven help me :) )

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Falafel!

For last Friday's reception I had clients who had traveled quite a bit, and had even lived in Israel for a while, and their choices reflected their exotic background. Loved it. We did falafel and pitas with some neat sauces. We did some ranch for the non-adventurous types, but really, it didn't get used. What went quickly were the Tahini-lemon sauce, and the cucumber-mint sauce. I was kind of proud of our guests.
We also did some standard things like fruit, and chocolate dipped strawberries, and there were some sheet cakes too, but when we started serving the wedding cake, it was decimated! I've never seen a wedding cake get eaten like that. People raved about it. I guess I should get the baker's card or something. Raspberry filling. Yum (except I couldn't eat any --bummer).
The bride's mother rented a huge, fantastic tent who's stakes only tripped me once (a record for clutzy me). It was lovely. The bride, of course, was beautiful. Long dark hair, and tiny perfect dress and figure. The mother too, who is a friend of mine from Tae Bo you could tell had been hitting all of her workouts. :)
We also did some neat breads --Joshua rolls, asiago rolls, foccacia, parkerhouse, and whole wheat. Honey and Grains bakery really kicked in for me this time. It was a little more expensive than Provo bakery, but I got some nice feedback from guests on quality.


Here's a better shot of the falafel and its sauces. We ctarted out folding them for the guests, but then decided to leave them separate. These pitas weren't the best I'm afraid. I will use a different option next time.
OK, I had to get a shot of this. We had the tables set up on the west side of the tent to start with, and it got too hot, so we had all the strong guys move the tables for me to the east side of the tent. No problem for them it seemed.
These guys were also amazing when it came to loading and unloading my car. I swear my car was unloaded in five minutes once I arrived ---and you should have SEEN my car. Literally floor to ceiling packed. Also the first time I've had first rate help for cleanup and loading in a long time. Very classy.

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Catering from my tree house.

Finished August's first catering job last night. This was a super hard one for me in one sense --being on this next-to-no carb diet (just small servings of really healthy ones like oatmeal with no milk ) and it was all desserts. That being said, you know what happened. I held out really well until the day of where things got crazy and I didn't eat, and yes I ate HALF OF THE LOAF of the Paula Deen zucchini bread my neighbor sent me when I got home. Yeah. Free meal for the week and I didn't get to have it on a date with Jeff. We were trying for Monday. Back to my story.
These turned out killer. Pecan turtle chocolate brownies. I contracted out the base (because I would have eaten 5 pounds of batter if they were done in my house), then made homemade caramel to drizzle, toasted pecans and chopped them on there, and chopped big pieces of chocolate on there. People were going through the line and would go "oh my gosh those look dangerous" so I said "that means you'd better take two". So they did usually. I'd bought some extra just in case --we had plenty.

Lemon vanilla phyllo shells. I've got to defend myself --fillo and phyllo are correct, I like the old spelling better. I think it's more romantic.
See how the flower arrangement worked? It got a little wilty by the end, but not too bad. I was thinking it was going to be mostly neutrals, and they weren't using much blue, so I did all whites, silvers and greens. But it turned out they had a lot of blue. I wish I'd asked again about plans at the last minute ---I had access to a lot of blue. Oh well. I think it was OK. We had a few greenery sprigs to poke into my table to tie it in.

Mini berry pavlovas with cream and chocolate sauce. That was my other screw-up in the car on the way home. The client took a jar of chocolate sauce, but we had another quart jar that wasn't used up, and well, it was chocolate and cream and sugar and sweetened condensed milk.....



THIS was our kitchen for the night. We were in a park-like historical apple orchard with a small historical landmark cabin which I don't think was open at all. This pine was taller by far than anything around and had a big tent-like area underneath that was pretty hidden from guests.


Here's the opening and one of my helper girls for the night. There was also a squirrel living in the tree that kept chittering at us periodically, and at one point I think dropped a pine cone on my head. That, or the tree was mad. I had to use vaseline to get the pine sap out of my hair when I went home, but really it was pretty funny.

Here's our phyllo and brownie station.


Here's the pavlova station. The girls were great workers, but there was also a lady there named Debbie who was AMAZING. I was so grateful for her. She was also the only one who stuck around and helped me pack up at the end. I hope she gets free movie tickets or something from the family. I would have paid her about a hundred dollars if she were one of my girls. Seriously.
Thought you'd like to see some of the other decor. This bridge is over a little creek that ran right through the back of our treehouse.
String quartet.
Blue and white. See the artichoke finials? I brought almost their twins for my table. That was cool. And lucky.

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