Great Passover Sweet Treats- Part 1
These chocolate meringue “S” ‘s are a classic European petits fours, and perfect for Passover.
read moreA Lovely Early Springtime Menu to Celebrate a Milestone Birthday
I was privileged, earlier this week, to cater a party celebrating the 90th birthday of a beautiful lady. Her friends (and their community of caretakers) and family dropped by throughout the afternoon to share and sing “Happy Birthday” to her- over and over again. You see, the birthday girl has a touch of Alzheimer’s, but she greatly enjoyed the festivities nevertheless, repeatedly telling everyone how much she loved them. Her daughters asked that the food be classic American (no fusion, spicy, exotic ethnic flavors) given the median age of the group. I might add, that I believe people especially appreciate the tried and true classics in uncertain times, so I heartily agreed. The menu also reflected the early arrival of spring which we’re in the middle of here in L.A. On the menu : Demi-tasse sized servings of Fresh Spring Pea Soup (a lovely shade of green, perfect for a spring afternoon) garnished with Creme Fraiche and Mint Pesto. (Yes! You can serve soup at an hors d’oeuvre party. And a special thanks to the Cabazon Crate and Barrel Outlet Center for rushing these espresso cups out to me). BTW, you can find a recipe for the Pea Soup at my L.A. Examiner Party Planning column). Chive Scented Gougeres (classic cheese puffs made with the same Pâte á Choux dough as Profiteroles– you remember those from our last post, right?- just add 1 C. of grated Gruyere cheese and a couple T. of snipped chives to the batter). Mini Shiitake Mushroom and Fontina Cheese Paninis Potato Pancakes with Smoked Salmon garnished with Sour Cream and Chives Crab Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce garnished with little sprigs of a beautiful curly Red Mustard I picked up from Coleman Family Farm at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market Little Sliders of Shredded Braised Short Ribs with Horse Radish Cream And for dessert: Mini Lemon Curd Tarts Almond Apricot Bars Triple Fudge Brownies Photo Courtesy of Patti Londre at www.WorththeWhisk.com oh- and Birthday cake, of course, decorated with anthuriums, the birthday girl’s favorite flower, provided by Suzi Babbin Finer-birthday girl’s cousin, and decorator at Hansen’s Cakes. Isn’t it lovely? I sure hope I’m as lucky as this when I’m 90. Bon Appetit, Gisele Oh- and btw, please visit my other blog , too. www.painperdublog.com P.S. My client sent this note a couple of weeks after the event. Wanted to share it with you. Hi Gisele, “Thanks to you and your top-notch team for making Mom’s birthday a glorious occasion. The food was superb, and the service pleasant and thoughtful. We so appreciate your accommodating the special needs of nonogenerian and centenarian guests! With much appreciation of a beautiful party.” All best, Diane Harris...
read moreKing’s Day, King Cakes and the Beginning of Carnival Season
King’s day- the Feast of the Epiphany- marks the beginning of Carnival season when King Cakes grace every table in New Orleans.
read moreA Post-Thanksgiving Brunch- with Cheese Blintzes on the Menu
For several years now, I’ve been privileged to cater a post-Thanksgiving brunch for one of my clients on the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving. It’s a great way to kick back with friends, and watch all those college football games, after the big T-day holiday.
read more“Traditional” Thankgiving?
November is here, and my thoughts are turning toward Thanksgiving dinner. We all have our own favorite foods, you know -the ones that show up year after year, and that we wouldn’t think of replacing with a new dish. And we sometimes have a tendency to think everyone serves those foods. The truth of the matter is, though, that America is a land of immigrants, and each successive group of immigrants has brought its own favorite foods to the Thanksgiving table. If, like me, your roots are Southern, oysters probably show up in some way on your table, candied yams and macaroni and cheese are favored over mashed potatoes, and you probably prefer pecan pie to pumpkin. Italians have included pasta-maybe a lasagna, the Chinese use rice, often making a turkey stuffing with it, and a Mexican American turkey might include a mole to sauce it. Thanksgiving feasts have been multi-cultural since the very beginning. As far as that first Thanksgiving dinner goes, it’s widely believed that since lobster was so available off the coast of Massachusetts in those early days, that it surely must have been served (hey -that would work for me). Potatoes were unavailable in those days, so no mashed potatoes. It’s unlikely that cranberry sauce was served, as sugar was an extremely expensive item. Pumpkin may have been a part of the meal, but not as a pie (they had no flour or ovens yet), nor were apples present in Plymouth at the time. What are some of your special “ traditional” Thanksgiving dishes? I’d love to hear about them, and invite you to leave a comment. In return, I’m giving you a link to a recipe at Food and Wine that has, no doubt, become a “tradition” in many Chinese American families. Asian Roasted Turkey with Sticky Rice Stuffing Bon Appetit! Gisele...
read moreAn Autumn Tea Party Offers Great Value
It’s a gloomy, cool day here in Los Angeles, and even though I’m not a regular tea drinker, my thoughts often turn to a cup of tea on days like this. So I spent some time writing an article about tea parties. I often associate tea parties with spring time, and indeed, that is a lovely time for a tea party. But each season offers its own special appeal, and autumn is a lovely time to break out your fine china and linens, play some soothing chamber music in the background, and take advantage of the harvest for tea treats. A tea party is a cost effective way to entertain, and because tea parties are so associated with refined elegance and charm, you, the hostess or host will come out smelling like a rose. They are also versatile and can be expanded into a brunch or luncheon by including a selection of fruit and cheese, salads, or a poached salmon for a more substantial meal. For autumn tea treats I would go with mushrooms, pumpkins, apples, pears and figs, all available in abundance at the local farmer’s markets now. I would also include cheeses, I like to pair smoked and blue cheeses with autumn produce for dainty little bites- a Fig or Pear and Gorgonzola Tea Sandwich on walnut bread, a Smoked Mozzarella and Wild Mushroom Tart, Mini Pumpkin Muffins with Chunky Apple Butter, Smoked Turkey on Rosemary Biscuits with Cranberry Chutney. BTW, an after Thanksgiving tea party is a perfect choice for an overworked hostess wanting to recharge her batteries and reconnect with close family and friends. I have always loved catering tea parties, and I think I do a pretty good job at it, too. A long time client of mine who has thrown several tea parties over the years, wrote this lovely review for me after one of hers. “Saw someone who attended our party today, and she said the food was better at our house than her Easter brunch at the Peninsula Hotel. Another unsolicited compliment (you’re good.)!” -Best Regards, Nan...
read moreAn Autumn Wedding Feast to Celebrate Your Marriage
Incorporate the rich colors, scents, spices and flavors of autumn to your wedding feast as metaphors to remind you of your vows and love for each other as you encounter those objects throughout your lives together.
read moreA Trip to a Farm Inspires the Yom Kippur Honey Meal
A few weeks back I joined the wonderful Bay Area Baker’s Dozen (btw,I was privileged to write a glossary entry several years back for The Baker’s Dozen Cookbook on their annual summer field trip. This year we visited the Marshall Honey Farm in American Canyon, and I got to learn about those wonderfully industrious creatures- bees. I really didn’t know much about them- other than like everyone of course, that they have been mysteriously disappearing. That’s a problem since they pollinate our food plants, hence we would have a hard time surviving without them. It turns out we’re not dependent on them only for our plant food, but since our animals are dependent on them for their plant food, our supply of meat and dairy would also be disrupted if bees weren’t out there doing their work. That’s the food chain. Thankfully, they’ve slowly been showing up again. But enough about that. What really haunted me about the visit, was the soooo simple, yet elegant meal laid out for us at the end of the tour. It consisted of a couple of big wedges of blue cheese drizzled with honey and served with wafer thin crackers provided by Helene Marshall, co-owner of the farm along with her husband, Spencer. I contributed a peach upside down cake made with Regier Farms peaches (available at the Santa Monica and several other SoCal Farmer’s Markets), and a bit of honey in the batter, and a honey sabayon sauce to accompany it. My friend Betty added a big plate of farm fresh strawberries. There was also a fabulous lavender honey ice cream-with bits of lavender buds in it- served on home made waffle cones from Fairfax Scoop, a little organic ice cream shop in Fairfax in Marin County. No website, but there are tons of great online reviews. So if you’re lucky enough to be up there, drop in and have a cone. I’ve come to think of it as “the honey meal”. Then it struck me at a certain point in my dreaming- wouldn’t this be a great meal to break the fast on Yom Kippur. Add a honey brined smoked turkey breast, along with a simple green salad- and voila! Bone and butterfly a turkey breast, brine it for a day or two in a salt and honey wet brine, sprinkle it with herbs (I would add a tiny bit of lavender along with rosemary and thyme to complement the honey), roll and tie it, then either slow smoke and or roast it. Bon Appetit!...
read moreA Perfect Menu for an Outdoor Summer Wedding
A room temperature menu of sun-kissed foods is perfect for a wedding in the heat of summer.
read moreUpdate on the Caterer’s Garden
Well, the big day is approaching. For those of you in L.A. this weekend, I hope that you will visit the completed Caterer’s Garden at the L.A. Garden Show. I, unfortunately, will not be there, as I am in NOLA exploring the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. I will be reporting back at my Pain Perdu blog, which is newly located right here at Typepad, so please check in with me. In the meantime, here are some updated pics of Pauls’ garden project. Laissez Le Bontemps Roulez !...
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