Tastebuds: A Taste Catering Blog

Creating a Successful Holiday Dinner

These Holiday entertaining tips are from my segment with Lisa Quinn on ABC's View From the Bay. 

Organization, this is the time of year for list making.

Create your holiday menu.

• Create your shopping list in advance at least one week in advance
• Look at the menu and decide what items can be prepared ahead of time
• Create a schedule of when to prepare each menu item
• If guests have asked to bring something let them know what to bring. It is essential to let them know what you are preparing so that you don't have overlapping menu items

 

The day before your dinner set the table.

One of the biggest holiday dilemmas is space: especially if you have decorated and have a tree in your house

• At the very least you may have to move some furniture around
• Maybe you will need to move some furniture out of the room such as a ottoman or a chair to open up some space

Think outside the "room".

• Do you have a spare bedroom? Possibly this could be emptied for the day and a table set-up for dinner
• It's a good way to clean a room too. Nothing like having guests over to clean out corners

Perhaps a sit down dinner is not the way to go.

• You can always set up a buffet
• Just make sure everything is easy to eat and does not need a knife if guests don't have a place to sit

Thanks to the following Bay Area rental companies for their help:  Hartmann Studios, Classic Party Rentals, Blue Water and Wine Country Party & Events.

Homemade Hostess Gifts

Many people have asked where to find the hostess gift items that I discussed in my ABC's View From the Bay Segment on creating Homemade Hostess Gifts.  Many of the ideas that centered around fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, cheeses and herbs can be found at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market or at many of the other fine Farmer's Markets that have cropped up around the Bay Area.  Specifically, the wonderful peaches used in our Peach Chutney came from Blossom Bluff Orchards, the blackberries used in our Blackberry Syrup came from Yerena Farms, the Tamari Almonds from Lagier Ranches, the Mt Tam Cheese from Cowgirl Creamery and the assortment of fresh organic herbs from the Kingdom of Herbs.  You can find recipes for our wonderful Peach Chutney and Blackberry Syrup on the View From the Bay Hostess Gifts segment.  As a tasty alternative to our Peach Chutney, you might try June Taylor's lovely Quince Paste.  It is fabulous with the Mt. Tam!

In our business, presentation makes all the difference.  The same is true for gifts.  Often what makes a gift special is the container in which it comes.    With a little hunting, you can find unique, fun and inexpensive containers everywhere.  The under $5.00 bamboo box I used came from Dandelion on Portrero Ave. in San Francisco.  Dandelion is one  of my favorite places to find unusual,fun and rich looking (yet inexpensive) containers to really finish a gift, giving it that special feeling.  Also wonderful is The Gardener at the Ferry Building where I found the the great baskets used on the VFTB segment.

The main thing to remember when considering a host or hostess gift is that it need not be expensive but it will be more memorable if you put some of yourself into it.

So You Think You're a Foodie...

A few days ago, my wife received as a gift a game called "Celebrity Chef." Sunday is game night with our friends (who are mostly chefs and their significant others) and this game was PERFECT! Fueled by Prosecco and a great dinner at Flour and Water, we headed back to their house.  After about 15 frustrating minutes of reading the direction we were still clueless as to how to play the game, so we decided to just "wing it!"  We split up the teams, making sure that all of the chefs were not on the same team and began.  Surprisingly we got A LOT of questions wrong! Even a few of the well seasoned chefs (I am withholding their names to protect their reputations :). For example, one of the questions was: 

Is lemongrass

A: A root,

B: An Herb, or

C: A grass.

Now I don't know how many of you have ever played Trivial Pursuit, If you have, you know that it is all about the strategy and not about the questions. You can win Trivial Pursuit with minimal knowledge of the questions being asked. I tried to apply this strategy to "Celebrity Chef." Not knowing the answer to the above question, I reasoned that lemongrass could not be a grass because that answer is too obvious...and the obvious answer is NEVER the right one! I even managed to convince my team of Chefs that I was correct. Sadly...I was wrong, lemongrass is in fact a grass! Who knew! probably everyone but me. In the end, my team lost. The team that won was comprised of mostly non-chefs...but we all had a great time and I dare say, we may have learned something too! So, the next time you are getting together with a group of friends on a Sunday night and have nothing to do, pick up this game...but I recommend some Prosecco first!

 

Sunday Supper at MeMe's

I like to entertain which is a good thing given the business that I'm in.  In particular, I love Sunday Suppers at our house.  It's a nice time for me to touch base with my family and friends on a regular basis and it gives me a chance to put into practice my combined passion for great food and convivial entertaining.  I enjoy the entire process including planning the menu, preparing the table, cooking and chatting with guests both in the kitchen and at the table.

Often, planning starts as a delicious sounding recipe idea found in a new cookbook or a table setting seen in a magazine.  Sometimes it's a main course or dessert or hors d'oeuvre.  Sometimes it's a favorite vegetable just coming into season.  Whatever catches my attention, I build from there piece by piece.  If I started with a main course I will add complimentary side dishes and dessert.  If the main course is complicated and time consuming to produce I will usually select a simple dessert such as brownie ice cream sundae.  If dessert is the center of interest, I may just grill something for the main course  While I sometimes have a new hors d'oeuvre to try I usually like to keep it simple with a selection of cheeses, olives and interesting flat breads.  I like to arrange the flowers and set the table the night before as inspiration for the day to come and so that I can spend Sunday focused on the food.

On Saturday morning I will read through all of the recipes that I plan to use several times and then put together my shopping list.  Included in my shopping list will be ingredients, flowers, wine, non-alcoholic drinks and any special touches that I have planned.

On a recent Sunday I served a simple meal which included:  fresh cracked dungeness crab, roasted artichokes, warm sourdough bread, and a delicious Tart Tatin with ice cream