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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Two-fer: Liz and Luke's Wedding, Kim's Mom's 50th Birthday






Team Graze Catering was fully engaged Saturday. A sold out Farmer's Market was followed by a wedding at Carnegie Art Center and a dinner at Watermill Winery.

Liz and Luke, New Yorker's born Walla Walla, tied the knot at Pioneer Park and headed to Carnegie (yes, built with funds from the New Yorker Andrew Carnegie Fund) for the reception. Carnegie is absolutely perfect for groups of around fifty guests. The art is always interesting, the cost reasonable, and the building offers great atmosphere.

Kim threw a party for her mom's 50th birthday at Watermill's tasting room. Which happens to be just about the perfect spot for thirty or so guests.
For both we did a cocktail hour and then simple and tasty buffets. Both menus were very similar so I will just write one and call it the Kim and Liz menu:
- Greens, spinach, orange wedges, red onion, cucumber, toasted almonds, orange vinaigrette
- Israeli cous cous moroccan style, dried currants, figs, and peaches, toasted almonds, parsley, extra virgin olive oil
- Blanched green beans, olive tapenade, feta, and garlic chips
- Chicken roulades, stuffed with dried cherries, shallots, herbs, and chicken, poached and served cold with cherry chutney
- Slow roast salmon with aioli, lemon, olive oil, and salt (so simple, so perfect)
- Slow roast beef tenderloin, artisan blue cheese, piquillo peppers
- Potato tortilla and brava sauce
New Favorite Things:
  • Spanish Tortilla (potato egg cake) with Brava Sauce - olive oil poached sliced potatoes are layered with onion repeatedly in a cast iron pan, browned on the stovetop, then mixed with egg and baked to form a firm, layered potato cake. The piquant brava sauce is the perfect compliment. Incredible re-heated as we did for this group or room temperature.

  • Slow Roast Beef Tenderloin - oven baked, no searing, low 300 heat, resting on herbs, creates an almost perfectly uniform medium or medium rare interior (look mom - no more quarter inch gray outer layer!).
  • Crab Cakes and Cilantro Lime Mayo - do I need to say more?
  • Being the candle for a giant creme brulee cake... Kim's mom blew out the blowtorch gracefully. (Kim if you have a picture of this, please send it)

Cheers

1 comment:

Jamie said...

Hey, I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier... I have a bunch of photos from that night. Too many to post here... I'll have to send them via e-mail or an online photo album. What a great night! I think my camera batteries ran out- of course just my luck- right as you brought out the blow torch... but I have some photos of her eating her creme brulee. I'll ask Kim if her family happened to catch that shot. How creative.=)