It's Just a Tiny Difference

Other caterers...

Graze Catering...

One of the many reasons you should get married in Walla Walla.  The valley from the windmill farm near Seven Hills Vineyard.

Cheers (we do things right, we make honest food, we like to cook for you)

Tempus Cellars

Joe and Molly opened a tasting room for their brand new tasting room, Tempus Cellars (located near the airport).  Now my guess is they named it "tempus" because it has Latin meaning referring to time.  Which leads me further to guess for the consumer this implies "it takes time to make great wine" kind of a thing.

So when Joe asked about food for a tasting room opening, it seemed more than fitting to slow roast a whole pig in our brand new upgraded pig box.  Because, well, a pig takes a long time to cook. 

Here are some photos.  It was pretty dog gone spanking good. 

The pig box, after a few hours, pig inside resting peacefully.  The grills swing open to allow adding coals.

Asparagus grilling for the buffet table.  No it's not local yet.  But the pig is, we got it from our friends at Blue Valley Meats.

The finished pig, being messily butchered.  The cracklings were fantastic.

The ever so simple buffet, grilled veggies, coleslaw, bread and butter, and pig... lots and lots of pig... which got all eaten up.

Cheers

Longshadows and the Oregon Wine Brotherhood

Last week we went to Longshadow Winery and did a buffet dinner for a group of wine tourists... the Oregon Wine Brotherhood.  Which sounds like a fairly serious group... we were expecting archaic ritual, wine/blood oaths, codes of silence, omerta.  And nothing of the sort happened.  They were a rather fun bunch of folks, lots of wine, good food, and hearty cheer made the evening super pleasant.

Paul Gregutt wine writer gave a talk on the terrior of Walla Walla wines and the wines of Longshadows and Forgeron.  Giles and his wife Marie led tastings for their respective wineries, Longshadows and Forgeron.  And we served the food.  Which is the part we do best.

They had some appetizers in the barrel room, and did some tasting.  See the mushrooms.  Those are our Spanish marinated mushrooms.  They are so yummy.  I could eat them all day long.

Here is a new york strip loin roast.  This picture kind of stinks.  The roast was cooked to the most perfect medium/medium rare.  Tender beyond belief.  And the deep rich brown sauce is bordelaise... a red wine and veal stock reduction.  So good with the big red wines.

Roast cauliflowers, sweet peppers, carrots, and parsnips.  Simple and good.  We also served whole filets of slow roasted salmon and aioli, yukon gold mashed potatoes, a simple green salad, and sauteed asparagus garlic and peppers. 

All in all, it was a pretty nice evening.  The next night we cooked for the same group at Dunham Cellars.  That was pretty tasty too.

Cheers