It's that time of year again. Time to start working again (albeit very casually until the weddings hit). We did two small things this week, a hospital luncheon and a drop off dinner for the school district, and have a couple of mid-sized buffets next week. Below is the note from our new friends at the Walla Walla School District.

"Tracy,

I want to thank you and GRAZE for a delicious meal last night. Everything was perfect - presentation, taste, clean up. We will certainly use GRAZE again for future events. - Betsy, WW Public Schools"

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The wife and five year old boy are in Portland this weekend visiting friends and family. It got me thinking about our Fall trip to Portland and the beautiful farmer's market dinners we cooked up at K&L's house. I can hardly wait till May for the Walla Walla Farmer's Market to start back up.

A saute of heirloom cherry tomatoes, fresh cayenne peppers, garlic, and basil. That weekend was my first experience with a padron pepper, a small mild green Spanish pepper. We got an order at Lovely Hula Hands, quick fried with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and a few cherry tomatoes. I was smitten... we all were. Found the grower at the farmers market but they were all sold out (they did have fresh coco beans though, and that my friends was a very good thing, which made a great accompaniement to the fish, this rambling has got to stop)

An about to be roasted wild mushroom and potato gratin, no cream, chicken stock, butter, herbs, covered for the first roasting and uncovered for a bit of caramelizing. Yummy.

Cheers

Palmares

Palmares is a cycling term meaning a list of great accomplishments. Our version of palmares. A note from Erika and Steve Lessard regarding their wedding reception.

"A belated but very sincere thank you for doing the great food for our wedding. You guys did a terrific job, and it was also just a pleasure to get to know you. You're a great guy (now I am blushing).

We'll be seeing you around I know - but till then, best of everything! Thanks again so much"

The Lessards

Cheers

Palmares

Palmares is a cycling term meaning a list of great accomplishments. Our version of palmares. A thank you from Janet regarding their wedding at Three Rivers Winery.

"John,

We want to thank you for catering our wedding on October 18th. We had a great time. Thanks to your production. You set a beautiful classy table. The food was luscious, everyone commented on how much they loved the meal. It was the perfect day!

Larnie and Janet"

Cheers

Saffron's Belated Christmas Party

How awful does this sound? Throw your restaurant's Christmas Party and then jump on a plane to Italy for two weeks of quiet gastronomic excess. (I would assume pretty great if you are not hung over.) Chris and Island asked us to come back and do their party again and we were honored to do so.

Chef Chris Ainsworth has a tattoo of a pig sectioned into its primal cuts (or does he just want to get that tattoo, I can't remember). The man likes porcine products. So I was really happy to bring our version of porchetta to the restaurant's Christmas Party. It truly is one of my favorite things to make. And the day he busts out the version he plans to make I will be the first customer on the reservation list.

Menu:
crostini, white bean arrabiatta, seared shrimp
tapenade, feta, cucumbers, ciabatta
spanish tortilla and brava sauce

whole leaf ceasar salad and garlicky croutons
roasted fingerling potatoes and aioli
butternut squash manicotti, spinach, roasted garlic bechamel
roasted acorn squash, pearl onions, cauliflower, brown butter and fried sage
thundering hooves pork, porchetta (herbed, garlic, caper, lemon zest stuffed pork shoulder)

New Favorite Things:

• I rarely get to make tapenade for parties. I have tried and tried (subtly) to get hosts to include it with appetizers and rarely is my suggestion taken. By now I have given up. And then Island calls and says make what you want John, and I love her for that, and then I get to make tapenade (a process I love) and I get to scrape the food processor with torn bread and bring the extra I made home, and eat giant spoonfuls slathered on ciabatta... and then I remember why I used to try so hard in the first place.
• The idea when our kids are old enough we will be spending two weeks in Italy.

Cheers

Palmares

Palmares is a cycling term for list of great accomplishments. Our version of palmares.

Recieved this note from Angela and Ryan regarding their wedding reception.

"John,

Our wedding day was spectacular thanks to you and your team! You were all seamless and the food amazing - our wedding guests are still raving about how wonderful it was. We cannot thank you enough for pulling together such a beautiful menu 15 days prior to the Big Day! Everything was fabulous from the food to the staff to the delivery!

Thank You!!! - Angela and Ryan"

Kind of makes my heart get all fluttery. Angela and Ryan's reception dinner had originally been planned with a another caterer, whom got all flaky. And then they found me. The good feelings are mutual.

Tonight is a wedding rehearsal dinner and tomorrow morning the wife and I fly to Sacramento for a good friend's wedding. (The kids are staying with Grandma and Grandpa!!! Whoopee, our first night away from offspring in almost five years.) Patrick happens to be a great chef, mentor, former boss, former roomate, my best man, and caterer. It will be a blast to see good friends again.

Cheers

Is Nothing Sacred

We were invited to Con Agra Foods to do a dinner for the production line employees. The boss wanted something special for the 90% Latino workforce so we agreed to do posole and a few other favorites. Then he made the mistake of posting the menu in the lunchroom a few days before. The employees were stoked, posole! Then they found out some white guy was making it.

At Con Agra every time I entered the building to get water or use their test kitchen oven I was met with stunned silence and disbelieving stares. Once the initial shock wore off the questions came "Who made the posole?... Who taught you to make the posole?... Do you have a Mexican Grandmother?" Me. Me. No.

I didn't let on that years of eating posole I have come to the conclusion mine is better than any Mexican Restaurant's I have had the pleasure to have. But definitely not better than Ruth Moya's Mother's version, a former 7th grade science student. That was the best posole ever.

Menu:
La Calanderia Chips, mild red salsa, spicy roasted tomatilla salsa
Warm La Calanderia corn tortillas
Corn on the cobb, butter, cojita cheese, chili flakes, lime
Tamales from Dora's Worm Ranch (non ww people, a bait shop - really, maybe best Mexican food in town)
Posole, cabbage, lime
Dessert: Ice cream, stewed nectarines, cinnamon

After the meal the boss asked around. Rate it 1 to 10. All responses 9 or 10, a few even said "best posole I have ever had". I was chatting with an employee later and he asked "Did you make all this?" Yep, but bought the tamales. And he gave me the best compliment I think possible. "It tastes like Mexico."

Cheers

Palmares

Palmares is a cycling term for a list of great accomplishments. Our version of Palmares.

The note from Kim after the party.

"John,

Thank you! I am so glad I found you and cannot wait to refer business your way. You've been so easy to work with and the food was a huge success.

Thank you,

Kim"

[Funny (but not so funny) Story: Kim was referred to me a number of months ago after a local chef agreed to do her party, then did not return her calls, or emails, then many month after agreeing to do the party, cancelled, by having the hostess tell her on the phone. Ouch.]

Cheers

Palmares

Palmares is a cycling term for a list of great accomplishments. Thought I would share two letters we recieved last week. Our version of palmares.

"Dear John, (From the gluten-free nacho dinner)

Thank you again for a wonderful catered rehearsal dinner in Pendleton. The groom declared the nachos the best he'd ever eaten! I, too, appreciate the fresh ingredients, complex and complimentary flavors and creative buffet combinations. We are especially grateful for your attention to detail in assuring a gluten-free meal.

It was a pleasure meeting and working with both you and Emma. Thanks again!

Best Wishes - Peggy Sigler"

"Hi John, (from the Hawaiian/Filipino wedding reception)

I want to thank you and your staff for the wonderful job you all did at the reception. We've heard many comments on how great the servers were and how delicious the food was.

Your staff was courteous and helful and very personable!... (and she talks about guest crushes on the staff)

And you John what can I say! From the get go you have gone over and above any expectations I may have had... (and then she gushes about me, really too embarrassing to post)

Please use us for references should you need me. Thank you again for the fabulous job you did and much success to your business.

Sincerely - Rosie Reynaud"

Cheers

Darin and Andy's Wedding

Thai Wedding - Check.

Spanish Wedding - Check.

Nacho Wedding - Check.

'Merican Wedding - Check.

French Laundry Wedding - Check.

Vegetarian Appetizer Wedding - Check.

Add Darin and Andy's Filipino/Hawaiian Wedding to the checklist. (stay tuned for August's Indian Wedding)

We were paid the highest compliment a Filipino wedding goer can pay "These lumpia are pretty good... for a white guy." (And the highest compliment possible from our server Anna "Wow John, these are hot-dig-a-liscious." Whitman students... inventing language daily.)

Stone Creek Manor was our venue for 150 guests (their first wedding production ever), as fine a site for a Walla Walla wedding in town. The grounds were immaculate and I believe owner Christine orchestrated the coolest July 4th/5th weather ever recorded in Walla Walla. (weather manipulation fees are very affordable at Stone Creek.)

For the cocktail hour we served four tasty appetizers. Darin's mother's lumpia recipe with a garlic chili vinegar, melon and pineapple skewers with a citrus mint dipping sauce, thai omelet rolls with soy lime dip, and shrimp skewers with cilantro cucumber coulis. One guest offered a server $20 if she could bring him more lumpia when they were all devoured. The fruit and citrus mint was so refreshing it was like a vodka cocktail on a stick. And after countless variations the shrimp has found a perfect partner with cucumber cilantro coulis.

Buffet Menu

• Amity's greens, veggies, chinese black bean vinaigrette
• Japanese noodle salad, spicy red peppers, carrots, green onions, cilantro, peanuts, mirin soy dressing
• Sticky rice
• Aloha coconut sweet potatoes
• Thundering Hooves kahlua pork
• Adobo chicken
• Dessert - Hidden Valley Bakery sweet biscuits, Klicker strawberries, ice cream, whipped cream

Darin swears the coconut sweet potatoes were the star of the show. (seriously Darin, sweet potatoes?)

"Hi John

Thank you so much for a fabulous catering experience!

Rosie"

Cheers

Watermill Wine Dinner

Hello John,

I heard nothing but raves about your dinner!! The lunches were unbelievable!! Thank you - it is so nice to just email and know that everything will be done and done well!

Thanks, Jacqui - Owner Blue Stocking Tours

I have a policy with my wife that seems to work pretty well. She asks if a pair of jeans looks too tight, or an outfit looks too funky, and I tell her the truth. Sometimes it hurts, but at least she knows I am being honest, and it cuts down on the number of outfits she tries on (by a couple). And she appreciates it, because she knows I am not blowing smoke just to get out the door. She does the same to me with food. In fact, she is so tough a begrudging "It's pretty good" is a home run in everyone else's book.

So in keeping with the honesty policy I have to tell you dinner Saturday night was ok. The appetizers were great. The soup was a bit too sweet and lacked something. The salad greens were fantastic but the side of porkbelly confit was overcooked and a bit of a mismatch. The lamb was mid-rare to medium, but underseasoned and a bit blah, the side veggies were pretty good. And the Patisserie dessert and local strawberries were out of this world (as always Matt!).

Menu:

- wonton crisp, lime shrimp salad, radish, avocado, dill
- crostini, white bean puree, pork confit
- baguette slice, brie, apple butter, fresh pear

• Walla Walla sweet onion soup, caramelized onion custard, thyme brown butter
• Welcome Table Farm's greens, dijon red wine vinaigrette, pork belly confit, balsamic marinated radishes
• Fehrenbacher Farm's leg of lamb, creamy polenta, local english peas, carrots, and swiss chard
• Patisserie's chocolate vanilla almond mousse cake with Milton's strawberries
  

Cheers