Making it up as I go along!

The wedding I catered on the weekend was very special in so many ways. I have known the groom and his family for over 10 years now and while I only met the bride a few years ago, during the planning of this wedding she has gained a very special place in my heart.

As I do these weddings I love to make up an appetizer or special item that I haven't used for any other event. One time it was wontons filled with cranberry and brie, the previous week it was heart shaped peppermint patties. For this wedding it turned out to be something that the bride doesn't even like, but turned out to be a big hit even with her.

I make spanakopita rolls all the time, but I experimented this time mixing the spinach and feta with cream cheese, sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil and oregano from my herb garden. I rolled it up in phyllo and froze them. For a planning meeting I baked a roll and took some to the bride and her maid of honour only to find that the bride didn't like cooked spinach. I mean I could still use them, but it couldn't be the signature dish. Well, she tried them and ended up taking the rest of the roll with her, raving about them as she went out the door. With 12 rolls which cut into 10 slices each, I had my signature appie.

I was going to make some mini samosas as well but didn't get them done in time. So, I hunted for ideas and saw something where tortellini was cooked, cooled, marinated in lemon and skewered with baby spinach. I had an assistant take the tortellini, marinate it in a balsamic vineagrette, skewer it with basil wrapped tomatoes and stick each into a mini bococcini ball which was cut flat on one side so it would stand up. These I called Caprese salad on a stick. They were a big hit as well and it was a good thing I brought the stuff for this along because we had over 225 people show up for the after ceremony tea!

What I loved about this was that a few friends said (even though they hadn't had either appie before) that they recognized my style in these two dishes and loved what I had done with them.

For me, the piece de resistance was the fruit plate. I use that term very loosely because the whole point of it was that there was no plate. I had my staff cut up all the fruit in slices and chunks, wash the variety of berries and just put them in bowls and on plates. We then put plastic wrap on the table, covered the edges in a large loose circle with leaf lettuce and laid the fruit down with the melon and pineapple slices in rows and the berries and kiwi scattered all over. We then set tongs down for people to grab what they wanted. It actually slowed the line up because people were looking at it and taking pictures (including my hubby which is why I have one!).
This is what I live for. Creating or adapting recipes that bring out my imagination and love for food and people.

I guess that is why I never wanted to work in a restaurant making the same things over and over. I would rather just make it up as I go along.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Right now Peppermint Patty is my least favourite Peanuts character. It's nothing personal, but it is what it is.

Have you ever made something so often that you get to a point you never want to see, smell or taste it again?

I am gearing up for wedding season and am trying to get things out of the way that can be done ahead of time. One of my couples decided they wanted peppermint patties as part of their reception because it brought back memories of where they met (and where I met them as well). I determined that I could make the centres ahead of time and freeze them. Then all I have to do is dip them in chocolate the week of the wedding.

Well, I made a quadruple batch knowing I would have some leftovers but that is good in case some don't look nice or I decide I need them for another use. I figured I would do 130 for the wedding and if I could squeeze out 3 dozen more that would be great. Well, I worked for a couple of hours on them the first night and got 160 (about what I wanted) and still had some peppermint "dough" leftover. I put in the fridge and two days later I decided I would use it up. I kept making them and making them and ended up with 322 centres in my freezer! Now peppermint is a very acute scent. It can be pleasant, unless you are inhaling it for long periods of time. It permeated into my nostrils and even 3 days later I am still smelling it! Now I am not complaining, because I love my work, but I am making lots of notes on how many a batch actually does! At least I have a few weeks before I go on to the second phase to desensitize myself from the taste and smell of peppermint. Oh, and dear bride, if you are reading this, I love you to bits and would do it again in a heartbeat for you!

This brings me back to a memory of my maternal Grandmother. She would come stay with us during summers when I was growing up. One of my jobs in the summer to earn more allowance (so I could spend more time at the pool!) was to pick raspberries from the bushes in our back yard. I would do them in the early morning or evening so that it wasn't so hot. But my Grandmother was a diabetic and also happened to love raspberries. She ate them morning, noon and night and as such wanted me to pick them morning, noon and night! She was always asking if I could go get her a fresh bowl full even though there were tons in the fridge already waiting to be eaten, frozen or turned into jam. I would go, but after three long summers of this it got pretty tiring.

My friends used to call me "Raspberry" because I constantly smelled like them and my hands were often dyed red from the juice. For about 20 years I would get sick at the sight and smell of them and never wanted to ever be in contact with them again. But it finally wore off and I do eat and cook with them, in moderation. And when I do, I can now look back fondly at those days I had with my Grandmother and realize it really wasn't a high price to pay to make her happy....and I got paid for it too!

Isn't that the same in life? That we can get too much of a good thing and have to leave it aside for awhile. I got thinking of Susan Boyle, the Scottish singer who wowed the world with her beautiful voice that didn't fit the package it was wrapped in on "Britain's Got Talent". Within days she was all over the internet, TV, radio, papers, you name it. What is sad about this is that by the time she gets to the next round of the show two things may happen - people will be tired of the story and/or she will have been made over and the magic will be gone. I hope that they give her the space she needs to be herself and the rest of the world a chance to desensitize from the hype so her next performance will be as magical and enlightening as the first!

When life gives you lemons...make lemon cake!

Have you ever had one of those days where you just can't seem to get anywhere? Well, I have been having one of those weeks. I had left some ground beef in the fridge to make lasagna for yesterday and we ended up eating out with Dad for both lunch and dinner so I never got it made. I went to make it today, too late for serving tonight but I wanted to use the beef up and I realized I miscalculated the days and it was bad. 2 pounds of extra lean organic beef wasted.

I pulled a pound of unsalted butter out to do some baking, only to find it had gone moldy....in the fridge!

Many other little goof ups during the week, some food related, some not, and I was ready to pack it in. But I had one of my summer brides coming over and I still hadn't tried out a new recipe for lemon cake to see if it would be suitable for her wedding cake.

Now I have a cardinal rule - don't bake if your mind isn't on it and your heart isn't in it because it won't turn out and you will just feel worse! But I decided to ignore this rule and make the cake anyway - a fairly complicated recipe - with only two hours before the bride was due to arrive.

I started grating the lemon rind and caught my finger on the rasp. I then stabbed myself twice while separating the lemons into supremes (the sections without the thin skin on them). I finally got the lemons done and realized I hadn't got my butter out to soften (which is when I noticed it was moldy). Thankfully I had another pound and a microwave.

Well, after that point things turned around and the cake came out beautifully. The perfect flavour and texture for a wedding cake. It was cooled just as the bride came in and we had a piece each. She loved it! And I started having a much better day from there on.

So today food was a life lesson for me. Next time I am having a rough day, I will head to the fridge for some lemons and make a cake.....or, maybe even some lemonade!

Now I can't share today's recipe because it is copyrighted, but it is from Warren Brown's book, Cake Love - an excellent cookbook from a baker extraordinaire!