Since 2002, thoughts of catering float in and out of my
brain. Instead of continuing to imagine what it would be like to cater an
event, I decided it’s time to actually do it. Wishing something is great but
nothing really happens until you take some action, so I had an opportunity to
get my chops wet and cater pal @halfacat’s book club meeting for 9 people at
his house. Seven people showed, so it was a nice turnout.
The opportunity to cater this event is also made possible by
Viva Paper Towels who is sponsoring this post.
The folks at the book club thought it was cool that their meeting was
sponsored by a major corporation. This is one of the beauties of being friends
with a food blogger. For some fun,
fork-free recipes including videos and snappy entertaining ideas, check out the
VIVA® Diva Café.
The menu theme
I based the menu around the theme of the book which was Bonk
by Mary Roach. It’s a fascinating book about the Science of Sex. I enjoyed how Roach took not only a matter-of-fact
take but she added a whole lot of humor and ease. To me, the tone was very much
like if Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love were to write the book.
For the attendees of the book club, I also had to consider
vegan and food allergies to dairy and eggs. I also made mostly finger foods to
add some sensual flair. The menu contained 4 appetizer type dishes and one
dessert:
Turkey and shiitake mushroom meatballs with panko, sautéed garlic
and onion in an organic marinara sauce. I used no egg or dairy in the
meatballs.
onion, olive oil, Dave’s Honey Habanero mustard, and a secret ingredient. Here's the recipe. On half the mushrooms, I topped
with parmesan cheese, and the other half I left the cheese out to make it
vegan.
Edamame and Sweet Pepperdew hummus with sesame pita chips.
A bread plate with Rosemary garlic bread, St. Andre’s
cheese, prosciutto, fig spread, red grapes, ground pistachios, and some Dave’s Honey
Habanero mustard. I love to top cheese with fig spread, and ground pistachios.
Scharffen Berger dark chocolate dipped organic raspberries
and blackberries. I thought it would be decadent to eat fruit dipped chocolate
with the fingers couple with the red wine.
I will follow up this post with the recipes for the
meatballs, mushroom caps, and hummus. All the noshy food by the way was pretty simple
to make.
Everyone brought some wine, and Roger had this very sexy decanter
which is believe it or not $10 at IKEA. Yes, cool holiday gift idea, I’m
thinking.
The book club was so much fun! We drank red wine, noshed on
tasty sexy food, and discussed the book along with everything from Cougars to
Roger’s how-to tips to communicate to a guy about what you want in bed, very
enlightening to get the male point of view. Plus, Roger is such a sweet and
modern guy, so I find his take very refreshing.
The best part of book
club
Everyone enjoyed the food which was a huge relief for me.
Now that I catered my first event, I can say that I really enjoyed coming up with the menu, that by far was the best part
for me as I got to really use my creativity. I didn’t enjoy so much all the
shopping, prep, and clean up. The jury is still out on whether I will get into
catering or not. Perhaps, I will do it just for small parties because I do like
the 10 and under number.
Overall, the best part of the book club was all the new
friends I made. Being a Phoenix resident now for 2 months, I have to say that I’ve
met so many wonderful and friendly people. Moving here was one of the best
things I have ever done.
For next month, the book we’re reading is Kitchen
Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Now, that book will be a fun read for us
noshers!