Tips and Tricks to Throwing a Great New Years Eve Party at Home
December 28th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
On Tuesday, I did an interview for CKNW’s “The Bill Good Show.” The topic of conversation was “Ring in the New Year…The Right Way”- the tips and tricks to throwing a great New Years Eve Party at Home. The interview is a bit long – you can listen here,
Here are the essential tips on throwing a fabulous New Year’s Eve Party at home.
Start with the givens.
The things that are fixed – and work backwards from there. The size of your space for instance will dictate your guest count and ultimately the style of party. If you’re in a tiny place think about removing and temporarily storing items in order to add more seating. Consider your budget as well – how much do you want to spend on this shindig?
Wrap the party around a theme.
Decide on a general theme for your party – your theme will give your party cohesion and make the rest of the decision-making process that much easier. A 50’s style “Rat Pack” theme will suggest appropriate cocktails, food and lighting choices to match. Another theme might be a favorite place you’ve traveled to. Perhaps you were in Sicily with some friends and want to re-create the magic. Think Negronis, Pizza Margherita and Cannoli for dessert.
Who is Coming?
Are you inviting a group of intimate friends? Or Is it an open invitation to family, co-workers and neighbors to drop-in? Whatever your choice, it’s a good idea to get an accurate guest count. This is always a tough one as we humans are moody creatures saying “yes” and then feeling “no” on party day. If you’ve over bought booze, it’ll keep or can be returned (heaven forbid!), but you may not want to eat cheese dip into the new year. People often get more than one offer for New Year’s Eve parties, and will try to make it to a few, so always allow for a few no-shows or for those that may just drop in for an hour or so.
How much help do you need?
If unasked, most guests will bring a bottle of wine, but think about being specific. Use your theme as a guide to request more specific items. If your guest count is in the “teens” consider renting plates and glassware – it’s a relative bargain for the ease of clean-up!
Serve the good stuff first.
If you’ve splurged on great champagne, serve it when guests arrive – they won’ taste it at midnight. For the midnight bubbly, serve a Prosecco, Cava or other favorite sparkling wine. Just have it chilled and ready to go and the glasses ready for the midnight cheer!
The next day.
You may even choose to forgo the traditional New Year’s Eve Party in favor of a celebration centered around a fabulous brunch on New Year’s Day. Lets face it, we’re all getting older, and making it till 12:00 PM can be a push. In any event, plan food for Jan. 1st. that can just be popped into the oven. I like a simple vegetable strata- easy and delicious. You’ll also have something to offer guests returning for vehicles if it was “that” kind of evening the night before!
So, whether your party is subdued or raucous, whether you’re dancing to Frank and Dino or just “watching the ball drop” with a clutch of close friends, here’s wishing you a wonderful New Year’s Eve celebration with lots of laughter and a joyous 2012!
The Joys of Falafel
November 26th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Years ago, I was what could best be described as a bad vegetarian. While I swore off meat, I didn’t exactly embrace vegetarianism. My diet was terrible- a mishmash of easy to eat convenience foods sorely lacking in essential nutrients that eventually drove me back to eating meat.
I think now, I was probably starving as I can’t remember eating anything that felt like a complete meal. I was however thin!
Many years later we went to a place called Cafe Gratitude, a vegan restaurant in Berkley Calif, and the food was an eye opener for me. I can say, without hesitation, that I would be vegan if I could eat there everyday.
We made a vegan sandwich recently that put me in mind of Cafe Gratitude. The word I’d use to describe it is robust. A perfect meal- high in protein and fiber, low in calories with lots of different textures and surprises. While falafel is not uncommon, a good one can sometimes be a challenge to find.
Key to it all is making your chickpea fritters from scratch. Don’t buy the pre-made powdered stuff in a box- it’s nasty. Instead simply soak a few cups of chickpeas in water for a day with a touch of baking soda to soften, then simply pulse then up with fresh parsley, cilantro, toasted cumin seed, coriander, a little chili flake, baking powder, garlic and salt and pepper.
After that, it’s only a matter of rolling and frying them in oil- we used canola oil for a lighter taste but any vegetable oil is fine. They’ll keep fairly well in the fridge for a week, so fry up a bunch and use them for snacks instead of Miss Vickies.
The other components for our sandwich were house-made Baba ghanoush (probably the best flavour enhancer on the planet), lemony tabbouleh and a sweet and tangy red cabbage slaw to finish. Delish!
EYA at Nat Bailey
November 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Seeing an idea come to fruition has been enormously gratifying. The galette project which began life as a way to use surplus fruit from “Vancouver Fruit Tree Project”(VFTP) to create a value added product has morphed into a social enterprise venture that now is being actively managed by participants of the Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA) for their benefit.
Here’s how it works…
Three entities- EYA, VFTP and Savoury City Catering are currently collaborating on a social enterprise venture that puts money into young, energetic hands that seek to change the world by engaging youth in programs that build community and environmental health.
While “VFTP” is sourcing fruit as well as providing direction and Savoury City is making kitchen space and equipment available, this really is a project directed by Wes, Katina & Betty from “EYA”.
They’re learning about costing, production schedules, coordinating volunteers, product mix and marketing in bringing their galettes to market.
The group launched their product this past Saturday Nov. 19th at Nat Bailey Stadium Winter Farmer’s Market to great applause.
Whole Grain Bread
October 18th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
We used to “buy in” bread for all of our sandwiches used in our catering company. A perfectly acceptable practice that saves the time and expense of doing it yourself, but the downside is this product can be a bit generic if your competition uses it too.
Instead we’ve been weaning ourselves off of store bought bread in favor of making it in-house. Yes it is time consuming and a tad more expensive but the results can be surprising.
When you think about it, a typical sandwich is really half bread so paying attention to this component can make a big difference to your final product. A case in point is the multigrain whole wheat bread that we been making for our egg and tuna sandwiches.
This bread is derived from our own carefully nurtured starter culture combined with wholewheat & white flour, as well as whole grains like flax seed, oats, wheat berries, millet and cracked rye. This bread also benefits from the the addition of whey in place of some of the water for hydration. The whey is a byproduct of our cheese making efforts so we’re happy that we can use it in some of our bread recipes.
If you’re thinking about getting started with baking your own bread there is no end to resources on-line, but I would single out the King Arthur site- lots of recipes and advice. It may seem a little cultish, but that’s only to the uninitiated- it may turn you into a “breadhead” like me preaching to the unconverted.
Galette Recipe
September 19th, 2011 § 1 Comment
Mini Apple Galettes
by Blaine Arnot
Here is the recipe we’ve been using for the galettes being sold by “The Fruit Tree Project” at the Kitsalano Pocket Market this past summer. No secret, just a really simple and delicious recipe you can make yourself.
makes about 10 individual pies
For the dough
7-1/2 oz. (1-2/3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
3-3/4 oz. (3/4 cup) whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp demerara sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
9 oz. (1 cup plus 2 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg lightly beaten
1/4 cup “no melt” icing sugar
For the filling
1 lb of fresh tart apples peeled and cored
1/3 brown sugar
1/3 honey
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup walnuts or almonds toasted and roughly chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
Make the dough
Put the flours, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse in short bursts until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 3 Tbs. cold water and pulse. If the mixture seems dry, add water 1 Tbs. at a time, pulsing until the dough just starts to come together. Do not over-process. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface, gather it together, and portion it into ten 2-1/2-oz. rounds. Flatten them into disks, wrap individually in two layers of plastic, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You can also freeze the dough if you won’t be using all of it in the next few days. It will keep for 3 months give or take.
When ready to bake, position racks in the bottom and top thirds of the oven and heat the oven to 400°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment.
On a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each dough disk into a 7-1/2-inch round that’s about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer rounds to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to build your galettes.
Make the filling
In a medium bowl, toss ingredients together. Check for sweetness. If you’re using really tart apples add a little more brown sugar or honey.
If your filling is runny, sprinkle each round of dough with 1 tsp. graham cracker crumbs to absorb excess moisture, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Put a generous 1/4 – 1/2 cup of the fruit mixture in the center of each dough round, mounding the fruit slightly. Top each tart with a butter slice.
Fold the edges of the dough over some of the fruit to create a 1-inch rim, leaving the center exposed. Work your way around, pleating the dough as you go. With a pastry brush, brush the crust of each galette with egg mixture and sprinkle the crusts and filling with demerara sugar
Bake until the galettes are golden-brown, 30 to 35 minutes, swapping and rotating the baking sheets’ positions about halfway through baking.
Lightly dust galettes with icing sugar sifted through a fine strainer- this is perhaps the only secret because now the galettes look as good as they taste!
Our Social Enterprise Venture
August 12th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
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Here are a few photos from our recent galette sale at the Westside Pocket Market. It was a thrill to see so many volunteers show up at the shop for a day of pie making. We used transparent apples for these babies. Transparents are quite tart so they lend themselves beautifully to this application. We managed to sell 50 for 4 hours we were there- not too shabby! All proceeds for this social enterprise venture a directed back to Vancouver Fruit Tree Project. In the past 12 years VFTP have picked more than 35, 000 pounds of fruit and redistributed it to community centres, neighbourhood houses, daycares and other community groups.
Fruit Galettes at Kits Pocket Market
July 15th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
We finally got to test out our “social enterprise” venture with “Vancouver Fruit Tree Project”. It seems like eons ago we made the proposal to turn surplus fruit harvested in Vancouver by “VFTP” into a value-added product that helps to promote their cause. We set up at the new Kitsalano Pocket Market on a blustery Thursday afternoon. After canvassing the other vendors, we settled on a price of $4.00 each for the delectable goodies, and as 3:00 PM rolled around we hit our stride with a series of quick sales. Our plan for subsequent markets is to involve participants from the Environmental Youth Alliance to help with the creation of the product with proceeds being split between “EYA” and “VFTP”. We’re really excited about the venture, and it needs to be said- the tarts sell themselves- they’re gorgeous! A special thanks to Trish Kelly at Discovery Organics for supplying apples.
Making Mozzarella
July 3rd, 2011 § 4 Comments
After completing a cheesemaking workshop with Debra Amrein-Boyes of Farmhouse Cheese last spring I thought it was about time I gave it a shot.
I wanted to make mozzarella- a versatile cheese that I was lead to believe was an easy first choice for a newbie cheesemaker. I was wrong.
Time and temperature I get, but “feel” is something that can only be learned by doing. In my first couple of attempts I got to the firm curd stage without a problem. It was heating and stretching of the curd to bring it together in what is known as mozzarella where my trouble lay. I tried the very hot water method, but watched in horror as all the delicate richness of the curd leached into my water- leaving something with a texture bearing a closer resemblance to brick material than soft and silky cheese, In the end I cheated and used the microwave method of using short blasts of heat combined with gentle folding to get a descent result.
I also used Avalon Dairy’s organic standard milk for this last attempt. I made the final pilgrimage to Wales St. to pick it up. For those unaware, the 103 year old institution is finished at this location. The farm on the edge of town has inevitably become a nostalgic throw back in the middle of a sprawling city, with all the incumbent development pressures. I for one am sad about that.
Professional BC Wedding Awards
December 4th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
We participated in this year’s Professional BC Wedding Awards in the best hors d’oeuvre category. Our entry held true to our local and sustainable roots, by featuring a fresh Dungeness Crab Salad nestled in an organic Ambrosia Apple Cup.
After many attempts, our chefs Tracy and Jenny managed to get the dried apple slice into a reasonable “cup shape” that still retained it’s beautiful colour and crunchy texture. For the crab salad, they played the natural sweetness of the crab off with subtle hints of citrus and maple to compliment. The result was a series of small but distinct ripples of flavour and texture that held together quite nicely. The judges agreed with us!
The gala event was held this year at District 319, a very cool space that we can’t wait to cater in again.
Nick’s Bread
November 26th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Ever since I knew what is was, I wanted to make bread.
It was always the smell of freshly baked bread that captivated me. That smell today has the power to transport me back in time. For instance, whenever I smell just baked bread I’m back in Middleton, NS in my mother’s kitchen on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Saturday was always her bread day – a chance to catch her breath and get caught up after a chaotic week.
Unfortunately for her, the bread aroma wafting through the house acted as a siren’s call for all of us, and before it had a chance to cool properly it was devoured!
I’m not a ceramicist, but I imagine baking bread is a lot like throwing pots. In both activities you’ve gotta get your hands in there and get a bit dirty. You have to feel your material as well as look and listen to the clues it’s sending off.
In baking bread, there is a dialogue that happens between me and my dough that goes something like this: Me: What do you need? Dough: I need more water or I need to be smoother or I need to rest a while.
The conversation is endless and always interesting…
