Fig & Arugula Salad with Fig Vinaigrette – one of my favorite dishes during fig season. While the fig season is fleeting, they are truly one of the most decadent fruits of the year – but you have to catch them fast. Other favorites include Port-poached Calimyrna Figs stuffed with Ganache, Stewed Fig Bordelaise served over Beef Filet, Toasted Almond & Fig Tarts. We always encourage our clients to take advantage of fig season with dishes like these.
One of my favorite parts of summer is lemon verbena – it loves the heat and humidity and grows like crazy in New York. There are many uses – ice cream, sorbet, custard, whipped cream, cocktails – but my favorite is (pictured above) – no-bake lemon verbena cheesecake. It’s a cross between a cheesecake, a semifreddo and a mousse. The texture is so light, yet the flavor is intense. I often serve it with stewed blueberries for a perfect taste of summer!
The question I get asked the most when telling people we cater a lot of weddings is “do you always deal with Bridezillas?”
Thanks in large part to the reality shows all over cable, brides have been effectively mis-characterized as unreasonable, irrational, and indeed, irritating women. Simply by planning their weddings, they’re assumed to be impossible.
But our experience has been just the opposite. In fact, we have grown to love not just catering weddings, but the brides (and grooms) for whom we cater and plan. Our experience in helping our brides realize their vision for their big day has been one of the most rewarding parts of running our business. Our brides have consistently been reasonable, creative, mature and thoughtful women, interested in organizing an event for their family and friends with fantastic menus, creative signature cocktails, specialty desserts, fun music and a memorable atmosphere. Working with them has been fun, exciting – simply a pleasure.
I understand why the bride shows appeal to audiences. I get it. I understand the draw to reality television. The more irrational the participants = the more dramatic = the more appealing the show. In fact, I was on a reality competition show for pastry chefs, and I quickly began to realize what the producers and directors were looking for. Although I won the competition, and the experience was fun and rewarding overall, I quickly became aware during the taping that I didn’t make for good reality television. One of the directors became increasingly and clearly irritated when I was unwilling to bad mouth my fellow competitors, create drama (where there wasn’t drama), or lose my cool in the kitchen.
I suppose my brides, who keep their cool throughout the planning of their weddings, would not make for good reality television either. And they certainly wouldn’t qualify as Bridezillas….so, no, to answer the question, we don’t always deal with Bridezillas, or ever…..
