catering to your needs

Have i mentioned before that i love catering??

it's definitely one of the high points of this job... keeps it interesting and fun... and to be totally honest, is pretty good for the ego.

we catered a birthday party in a spectacular house in langdale last night. Mercifully, it went off pretty much hitchless - the weather was a bit of a bear, and we arrived a bit later than planned, but other than that it went really well.

why do i love catering?
- it's a little bit anal, it forces me to be more organized than usual
- it's outside the daily routine, and as anyone who knows me knows... routine is NOT my thing
- it's usually a little "fancier" than what we make for lunch
- it pushes my boundaries for stress management
- it gets me out of the bistro
- it requires extreme team effort and cooperation
- it pays well
- it's gratifying to know you've helped someone throw a great event, and made them look good by providing great food
- hearing comments like "ridiculously good", "heavenly", "oh my god that is amazing" is kinda good for the ego.

Catering private parties, in private homes, is probably my favourite challenge...
pulling off lots of food for lots of people in an unfamiliar kitchen with no access to "what you might need" is exciting. It's frustrating sometimes, but when organized well, it's mostly exciting... thus the cause for being organized! If you don't bring EVERYTHING you need, it's a lot harder.

The other cool part about private parties in private homes is that you get inside some pretty fabulous houses... and being one who appreciates architecture and design, that is a definite bonus for me.

The house last night was amazing... huge, beautifully decorated, every possible convenience, spectacular view... the type of house i'd dream of owning, but hold very little hope of ever achieving. Catering doesn't pay QUITE that much!

But it's good to have dreams...

anyway... wanna know the menu from last night? it was very well selected by the hostess:

- onion confit & ricotta tarts
- chili lime & garlic shrimp cakes
- mini mac & cheese with gorgonzola & truffle oil
- chili garlic mushrooms
- fresh baked baguette with sweet chili cheese dip and hot spinach & crab dip
- mini spanakopita

then as the main,
- ossobuco with roasted garlic risotto and steamed asparagus

they brought a gorgeous cake from Anna's Cake Shop in vancouver. I must admit i was a bit relieved to not have to provide the cake too... it was a lot of work just doing that food for 40.

what's ossobuco?? braised veal shank, essentially... it's slow, slow cooked till it falls off the bone and the highlight is the marrow in the shank bone itself... you suck that out cuz it's really really yummy. it's quite an impressive looking food, big round chunks of meat wrapped around bone that takes on the colours from the sauce - which is simply white wine, chicken stock, some basic veggies, garlic, rosemary and pepper. It's simple simple food, and absolutely delicious.

so, that's why i love catering... it's fun, it's different, it makes people happy.

having a party? call us...

carpooling to wild?

so... if you've driven by at lunch time in the last few days, you may have noticed a PACKED parking lot!

I WISH I could say that's because we were busy...
Sadly it's not the case.

The Salvation Army has made a decision to hold their AA Meetings from 12-1:30pm DAILY... this is the cause of the full lot.

It puts us into a bit of a dilemma... we of course want to support the SA and AA, and the food bank (whose beneficiaries also fill the parking lot regularly)... but it's costing us business.

We can scarcely afford to have our regular customers drive up and find nowhere to park, and thus decide to go up the road to the wheatberries or wherever...
But how do we still be neighbourly without creating a huge ruckus??

If you have a suggestion, please share... we don't want to be cranky or whiny, but this cannot continue much longer. It's 12:30 on Tuesday as I write this and the parking lot is full to capacity and we have 3 tables!

Certainly there are going to be days when it's slow for us - we're not packed full every day by any means - but when our potential for business is cut off by a full parking lot, what are we to do??

that's my whine & rant for the day.
i'm done now.
carry on.