Different Fantastic Parties...

Before I started my culinary adventure, whenever there was a party I would offer myself as chef. I am absolutely obsessed with making appetizers, and little finger food - and so when my sister in law was having a baby shower - I obviously offered to arrange all of the food. I thought it went off pretty spectacularly, there was a fast assortment of goodies, and I didn't have to do any of the decorations!

Here are some pictures from this event for Katie:

Finger foods! Caprese skewers with balsamic reduction; trio of artichokes with saffron aioli, spicy aioli, and curry aioli; endive with chicken salad; orzo salad with veggies; and crudites with green goddess dressing (home made obviously).

Spinach salad with red onion, goat cheese and balsamic dressing; arugula salad with pear, Roquefort and lemon herb vinaigrette.

Turkey crustini with microgreens and spicy aioli; bruschetta; smoked salmon crostini with dill sauce.

Blue Cheese, Pear and Toasted Hazelnut Crustini; Prosciutto, Parmesan and Fig Crostini; Red Pepper Hummus, Roasted Eggplant Dip and Pita Chips (all homemade).

CONGRATS TO KATIE AND SHAUN.


Another of my favorite holidays/parties is Halloween. This year (as well as the past 4 years) we had a party which I got to cater. It was awesome. Here were my dishes:

The entire Halloween Spread!

Chips (store bought) with pumpkin spiced chicken and avocado. Tofu wraps with phyllo dough.

Cucumber Dill and mint sauce, spicy pumpkin sauce, and basil garlic aioli. All with roasted potatoes.

Mushroom, Spinach crostini and Chicken and mushroom skewers.

Mini Pumpkin Pies! And baked mozzarella with herb crust and fresh made pita chips!

Every year my mom and Kathy Abel have a dinner for The Friendship Shelter (an organization in Laguna Beach that helps helps the homeless). This year it was at my parent's house. My mom asked me to fly in and cater the event, naturally I was excited to participate. Different restaurants around town had donated food, so my responsibility was to create appetizers to be tray passed before the actual meal, and to make up 2 salads and one main course. I decided to go with a variety of small bite sized appetizers, a couple of easy dips, two very easy salads, and Chicken Tagine - which can be extremely simple to prepare. Here are some pictures of the appetizers (I forgot to take pictures of the main courses, mainly because I was the most proud of my appetizers).

Sauteed Beets with Goat Cheese Spread on top of Sour Dough Crostini

Baked Wantons with Thai Pesto and Cherry Tomatoes

Herbed Goat Cheese on top of Rye Bread Rounds (Cutting all of these out of a makeshift mold was exasperating)

Additional Beet and Goat Cheese Crostini

More Thai Pesto Wontons

Herb Cream Cheese (Tofruitti, healthier) Wantons with Cherry Tomatoes

Prosciutto with Spicy Aioli on top of Rye and Sour Dough Rounds

; Also Wantons with Turkey and Spicy Aioli

I think the entire meal went off really well and the people paying seemed to enjoy the food (even though not done by a professional!) Overall I was very happy with the assortment and variety - although the wantons, although unique, were a bit too large for a single bite - in the future I would cut them in half first before BAKING (healthy) them.