buffalo wings and baby birds

Last weekend I catered a graduation party for my friends Ross and Jimmy. Their son was graduating from high school and they threw a backyard party for about 60 people. It was my first catering job post-baby and I was a little unsure of how I'd get all the work done, but somehow I did. It was more intense because I had to pack it all in to just a day and half, but having a baby really does make you budget time more effectively.

Plus, I had a little "helper" encouraging me from the sidelines.

I made "bombay sliders"- little mini turkey burgers with spices like cayenne and cumin and a garlic curry sauce. I made them for a party I had a couple of years ago and they were a hit. I didn't snap a picture of them because I was too busy setting everything up at the party when they finally got put together.

But here is the huge pot of meat I mixed up before rolling it into about 100 mini patties.

The one thing the guest of honor requested were chicken wings, a favorite of the high school aged crowd. I had never made them before and am not a fan of them usually, but I found a recipe that had a lot of good feedback and I was surprised at how good they turned out. I bet people went to town on them at the party. A friend who was there raved about them afterward. They were pretty labor intensive but totally worth it. They tasted just like the kind you get in a bar, only slightly better because mine were baked. Calling them healthy would be a stretch (they are dredged in a flour and spice mixture, then soaked in melted butter and hot sauce before being baked), but still better than deep frying.

In addition to the chicken and burgers I made three salads: herb potato salad (from Ina Garten's recipe), a couscous with roasted zucchini and peppers and a spinach salad with cannellini beans and a nice shallot vinaigrette. Again, too busy to snap photos of the finished products, but here are a few of the prep, with June supervising from her chair.

my other companion in the kitchen

I think my friends were really happy with the food and I am sure it was a great party. Now that my first post-baby catering gig went well, I think I'm ready to dive back in. Bring on the parties! If nothing else, I will be cooking for a crowd again next month for June's first birthday party. And I always want to throw a big party for Daniel's birthday but he almost never wants one, preferring instead to go camping or do something small. Boring.

In other news, my little girl is getting ready to walk!

And our screened porch is almost done! Sadly, not in time to beat the terrible storm we had the other night, but it survived. Just needs the door and we are good to go! I will be so happy to have a little bug-free oasis for me and my girl to hang out on.

And lastly, we spotted this mama bird in her nest steadfastly protecting her babies after a heavy rain exposed their home. After the storm, I saw the empty nest still in the tree outside our porch. I hope they made it safely to another location. It's been a pretty wild Spring in Tennessee.

Let them eat cake

The election of Barack Obama as President was a moment I'll never forget. It was epic and inspiring and emotional all at once. People cried and celebrated all over the world. It marked a turning point not just for his supporters but for everyone. Most people will tell their children where they were when the first African-American was elected president of the United States.

I, for one, will tell them about my cake. This cake is special for two reasons: one because it marks a personal first for me, as in the first time I've ever felt patriotic enough to make an American flag cake. And two, because my mom always made this cake for the 4th of July and it holds a special place in my family's heart. Mom was very patriotic and loved to bake and throw parties.

I had about 30 people over to watch the election results together. It was a great party. People ate, drank, watched and cheered as the race turned into an electoral landslide. I made lots of food and some people brought food and we went through many bottles of wine and bubbly.



I decorated the house in red, white and blue and had a lot of fun doing it. I made "bombay sliders" (an Indian twist on an American staple, don't ask why) and a warm potato salad with arugula that was a huge hit. The sliders I found in a F&W issue from a long time ago and they have curry and cumin, green onions and cilantro mixed with the beef or ground turkey. Yum. I assembled them on a big platter with heirloom tomatoes (the last from my garden), a piece of lettuce and a curry-mayo sauce.




Other hits included this "mousseline" of three cheeses, pesto and sundried tomatoes in the shape of an egg (something else my mom would have loved), made by our friend Judy Forsythe.



I also made a plate of mascarpone brownies that got eaten in two seconds. But the cake --brought out at the point when Ohio was announced for maximum effect --was the biggest winner other than Obama.

It's just a white sheet cake with cream cheese frosting. The recipe came from the Barefoot Contessa's book and it was a perfect cake recipe--light and moist and very easy to make. This is one I am sure I will make again and again.

The flag is typically made with raspberries or strawberries, and blueberries for the stars. That's fine if it's July and berries are plentiful and cheap. But it's November and they're way out. So I used strawberry jam for the stripes and oh lucky me, I found concord grapes at the market that were perfectly round and blue! They have the tiniest of seeds but the the kind you don't mind eating. I can tell you that nobody minded eating them on this cake.



So when my Election Party 2008 was over and all that remained was the star confetti on the floor, I smiled and went to bed happy and feeling hopeful for the future.