Spring Birthday

Our most recent event was a splendid dinner party to celebrate a special birthday. As a bonus, it was held right here in the village, so we were able to nip home and pick up anything we might have forgotten. Not that we ever forget anything, of course.

The host created some menu cards, which I thought were fantastic:

So, we arrived in the early afternoon, set the table - a square farmhouse style seating arrangement for the guests - and made sure everything was good to go when we went back for the evening.  As we had plenty of space to set up in the house, as well as a whole separate kitchen for preparation and clearing, we were about as relaxed as you can be in those circumstances. It was helped by the fact that the weather couldn't have been better, and we were trotting back and forth to the house in bright sunshine. That always helps.

The guests were welcomed with a glass or two of fizz and some of our canapes, and then moved across to the main house for dinner.

The starter - a pear, walnut and blue cheese salad:

As we were asked to provide the crockery, there was a slightly eclectic mix, with a vintage/old-fashioned theme which the host and hostess liked.

The main course was a delicious beef daube with dumplings, which I forgot to photograph as we were a bit busy by that point.

The host and hostess provided a selection of cheeses, beautifully arranged by Jo:

The dark pieces on the goats cheese are preserved figs, which looked utterly succulent.

The desserts were our (by now famous!) chocolate mousse cake, and a seasonal apple meringue with home-made caramel sauce, both of which were thoroughly enjoyed by the guests.

To finish, we made some petits fours to go with the coffee - dark chocolate brandy truffles, Seville Orange candied peel (in chocolate) and a dark chocolate and orange bark.

As we left, the party was still going strong!

Lightly pickled

The summer continues to be utterly glorious, and we have had another delightful lunch event.  This one was a buffet lunch for some VIPs, for which we were asked to provide "interesting salads" and desserts.

It was an extremely hot day, the thermometer on my car registered 34 degrees C at 3pm, but despite the heat, we were able to provide some delicious food, and ensure everyone had plenty to eat before they braved the sun again.

The large bowl contains an Italian grain salad, with a mixture of different types of basils and tomatoes, as well as delicious lemon dressing.  The smaller bowls contain roasted peppers with garlic, and gently pickled strips of cucumber, which went down a storm with the fantastic poached salmon our client provided.

Sadly, due to forgetfulness of my part, I failed to photograph Jo's lovely strawberry cream tarts, but rest assured they were very popular.  To compensate, here is a photo of the chocolate mousse cakes, which the police officers (discreetly staying out of sight in the kitchen) absolutely loved.

The guests enjoyed them too.

So, to sum up: hot weather, lovely food, lots of happy people.  Exactly what we would hope that a summer lunch party would be all about.

Choctastic

Good news!  The (becoming!) world famous Deverill Valley Catering Spicy Tomato Chutney is now available from Taste Deli in Warminster.

Pop in and check them out, they have a great selection and the chap who runs it is lovely.

And if you're in Salisbury, go and take a look at Hendersons artisan bakery, on the Market Square.  They're on Twitter, if you do that.  Look, here.

We're also going to be taking part in Amesbury Carnival on June 1st, or some of our produce will be at least.  We're still working out the logistics as we have some other commitments on that day, but even if we can't be on the stall all day we will be dropping off some of our goodies for sale.

We've been experimenting with making sweeties:

This is chocolate bark, dark with Macadamia nuts and cherries, milk with walnuts and raisins, and white with apricot and poppy seeds.  The white choc seems the most popular so far, possibly because it's the prettiest!

These are Jazzies, small(ish!) drops of milk chocolate with some orange flavouring, topped with hundreds and thousands.  My personal favourite 

Hopefully we'll be selling lots more of these over the summer.

Nom nom nom.