SUCCESS? Thank goodness,yes. Well at least we think so. Marty and my maiden venture into catering (small time only lah) on turned out pretty well (click here for the back story). I have to admit that I was a massive bundle of nerves the morning of the party (which was on Dec 21). Marty and I musta exchanged a couple of dozen SMS' and a at least a few panicky phone calls. I realised I musta been getting a little hysterical when I read an SMS reply from Marty: "Don't paniclah aunty...".
Ok. Breathe in, breathe out. Relax.
Shopping: Preparation for the party began two days in advance. When shopping on a budget (we charged a minimal RM12 from the guests, with about 16 guests and not everyone actually paying we collected RM160) you have to plan your menu carefully. You can't, for example, splurge on cheeses and you have to avoid expensive grocers like the swine flu. I did most of my shopping at the wet market: with a tight budget, you really can't afford to pay the extra dollar for tomatoes at the supermart.
[caption id="attachment_606" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Wetter but fresher and a little cheaper"]
[/caption]Presentation: Needed some bowls and though I had planned on getting some neat and cheap bowls from Ikea, the weekend traffic (the traffic jam to Ikea stretched at least five kilometres) changed my plans. What? Did everyone have to get bowls for a party too. In the end, I managed to get lovely white bowls (bigger than a rice bowl, smaller than a soup bowl) at a nearby neighbourhood mall (The Atria for those of you who live in PJ). The bowls were cheap: RM10 for 3 and they were perfect.
[caption id="attachment_605" align="aligncenter" width="223" caption="Cheap and not from Ikea"]
[/caption]The Cooking: Began cooking the night before the party. The chicken meatballs (only because not everyone eats beef) for the spaghetti were the most fun (and the easiest) to make. The roulade however proved tricky as I couldn't seem to get my pastry down pat. Took several attempts (hyperventilating all the while). Everything else was left for the morning.
The party: It was a blur. A fun blur. But a blur and in that blur (I like the word) we actually forgot to take pictures of our food before serving them to our guests (so please forgive the less than impressive pics we scrambled to take before they were wiped off the serving plates). It was such a blur that we forgot out the roulade! Perhaps it was for the best, I told Marty, as the pastry was not done to perfection. Nonetheless, there was quite a lot of variety -- from chips and dips to spaghetti and meatballs; crostinis (two types) to tuna puffs to falafels (ok, not Italian but yummy too) and of course the dessert of truffles -- for the hungry guests and I don't think they wen't away unhappy. Maybe craving some more spaghetti but better to leave people wanting more right?
The food was finished by the end of the night which I choose to interpret that positively. I had fun working with Marty and I think she (despite being a little under the weather) had a good time too. The night ended on such a high, I even enjoyed washing up ... at 1am.
It was a great start to what I hope is a fun adventure to come. Whaddaya think, Marty?
Yeah, I had good time working with you, even if we didn't have much success chasing away those delinquent guests who kept coming into the kitchen and pilfering food while we were putting it together!
ReplyDeletehooray! let's have a party when i'm back, and you can cater...at your place... how? :)
ReplyDelete[...] one would guess they’re the result of a salvaged botched job. (Marty and I made these for our catering gig which was actually how I got the idea in the first place. She showed me how easy they could be to [...]
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