Melissa Paul

In these days of heightened culinary knowledge and expectation, is it any wonder that today’s party hosts and event planners are seeking caterers who offer both food artistry and service excellence? Well, when it comes to gourmet taste and sophisticated presentation, Olivier Cheng Catering and Events in New York City offers both aplenty.  Modern interpretations of “fish tacos” {above}, Pipettes of Watermelon and Feta {below} are just two clever twists of foods that tantalize the palate in a cocktail setting.  But it’s not only the food itself that plays a part in teasing the foodie senses. Cheng makes a point to capture the wedding or party guest’s attention with sensational artistic presentation with minimalist styling and clever fabrication.

{Above} A simple but striking display of fresh summer soup sippers in a rainbow of colors plays beautifully on a classic black and white linen. Corn Chowder, Spring Pea and Heirloom Gazpacho, perhaps?  {Below}  Such intricate elements must take time and careful technique to plate up a whole ballroom or tent of these fabulous Chilled Salmon entrees! A gourmand would relish be served this elegant presentation for lunch or dinner.

And then of course, there’s the playful interpretations of dessert that Cheng offers such as the Chocolate Trio {above} and the Make Your Own Birthday Cake Sundae {below}. Clever to be sure and oh so fabulous! It’s incredibly inspiring to see that such restaurant-quality perfection in food styling exists in the catering world.

{Photos: Olivier Cheng Catering and Events NYC}

I don’t think a week goes by that I don’t get asked by an event professional “do you know of any cool barns or farms available for weddings?”  Most of the time, the options that come to mind are privately-owned, too small for the event or have been overly-commercialized. Well, folks, I can happily report that if asked that question today I’d actually have a farm to share! Last Fall, celebrated Chef Max Hansen was kind enough to introduce me to a lovely little slice of rustic heaven, Silver Button Farms. Come on in and take a gander…

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Despite the fact that I’m a self-proclaimed gardener and have lived less than a mile from Chanticleer, I have never been there. Nope, not once. Never. Not once in the ten years I’ve lived in the Philadelphia suburbs have I ventured through the ornate iron gates of this exquisite pleasure garden. Not until now, that is. Maybe it’s the early Spring warmth, but now I can’t seem to stop visiting the estate. I can’t get enough of The Ruins, or the Tea Cup Garden, or the Cutting Garden or the Cold Frames. In fact, this past Sunday I chose to sit in the Kitchen Garden for a full hour studying the way the lettuce patch was designed. If you’re an avid gardener and wannabe horticulturalist like I am, the esteemed magic of Chanticleer is addicting. I dare you to visit this lovely, whimsical garden and see if you don’t fall down the rabbit hole like I have. Read More…

Timelessly romantic. Black lace looks lovely on anything. The beauty of black lace graces a dinner table just as elegantly as it does a wedding cake and a sexy pair of heels.

{Monique L’Huillier, Cake Girls, Fabbri Design, Valentino}

Tag Clouds. Do you love them or hate them? Are they completely old fashioned and a total waste of time?  While many people find them messy and distracting, and slightly archaic, I personally find they can be useful from time to time. Particularly for first-time visitors as they give readers a heads-up on what you’re chatting about on your blog.

For those not aware, tag clouds are visual keyword lists or summaries that appear on the home page of your blog. The more interest in a tag or keyword, the larger the word becomes in the cloud. For some bloggers, it’s a useful, if not superficial, way to determine which subjects on your blog are getting the most traffic. Other bloggers, and avid readers, may put little stock in the cloud. Or, ignore it completely as a gobbly-gook of distraction. 

Trick is, if you’re going to use them, you’ve got to be smart about it.  The more keywords you use as tags, the bigger and more annoying the cloud. Like everything else on your blog, you have to be strategic, consistent and concise in your tag labeling. And frankly, nowadays, your tag cloud has to be pretty to look at too. Bright colors, vertical and horizontal text, varying fonts. If you have to have one, jazz it up. Really, the only source is Tagxedo.

Tell me, what do you think of them?  Are they completely passe? Or, do you put stock into tag clouds on your own blog? Do you find your readers use them in a manner you can accurately track?  

Although I’ve lived on the East Coast for almost twenty years now, I still miss the colorful dessert landscape of Southern California where I grew up. Reminiscent to the Mediterranean, Southern California’s vibrant selection of plants, shrubs and trees that I took for granted when I lived there are now must-see tourist attractions whenever I travel “home.”  Trees like the Coastal Coral or the Bottle Brush with their bright red blooms, or the delicate lavender purple of the Jacaranda.  It’s usually a sight that takes my breath away long before the beaches come into view.

Just last week, I was lucky enough to fly home to California to spend Spring Break with my family in San Diego. As streets and houses passed by outside the car window, it wasn’t the trees that caught my attention. It was the saturated pinks and magenta purples of the Bougainvillea! One of my absolute favorites for their dramatic color and full coverage, Bougainvillea is perhaps the most popular tropical vine found in the world. With good reason, right? Just look at the splendid display of flowers! And, some say Bougainvillea filters out dust and cools the air that passes through it. Sounds like a clever way to cool a deck, terrace or patio to me.

A native plant of South America, Bougainvillea was discovered in Brazil in the 1760′s by the French botanist Philibert Commerson. He promptly named the colorful vine “bougainvillea” after his friend and captain, Louis A. de Bougainville, a noted lawyer, mathematician, and explorer from Canada. But the colorful bracts of red, orange, pink and purple aren’t just found in North and South America. You can also find, and admire, them in other warm around the globe, such as: Ethiopia, Indonesia, Aruba, the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, India, the Mediterranean region, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Cyprus, Singapore, the Caribbean, Central America, South Africa, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and the islands of Hawaii.

Living on the East Coast means Bougainvillea is enjoyed as an annual, which for me, generally means they’ll never quite get the opportunity to invade the scenery in quite the same dramatic fashion. But I’ll enjoy them all the same, if only as a fond reminder of what awaits me in sunny Southern California.

Years ago, on a Superbowl Sunday, a whole gaggle of girls and I snuck Galliano Root Beer Floats into a movie theatre in Newport Beach to catch a chick flick. I had never had one before, let alone heard of the Italian liqueur used in them, but DAMN! they were mighty tasty! So if you’re looking to take a regular root beer float to a whole other level, then I suggest you spice things up a bit with the grown-up version. I particularly like the idea of them served at a wedding or at a bar mitzvah as a tongue-in-cheek specialty cocktail! Perhaps, in miniature form in tiny little parfait glasses!

Galliano is a sweet Italian liqueur {distilled in France} with vanilla-anise flavors and subtle citrus undertones. But it’s the vanilla taste that differentiates it from other anise-flavored liqueurs such as Sambuca and Pernod. My Croatian in-laws enjoy it as a digestif (meant for drinking after heavy meals), but most Americans think of Galliano as an ingredient for cocktails, most notably the Harvey Wallbanger.  But who needs a Wally when you can slurp a G Float?

Recipe for Galliano Root Beer Floats

• 1/2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz Galliano
• 1/2 oz light cream
• 4 oz Coca-Cola
• 1 1/2 oz whipped cream (optional)

Pour the vodka, Galliano, and light cream into a tall glass filled with ice cubes and stir well. Fill the glass with Coke, top with a dollop of whipped cream if you like, insert a straw, and serve. Trust me, with or without the whipped cream, it tastes JUST LIKE a root beer float!

{Photo: Gourmet Magazine}

“And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” – William Wordsworth

After nearly a decade of planting daffodil bulbs along the edge of my property, this year finally yielded the burst of color I had longed for on the landscape. For some naive reason, I thought the daffodils would naturalize in just one season and I’d awake one chilly morning to a cheerful “meadow” of sunny yellow soldiers. Silly me. Needless to say, it’s taken many years of wishing and hoping {and praying} before enough daffodils appeared to create the visual impact I had in mind. Enough, in fact, that I could use the display as a cutting garden for Spring entertaining. So, thank you Mother Nature. I know you can’t rush an artist at work and I’m glad one of us had the patience required.

Not a week goes by that I don’t long for my favorite shelter magazine, Domino. In fact, I still have an entire shelf of the home decorating magazines because I regularly paw through them as a resource guide. April 17th for the special edition issue of Domino just can’t come soon enough for me! As such a big fan, I can’t tell you how excited I was when I learned Deborah Neddleman, the founding editor of Domino, had authored an entire book of useful and inspiring home decorating tips!  The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well is all about creating a chic, updated home without losing the owner’s personality. With illustrations by Virginia Johnson, Needleman uses witty prose to demonstrate practical tips on keeping house for the modern family as well as designing stylish interiors that celebrate individuality. When I think of all the bridal showers I have coming up in the next two months, I sigh with relief knowing I now have the ideal gift to share!

The Perfectly Imperfect Home should grace every nightstand or, at the very least, rest comfortably on your coffee table.

{The Perfectly Imperfect Home by Clarkson-Potter is available through Amazon}