brunch with kate and friends
August 30, 2008
Kate Whittle-Utter is home from college for the summer and had contacted me about wanting to help me out on Wallflour. Though she claims to want to learn more and everything about food and entertaining, from the sounds of things in her brunch article and menu she planned, she already knows plenty! I was very impressed that she even cooked for 20 people (with the help of some enthusiastic friends) which is no small task and had fresh waffles and scones made from scratch. Turns out we have a lot in common- she’s a natural planner and spearheads social activities among her friends, oh and she’s a perfectionist.
These days, I tend to only serve a meal for 8-10 people, but she gives some great tips on how to make it doable for larger crowds. The overflowing crowd brings to mind my attempts of entertaining in my 20’s. One major problem I still have in my 30’s is keeping the guest list and invitees manageable both for financial and spatial reasons. If there is one thing I have learned from a career in the commercial arts, you can’t please everyone all the time. Besides, it kinda blows my cover when I post about a fun party I just hosted.
Stay tuned for more ideas from Kate for “Entertaining in your 20’s” and vegetarian food ideas.
*************************
I am a perfectionist. I come up with these overly extravagant fantasies of cooking and entertaining for my friends and family, and am constantly and inevitably disappointed. I am my own downfall. But, I am learning from it. Trying to make everything look perfect and planned is overwhelming and stressful. This summer I have taught myself to stay away from the Martha Stewart ornamentation that would keep any host hot glue gunning trinkets for hours, and to move back into a form of entertaining that is homey, easy and perfect for big groups of people.
A couple of weeks ago I hosted a summer brunch, along with my two friends Max and Lucas, for twenty of our friends.
Summer Brunch Menu:
Portobello and sun dried tomato frittata
Spiced waffles with vanilla whipped cream
Fruit Salad
Banana nut chocolate chip muffins
Bacon
Orange and Grapefruit mimosas
My first tip on keeping things simple, is don’t try to do things by yourself. If possible, grab a couple friends who know something about cooking and set them to work, or convince them to co-host with you. That way you won’t be spending as much money and part of the responsibility is lifted off your shoulders. If all of your friends are kitchen inept, put them to work on the simple tasks like setting the table and picking flowers. We delegated our friend Chloe to pick flowers, thinking it a simple and doable task for someone who is less than kitchen savvy. But alas, she returned with a big bouquet full of oleander, one of Southern California’s more notoriously poisonous flowering shrubs. This episode produced a short five-minute hand washing panic and material to rip Chloe about for a week.
putting Minjee to work
To keep things manageable we planned the menu a day in advance and double-checked (the afternoon before) that we had everything we needed. We wanted a menu that would allow our guests to sample an abundant variety of treats yet one we knew, among the three of us, we could handle. We began cooking and assembling at 8:00 am. and magically finished the meal around 11:30 am. just as everyone was arriving. As with most breakfast or brunch meals, the majority of the dishes, including the baked goods, waffles and frittata, all had to be done relatively in the last thirty minutes and simultaneously. We managed this difficult task and avoided disaster by assigning jobs.
When it came to the setting, the brunch was served outside on Max’s porch. We mixed mustard yellow and deep red plates with matching mugs for coffee and glasses for mimosas and water. The mugs matched in color but had different shapes, which made the table setting more rustic. They were all deep summer colors that matched perfectly with the flowers. Our goal was to have things be colorful and beautiful without being chaotic or boring.
We served both orange juice mimosas and grapefruit juice mimosas, as well as coffee that we prepared in French presses. The mimosas are easy: 2 parts juice to 1 part champagne. The grapefruit mimosa was the favorite.
For the fruit salad, my advice is stay away from melons. They are boring and don’t offer much flavor. Give your guests something more interesting. We used mango, peach, strawberries and blueberries.
We used a basic waffle batter that serves 10-12 and added in 1 teaspoon each of ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, and ground clove. We assembled a side table to the dining table with the batter, garnishes and waffle iron in order for us to cook them to order and serve them hot. It worked out well. Along with the waffles we served warm maple syrup and vanilla whipped cream (2 cups cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 tablespoons sugar).
The brunch was, thankfully, void of Martha Stewart-esque kitschy additions and turned out delicious, fresh and colorful. Most of all, it met my expectations, which was a first!
xo
Wallflour Entertaining Tips:
Co-host to keep entertaining costs down or to use a home that has more room than your own.
Brunch is an excellent meal to serve to vegetarian friends. The meat can always be kept on the side.
Serving things right in the pan they were cooked in is rustic and keeps things simple.
Using high quality mixes for waffles and adding in your own spices or additions is an excellent time saver for a foolproof batter.
Assigning tasks and delegating errands is a smart way to get through a lot more and manage things simultaneously, like a waffle iron and baking scones.
Fruit salad should be made with fresh, seasonal fruits. For summer, peaches and berries are a stellar choice and can replace the melons which most restaurants use as “filler”. As much as I love the word “baller”, avoid melon ballers if you decide to use melon.
Kate Whittle-Utter is home from college for the summer and had contacted me about wanting to help me out on Wallflour. Though she claims to want to learn more and everything about food and entertaining, from the sounds of things in her brunch article and menu she planned, she already knows plenty! I was very impressed that she even cooked for 20 people (with the help of some enthusiastic friends) which is no small task and had fresh waffles and scones made from scratch. Turns out we have a lot in common- she’s a natural planner and spearheads social activities among her friends, oh and she’s a perfectionist.
These days, I tend to only serve a meal for 8-10 people, but she gives some great tips on how to make it doable for larger crowds. The overflowing crowd brings to mind my attempts of entertaining in my 20’s. One major problem I still have in my 30’s is keeping the guest list and invitees manageable both for financial and spatial reasons. If there is one thing I have learned from a career in the commercial arts, you can’t please everyone all the time. Besides, it kinda blows my cover when I post about a fun party I just hosted.
Stay tuned for more ideas from Kate for “Entertaining in your 20’s” and vegetarian food ideas.
*************************
I am a perfectionist. I come up with these overly extravagant fantasies of cooking and entertaining for my friends and family, and am constantly and inevitably disappointed. I am my own downfall. But, I am learning from it. Trying to make everything look perfect and planned is overwhelming and stressful. This summer I have taught myself to stay away from the Martha Stewart ornamentation that would keep any host hot glue gunning trinkets for hours, and to move back into a form of entertaining that is homey, easy and perfect for big groups of people.
A couple of weeks ago I hosted a summer brunch, along with my two friends Max and Lucas, for twenty of our friends.
Summer Brunch Menu:
Portobello and sun dried tomato frittata
Spiced waffles with vanilla whipped cream
Fruit Salad
Banana nut chocolate chip muffins
Bacon
Orange and Grapefruit mimosas
My first tip on keeping things simple, is don’t try to do things by yourself. If possible, grab a couple friends who know something about cooking and set them to work, or convince them to co-host with you. That way you won’t be spending as much money and part of the responsibility is lifted off your shoulders. If all of your friends are kitchen inept, put them to work on the simple tasks like setting the table and picking flowers. We delegated our friend Chloe to pick flowers, thinking it a simple and doable task for someone who is less than kitchen savvy. But alas, she returned with a big bouquet full of oleander, one of Southern California’s more notoriously poisonous flowering shrubs. This episode produced a short five-minute hand washing panic and material to rip Chloe about for a week.
putting Minjee to work
To keep things manageable we planned the menu a day in advance and double-checked (the afternoon before) that we had everything we needed. We wanted a menu that would allow our guests to sample an abundant variety of treats yet one we knew, among the three of us, we could handle. We began cooking and assembling at 8:00 am. and magically finished the meal around 11:30 am. just as everyone was arriving. As with most breakfast or brunch meals, the majority of the dishes, including the baked goods, waffles and frittata, all had to be done relatively in the last thirty minutes and simultaneously. We managed this difficult task and avoided disaster by assigning jobs.
When it came to the setting, the brunch was served outside on Max’s porch. We mixed mustard yellow and deep red plates with matching mugs for coffee and glasses for mimosas and water. The mugs matched in color but had different shapes, which made the table setting more rustic. They were all deep summer colors that matched perfectly with the flowers. Our goal was to have things be colorful and beautiful without being chaotic or boring.
We served both orange juice mimosas and grapefruit juice mimosas, as well as coffee that we prepared in French presses. The mimosas are easy: 2 parts juice to 1 part champagne. The grapefruit mimosa was the favorite.
For the fruit salad, my advice is stay away from melons. They are boring and don’t offer much flavor. Give your guests something more interesting. We used mango, peach, strawberries and blueberries.
We used a basic waffle batter that serves 10-12 and added in 1 teaspoon each of ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, and ground clove. We assembled a side table to the dining table with the batter, garnishes and waffle iron in order for us to cook them to order and serve them hot. It worked out well. Along with the waffles we served warm maple syrup and vanilla whipped cream (2 cups cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 tablespoons sugar).
The brunch was, thankfully, void of Martha Stewart-esque kitschy additions and turned out delicious, fresh and colorful. Most of all, it met my expectations, which was a first!
xo
Wallflour Entertaining Tips:
Co-host to keep entertaining costs down or to use a home that has more room than your own.
Brunch is an excellent meal to serve to vegetarian friends. The meat can always be kept on the side.
Serving things right in the pan they were cooked in is rustic and keeps things simple.
Using high quality mixes for waffles and adding in your own spices or additions is an excellent time saver for a foolproof batter.
Assigning tasks and delegating errands is a smart way to get through a lot more and manage things simultaneously, like a waffle iron and baking scones.
Fruit salad should be made with fresh, seasonal fruits. For summer, peaches and berries are a stellar choice and can replace the melons which most restaurants use as “filler”. As much as I love the word “baller”, avoid melon ballers if you decide to use melon.
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