35 People, 5 Meals, 3 Days

I am in the last throes of planning a party. A big party. A 3-day party for 35 people at a hotel/retreat in the Sierras. And I am amazed at the amount of planning, the amount of food, and the amount of cooking and prep time it is taking. Just astounding. There is about 65 pounds of meat alone, including Schaub's famous Fred Burgers, two kinds of homemade sausage (sundried tomato/mozzarella and spicy hot), breakfast sausage, turkey and pork/beef for the two kinds of chili, and the beef tenderloins (four big 6-pound hunks). A flat of strawberries and 8 melons, along with 40 ears of corn and 6 pounds of asparagus. Three kinds of homemade cookies, totaling 150 scoops, which I then IQFed (individual quick freeze) so that I can bake them fresh up at the party. Three pounds of homemade dark chocolate almond bark with vanilla sea salt, 40 individual shortbreads, and 40 fruit gelees. And the list goes on.

Brilliant daughter and I have worked tirelessly, but happily, in the kitchen. I even treated myself to a new KitchenAid mixer. My old one, eighteen years of hard use, is still operational but very very tired. It will be passed to my daughter, who will, no doubt, get many more years of service from it. But I needed something with more power and a bigger bowl to facilitate sausage making and larger batches of everything. So I bought a KitchenAid 600 series in pearl metallic. It’s a beauty and has worked great thus far. Happy birthday to me…..


In addition to aforementioned homemade sausage, chili, cookies, almond bark, and shortbread, we have also made salsa, strawberry sundae sauce, pickles, and perlini bruschetta topping. We'll also be making Café Beaujolis coffeecakes on Saturday and pain perdu on Sunday. This ought to be one fat and happy crowd when all is said and done.

My brother and sister-in-law even had aprons made for the party. (see brother modeling one at right in his newly remodeled kitchen which is wonderful) They have the theme of the party embroidered on them "eat.drink.merry." One for every guest to go in their "goodie bags" which include homemade herb salt and Scharffenberger chocolate, among other things. Which reminds me, I need to get back to putting those together and packing up all the food. Meanwhile, here is the complete menu for you to see:

Friday Night
Salsa/Chips + Crudite + Perlini Bruschetta
Fred Burgers
Homemade Sausages
Corn on the Cob
Homemade pickles
Green Salad
Make-Your-Own Sundaes
Gordon Biersch Beer, Margaritas, and Mojitos


Saturday Breakfast
Pecan-Buttermilk Coffeecake
Sausages Links
Fruit Salad
Peet's Coffee
Tea – Herbal and Regular
Juice – Orange and Cranberry
Bloody Marys


Saturday Lunch
Black Bean/Smoked Pasilla Chili (pork/beef or turkey)
Cornbread with honey butter
Soda and Iced Tea
Cookies
Homemade chocolate chip/pecan, Triple Ginger, or PBJ


Saturday Dinner
Cheese Tasting
selection of cheeses, mixed olives, baguette, and accompaniments
Beef Tenderloin Served with blue cheese compound butter
Roasted Herbed Fingerling Potatoes
Steamed Asparagus with lemon aioli
Dessert Trio
Nana's shortbread, dark chocolate almond bark with vanilla sea salt and fruit gelee
Champagne, Wine, Open Bar

Sunday Brunch
Pain Perdu
Melon Duo
Peet's Coffee
Tea – Herbal and Regular
Juice – Orange and Cranberry
Mimosas