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Some menu input requested


Kim Shook

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My daughter is turning 22 later this month. We have been to a few utter crap 'heavy hors deourve' type parties and my daughter is requesting a 'show 'em how its done' party for her birthday. I wanted to get some imput on my menu in progress:

Apple Cider-Glazed Pork Tenderloin on Buttermilk Chive Biscuits

Hoisin Chix Wontons w/ Wasabi Slaw

Liptauer Cheese Spread w/ pumpernickel cocktail bread

Goat cheese w/ honey & crostini

Red pepper jelly cheesecake w/ crackers

Roasted mini potatoes w/ béarnaise (thanks, azureus!)

some kind of citrusy cake

Too many cheesy things? What am I missing? Which should I toss? Something green? I do want finger food, if possible.

Thanks!

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I'd also tend to add vegetation of some sort to the mix. Perhaps crudites and roasted red pepper dip?

Kathy

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. - Harriet Van Horne

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I have to agree with the others. Crudites and fresh fruit pieces would add a nice balance to the richer offerings. Picky eaters who are suspicious of new foods would be likely to eat these. Of course, nothing is stopping you from offeing a nice blue cheese dip. . . I'm glad that you liked the mini potatoes!

April

One cantaloupe is ripe and lush/Another's green, another's mush/I'd buy a lot more cantaloupe/ If I possessed a fluoroscope. Ogden Nash

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Maybe some spiced nuts? I seem to have seen recipes all over this holiday season for them. Just the other day I made spiced pecans using a recipe from America's Test Kitchen. They use rum but we had bourbon on hand and that worked fine. It was easy to make, and didn't take long. They weren't greasy, and it was a nice combination of sweet, salty and spicy--- not heat though if you're interested in that.

"Fat is money." (Per a cracklings maker shown on Dirty Jobs.)
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How about some melon/prosciutto or smoked salmon/asparagus spears. You can also stuff some cherry tomatoes or mushrooms to get in some more veggie options. Mushroom caps and cucumber slices are also nice "platforms" for some finger foods.

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I'll offer this: I've been doing hors d'oeuvres for a monthly gathering for a friend, and the lactose intolerant people are complaining about all the cheese I use. This is a somewhat older crowd, and I don't know whether lactose intolerance tends to be an age-related problem. One guy is allergic to tree nuts, so I try to watch out for him to, and to be very careful about contamination if I've used any pecans, hazelnuts, or walnuts.

And we have other frequent guests whose religious dietary guidelines need to be taken into consideration. I figure the vegans can hang out at the crudite tray.

You might check with your daughter to see if any of her friends can't eat certain kinds of foods.

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Thank you all.  I am going to take your advice and add crudites and dip and maybe some skewered fruit, too.  Daughter 86'd the Hoisin Chicken Wontons ( :sad: - that's my favorite), but loves the idea of everything else.

Do chicken satays with 3 dipping sauces

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Well, with your imput (thanks, again!) and daughter's final word here's the menu:

Apple Cider-Glazed Pork Tenderloin on Buttermilk Chive Biscuits

Iconoclastic Deconstructed Spring Rolls

Liptauer Cheese Spread w/ pumpernickel cocktail bread

Red pepper jelly cheesecake w/ crackers

Roasted mini potatoes w/ béarnaise

Crudités - Radishes, carrots, bell peppers. fennel, belgian endive, snow peas

Bleu cheese & caramelized shallot dip

Caesar dip

Asian Style Dip

Skewered Fruit

Spiced pecans

Orange Marmalade Cake

The invitations go out today. Wish y'all could come. The food won't really be appreciated (except by daughter and Mr. Kim) and will elicit 'so fancy' comments :hmmm: . This is really another topic, but everyone wonders why I 'bother' to go to so much trouble. I try to explain that its my hobby and I enjoy the effort, just like they do golfing or gardening or sewing, but they really don't see the point. sigh.

Thank you so much, everyone!

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Well, with your imput (thanks, again!) and daughter's final word here's the menu:

Apple Cider-Glazed Pork Tenderloin on Buttermilk Chive Biscuits

Iconoclastic Deconstructed Spring Rolls

Liptauer Cheese Spread w/ pumpernickel cocktail bread

Red pepper jelly cheesecake w/ crackers

Roasted mini potatoes w/ béarnaise

Crudités - Radishes, carrots, bell peppers. fennel, belgian endive, snow peas

Bleu cheese & caramelized shallot dip

Caesar dip

Asian Style Dip

Skewered Fruit

Spiced pecans

Orange Marmalade Cake

The invitations go out today.  Wish y'all could come.  The food won't really be appreciated (except by daughter and Mr. Kim) and will elicit 'so fancy' comments :hmmm: .  This is really another topic, but everyone wonders why I 'bother' to go to so much trouble.  I try to explain that its my hobby and I enjoy the effort, just like they do golfing or gardening or sewing, but they really don't see the point.  sigh.

Thank you so much, everyone!

The menu sounds wonderful. I had to laugh at the 'so fancy' comment. I usually make two or three 'fancy' things when we have a party, and they are usually left over while the spinach dip, shrimp cocktail, and pigs in a blanket platters are licked clean.

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Don't worry about being called "fancy" they still appreciate it and talk about it for far longer.

I catered my neice (and god-daughters) baptism over 4 months ago and it is still being talked about for being so delicious and "unusual".

For all that I made beef and vegetable samosas, baked vege frittatas, devils on horseback, cheese and asparagus vol au vents (which went more quickly than anything else :shock: ) mini sausage rolls and chicken wings (mini ones, both satay and hoi sin). All these hot foods combined with two each of cheese and fruit plates plus dip, biscuits and cruidites have my baby sister touted as the best hostess in Brisbane.

We had extra food for a BBQ later in the evening but no-one could fit anything in and they would not believe it was not "fancy food".

Good luck on the big day.

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Oh, well. I have a new, revised menu. Can't figure out why, but daughter made some requests to change the food. Here's the new menu:

Crab Meltaways

Sliders

Mini Tacos

Tortilla Chips with Guacamole, Salsa & Queso Dip

Liptauer Cheese Spread with

Pumpernickel Cocktail Bread

Red Pepper Jelly Cheesecake with Crackers

Crudités

Bleu Cheese & Caramelized Shallot Dip

Caesar Dip

Asian Style Dip

Skewered Fruit

Cinnamon Pecans

Assorted Cupcakes

Still should be good, and I am making the sliders,guac and Queso dip (not buying from Costco), but I was really looking forward to see what I could do with those Deconstructed Spring Rolls :sad: . Some other time, I guess. No chance of complaints of 'too fancy' now :biggrin: ! Crab meltaways & mini tacos - sob.

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Oh, well.  I have a new, revised menu.  Can't figure out why, but daughter made some requests to change the food.  Here's the new menu:

Crab Meltaways         

Sliders

Mini Tacos

Tortilla Chips with Guacamole, Salsa & Queso Dip

Liptauer Cheese Spread with

Pumpernickel Cocktail Bread

Red Pepper Jelly Cheesecake with Crackers

Crudités

Bleu Cheese & Caramelized Shallot Dip   

Caesar Dip

Asian Style Dip

Skewered Fruit

Cinnamon Pecans

Assorted Cupcakes

Still should be good, and I am making the sliders,guac and Queso dip (not buying from Costco), but I was really looking forward to see what I could do with those Deconstructed Spring Rolls  :sad: .  Some other time, I guess.  No chance of complaints of 'too fancy' now  :biggrin: !  Crab meltaways & mini tacos - sob.

Everything sounds delicious. Depending on the presentation and your company, (my friends think it's fancy when I put spinach dip in a hollowed out loaf of bread), I'm sure you will still get a "how fancy" :)

PS Maybe you could slip in the springrolls when she isn't looking.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wanted to let everyone who was so nice to offer help know that the party was a great success. Everyone loved everything and daughter was thrilled and took most of the leftovers back to her dorm to share! The dips that I tried out (Caesar, Bleu Cheese and Caramelized Shallot and Asian-Style) were all really good - and a nice change from the purchased kind like I usually end up doing. But everyone was wowed by my cupcakes. I made 6 different kinds and did a pretty display of them on the sideboard - they weren't as pretty as they will be when I get some more instruction/practice, but very, very good! And yes, even with sliders and Costco mini tacos, I did get 'how fancy' comments. Someone who is having a party soon even warned me not to expect all this at her party. I am guessing that, being not as exceptional as store bought mini tacos, we are having 7-11 burritos :raz: ! Thank you all for your comments!

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