I've been looking forward to the tasting since we got engaged. Seriously- who doesn't like free food? And while Calvin and I had been assured by many people that the food at our venue would be fantastic, we were unconvinced.
Unconvinced, that is, until this past weekend, when we had out tasting.
Marisa, the event coordinator at the hotel, arranged for us to have a tasting for us and our parents. We arrived around noon, and were led to a small meeting room that was set up with a couple of tables; before the food arrived, we looked at a couple of linen options (we're renting deep red table linens) and napkin folds(!).
The dining table, complete with textured burgundy linen.
Another linen possibility- cotton/poly blend burgundy cloth.
Who knew that napkins came in so many folds?
We decided to go for the napkin fold that will contain a menu, since we will be doing menus for the reception. The napkins will remain white, and the menus will be burgundy colored.
And now on to the really good part (the food porn!). The food competition. In these events, we had to decide 4 of 6 hors d'oeuvres, 1 of 2 salads, and 2 of 4 entrees.
First event: hors d'oeuvres.
Clockwise from left: tomato and mozzarella on foccaccia, jumbo shrimp shooters, and fig, gorgonzola and proscuitto in phyllo
Parmesan breaded artichoke with tomato confit.
We also tasted beef spring rolls and mushroom truffle risotto wrapped in phyllo.
Winners: shrimp shooters (the moms' favorite), breaded artichoke (my favorite) and beef spring rolls (the dads' favorite). Rounding out the top 4 was the fig & gorgonzola, minus the prosciutto so our vegetarian friends can enjoy more than one tasty treat. Calvin liked then all.
Then it was salads:
Green salad with poached pears, pecans and gorgonzola
Tomato and mozzarella with arugula
In a surprising upset, the winner is: Tomato and mozzarella (everyone's favorite!)
And then it was time for the entrees:
Pesto chicken with risotto (and check out the pattern on the tablecloth!)
Chicken stuffed with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes
In another upset, winner of the meat eater's entree is: pesto chicken. (All of us were shocked at how tasty it was!)
Eggplant roulade with polenta
Squash and portabello mushroom stack
This was a photo finish race, as both were delicious. As Calvin plans to order the vegetarian entree, we left it up to him. The winner is: eggplant roulade.
And then there were the desserts. As I've mentioned before, we're having creme brulee instead of cake- so we had the opportunity to taste 5 different flavors of creme brulee. The goal was to pick the top three finishers, so that we can serve our guests a trio of creme brulee.
Almond
Coffee
Lemongrass (although it tasted more like lemon.)
Rose (!)
Vanilla
First place winner: Rose.
Almond was a distant last place. The other three flavors- lemongrass, coffee and vanilla- all had their strong supporters among the group, and there were not two that really stood out.
So. We could use your help. Which two flavors out of the three (lemongrass, coffee and vanilla) would you chose to go with rose creme brulee?
3 comments:
Lemmongrass, I tell you.
Lemongrass I tell you.
Are guests being served the trio, or are the selecting from the trio? If they get all three, I'd pair lemongrass, rose, and vanilla. Unless the coffee flavor is very subtle, it would probably overpower the rose and the third selection.
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