A Friend Celebrates 100 Years in Business

Last evening my husband Steve and I were honored to join Russell Morin Fine Catering as they celebrated their Centennial. With 100 years of experience, the evening was of course just spectacular! Congratulations Russ!

VinItaly

On our recent trip to Venice, we were fortunate to be given tickets (from our friends at Oliva Nera) to this amazing wine consortium, celebrating its 45th year, in Verona.

We were excited at the prospect of spending a day doing nothing but drinking wine! And were totally unprepared for both the magnitude as well as the compelling nature of this event. There were 12 HUGE--I mean, beyond HUGE pavilions, each representing a different Italian region and its' respective wines, spread out over a massive area. Each pavilion had anywhere from 200-3,000 wineries represented--we were psyched and couldn't wait to get to the Brunello di Montalcino section!

It takes alot to intimidate me, especially when it comes to wine, but this experience was a whole different ballgame! This was serious, very intense negotiations with wineries, exporters, importers, etc. All we could see was a sea of men in dark suits, engaged in wild Italian conversation, gesturing and drinking wine and (outside the pavilions) smoking cigarettes like crazy! Besides the fact that hardly anyone spoke English AND that we definitely did not appear to be in the 'business,' it was an overwhelming experience. We did manage to do some justice to some excellent wines (none of the brunello's though.)

Another aspect of this event is the Agricultural Divison which did the same for Olive Oil as it did for the wines. Imagine 20,000 different kinds of Olive Oils under 1 roof! Again, this is serious business, and all the oils were sealed and airtight inbetween tastings, so that no oxidation would affect the flavor. I can still feel all the different notes of those oils...

It was a once in a lifetime experience; I was told that there were 146,000 attendees at this 4 day conference, and I was honored to be among them.

Tonights Meeting

We are so excited to have our friend and colleague Lisa Teiger owner of Cuisine Etc., in NYC joining our CT Caterers Association meeting tonight. Thanks for coming Lisa!

Memories of Venice

How does one go from a magical vacation in Venice back to the reality of a dreary April in Southeastern Connecticut!?

Hold on to the memories and the flavor!
A few things about this trip to Venice (will go into more detail later)

- Our dear friends Isabella and Dino (and their amazing food) at Osteria Oliva Nera

-Julie- the server at Oliva Nera, with a radiant smile, deftness, speed and perception--would you like to work for ATTC?!

-Eating tons of food and walking it all off--or most of it anyway!

-Negronis--the best

-Watching amazing construction/renovation from boat barges-remember, the roads are canals and the streets are the buildings in Venice

-No cars...yay!

-Works of Giambattista Tiepolo

-A contemporary world that exists within the confines of ancient history

-The delicate stuffed zucchini blossoms at Oliva Nera--absolute heaven on a fork

-Pumping Stations--taking your empty water to your local "P.S." to fill up with local wines

-Aqua Alta- we never visit Venice in season and have had the luxury of dining in restaurants (wearing our muck boots) sitting in 6'' of water

-Proximity to--Alto Adige--another world where Italy and Germany blend flavors

-Seeing my favorite color purple--in everything, on everyone, every shade, everywhere

Our Wonderful Kitchen Staff!!

It was nice to have all of our kitchen staff together in one place at the same time. Chef Sean directed our Annual Kitchen Training on Thursday and we are all very excited for the upcoming year!!!

A Taste of Venice!

I can almost taste Venice right now. We are leaving for a long over due trip back to our friends in Venice. Having missed being back for a few years now, we frequently visited there in the off seasons. (March-April or November, which is prime aqua alta season and we live in our Muck-boots!!)

We can't wait to see our dear friends Isabella and Dino of Osteria Oliva Nera, in the Castello region of Venice. Their food is pure inspiration--the best of flavors coupled with their warm hospitality, is quite addictive and we can't wait to get our "fix!!"

Check out their website and eat your heart out!!!

Spring is in the air!

Our ATTC garden is beginning to wake up from winter

We can see lots of Salad Burnet--an old fashioned herb which has beautiful accordion like leaves that unfold and taste like cucumber. Munching on one always makes me think of summer.

Our lovage is also sprouting. Lovage is a bit like celery but is more anise-like in flavor and has a hollow stem--making it ideal for sipping Bloody Marys! It is one of the secret ingredients in our mixed herb pesto and is great in salads. My mouth is watering for summer right now.

We have lots of varieties of Thyme, Sage, Chives and other alliums, and Japanese parsley. Perhaps my favorite unusual herb is angelica. These rich red or deep green stems are topped with big umbrella like ball of "flowers," and it self seeds easily. It takes about 2-3 years to flower and can grow up to 8 feet tall in some conditions. You've probably seen "candied angelica" (as a flavoring and/or dessert with Italian pastries and fruit cake.) Chef Bill is always finding crazy wats to use this striking element.

I was happy to see that our rosemary plant winterized over perfectly and is flowering up a storm in our greenhouse. And, we are crossing our fingers that our Lemon Verbena trees survive their 7th winter. The leaf of this "tender" perennial tree has very high concentration of oil so it is magical when we need to infuse a lemon flavor.

The Japanese Parsley is now at its 3rd year of rejuvenating--in fact, it may be rejuvenating "too much" as it seems to be everywhere.

Now, if someone would promise me that we won't have any snow in the next few days, I'd be a happy caterer and gardener!!