Category Entertaining

Parties That Cook Connects with the Land at Cooking Farm to Table

0 comments By The Kitchen Whisperer Filed in Entertaining, News & Events Tagged with bay area cooking classes, Canvas Ranch, cooking class, cooking farm-to-table, corporate team building, corporate team building activity, farm-to-table dining, hands-on cooking August 19th, 2011 @ 4:41 pm

Last Saturday was Parties That Cook’s first-ever Cooking Farm to Table Class. It was such a fun event that we are now even more excited for the possibilities of future Cooking Farm to Table team building events than we already were! (Who knew that was possible??)

The folks at Canvas Ranch were great. Farmer Deborah gave an in-depth tour of the farm grounds, including the chicken coop where the free-range chickens dwell and the pasture where guests mingled with cashmere goats! Talk about getting “hands-on”, guests were then able to pick the veggies to be used in the evening’s meal. After whipping up a delicious menu that included Crostini of Goat Cheese and Tomato Jam, Balsamic Marinated Skirt Steak (or Portobello) with Herbed Breadcrumbs, Summer Squash Gratin with Salsa Verde and Gruyere, Strawberry Potpies with Buttermilk Whipped Cream, and more, guests enjoyed the “fruits of their labor” from the best seats in the house (below). What a great view!

Amongst the crowd were a couple of PTC MVPs, including Director of Event and Office Operations, Rosie, and our Warehouse Manager, Melissa. We even invited our newest Event Planner, Christina, who was eager to see what Parties That Cook events are all about! We were so glad to hear such positive feedback from her, “I had such a blast yesterday — a perfect summer afternoon surrounded by new friends and delicious food at Canvas Ranch.” The rest of us in the office were quite jealous of their weekend farm adventure – you might just see some other PTC faces at the next Cooking Farm-to-Table Class on September 17th! Keep on the look out for a SEATTLE Cooking Farm to Table Class currently in the works!

Parties That Cook Gets Scientific in the Kitchen with BMRN and Genentech

0 comments By The Kitchen Whisperer Filed in Entertaining, News & Events Tagged with BMRN, Genentech, kitchen challenge, sumptuous small plates, tapas recipes, team building, team building event ideas August 15th, 2011 @ 12:17 pm

In the last couple of weeks, we have seen no lull in our busy streak. On Friday, August 5th, BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) hosted a fun Sumptuous Small Plates corporate team building event. Lead Chef, Laura, reported that the event ran smoothly and she thought it was a really nice group. She added that the guests were “excited about what the event had to offer and were proud of their work.” As they should be!

The mouthwatering menu consisted of such delicious items as Lettuce Cups Filled with Gingery Pork, Shiitake Mushrooms and Hoisin Sauce, Ground Sirloin Sliders with Smoky Cheddar Cheese, Little Fish Tacos with Tomato Salad and Chipotle-Lime Crema, Crostini of Homemade Ricotta and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Jam and Banana and Mango Spring Rolls with Caramel-Rum Sauce. I’m getting hungry already!

Chef Laura’s words were mirrored by the BMRN host, Paul F., who commented that, “It was just overall fun, with a great atmosphere.” This is not hard to believe, since Paul had selected, Zephyr, a beautiful San Francisco showroom, as the venue!

The following Monday, August 8th, repeat client Genentech hosted a high-energy Kitchen Challenge team building event at Thomas Fogarty Winery. Linda B., the Genentech host, best described the atmosphere as “controlled chaos”. Linda also reported, “Everyone told me it was great fun and they loved this activity,” – a fun way to end a morning of meetings! She found that the best part was “the opportunity to work with people on our team that we typically don’t have the chance to interact with on a fun task. I got to know some people better from a different perspective.” Mission accomplished!

Lead Chef, Scott, hit another one out of the park! It’s no easy task to engage people just out of a 3-hr meeting. Chef Scott and the rest of the PTC team guided guests through an event with NO recipes (the norm for a Kitchen Challenge). Linda commented that the guests created some terrific dishes, “everything the participants wanted or needed was provided… The staff was very responsive and right there when we had questions or needed help — good direction and handy preparation tips.” Nicely done, PTC team!

What a great sign of things to come as we slowly approach the busy Holiday Season!
We love hearing about all the fun in the field! If you would like to see your Parties That Cook event featured in our blog, just let us know!