Tag corporate team building activity

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’s Chicago Team Mixes Things Up with Wrigley

0 comments By The Kitchen Whisperer Filed in Entertaining, News & Events Tagged with cooking party, corporate team building, corporate team building activity, event blog, italian menu, taste of napa, wrigley chicago August 8th, 2011 @ 2:20 pm

A couple of weeks ago, Parties That Cook knocked out 11 events in 3 days… Last week was no different! Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were filled nearly to the brim with corporate team building events, public cooking classes and recipe testing! Sneaking in right before the madness began was a Monday evening corporate event hosted by Wrigley. The company opted to entertain all 24 guests in a private home in Chicago.

Guests arrived from Mexico, Canada and all over the U.S. for this Chef’s Table event. Brandy, our Chicago Operations Manager and Chef Instructor, led the guests through a quick cooking demonstration outdoors before splitting the group into teams. Don B., the Wrigley host, worked with Beth, one of our great event planners, to create a custom menu. The result was a complete success! Guests enjoyed the Italian options like the Savory Plum and Thyme Bruschetta with Shaved Pecorino Romano Cheese , Flash Fried Cornmeal Calamari with Sauce Arrabbiata and a Warm Chocolate Budino with Raspberry Sauce. They also liked dishes from our Taste of Napa Menu, including Chilled Vegetable Gazpacho with Spice Watermelon Relish, Grilled Filet Mignon with Ricotta Salata Salsa Verde and a Savory Garlic and Cherry Tomato Strata. All great choices!

In the end, Brandy reported that the guests loved the event! They were really invested in their recipes, and after the meal, many guests made a point to let Brandy know what a great time they had – we love that! Don reported that the best part was “seeing what my coworkers created, then eating it. This was successful because the team definitely worked together and enjoyed the evening… It was fantastic.” What great feedback!