Saturday, November 14, 2009
Jeffersonian Feast Sold Out! New Class Added!
We are very excited by the overflowing interest in our Jeffersonian Feast cooking and museum class on November 20th so we are adding another class on Saturday November 21st! So please sign up and join us and 12 foodies to eat and talk and be merry! Just before the holidays... what a way to start!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Cooking Class in November
A Jeffersonian Feast
Amanda Smith Caterers and ArtBites are pleased to celebrate the holidays and present an art tour and cooking class tracing the French influence in early American art, architecture, food and wine as inspired by Thomas Jefferson. The first American "foodie", Jefferson's tastes were shaped during his time as minister to France. He always looked at the Old World to make the New World better and introduced many staple ingredients into the American culinary pantheon.
First, join Maite Gomez-Rejón of ArtBites at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York to weave art and culinary history while viewing the Met's collection of French and American paintings and decorative arts. Then head to the kitchen for a cooking class and dinner inspired by 18th century French and American recipes and by Amanda Smith's cookbook 'Paris in a Basket' that would make Thomas Jefferson proud!
Friday, November 20, 2009
5:30 to 6:30pm - museum discussion
7:00 to 9:30pm - cooking class and sit down dinner
Limited to 12 participants
Menu:
Salade aux Herbes avec la Vinaigrette a l'Estragon - Herb Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette
Artichauds a l'Anchoiade - Artichoke Anchoiade
Raie a la Vinaigrette Tiede - Skate with Warm Caper and Olive Vinaigrette
Poulet aux Figues et Calvados - Chicken with Figs and Calvados
Pommes Fondants - Braised Potatoes
Haricots Verts - French Green Beans
Tarte au Citron - Lemon Tart with Raspberry Coulis
Cost of $130 per person includes museum admission, tour, van transfer from museum to kitchen, all ingredients, instruction, recipes and wine with dinner.
Register under "upcoming classes" at www.artbites.net.
Instructor biographies:
Maite Gomez-Rejón
Maite has a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin, an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Grande Diplome from the French Culinary Institute in New York City. Since 1995, Maite has worked in the education departments of such renowned museums as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, LACMA and the Getty Villa; and has worked as a private chef and caterer. In 2008, Maite founded ArtBites, art and culinary history combined with hands-on cooking instruction, which she has taught at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens and Norton Simon Museum in Los Angeles, and the 92nd Street Y and Isamu Noguchi Museum in New York.
Amanda Pilar Smith
Amanda has a BS from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University where she also received an MPS in Agricultural Economics. Since graduating, she has lived and worked in many parts of the world, among them South East Asia working with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, South Africa, Mexico working with Del Monte Fresh Produce and Paris, France where she lived five years and co-wrote a book "Paris in a Basket" which is a sociological study about the open air food markets and history of the "city of light". Amanda started her New York based catering company, Amanda Smith Caterers (aka Good Food in a Basket) in 2002, and has been luring and wowing clients since. Maite was Amanda's first chef and remains an inspiring and ever present contributor to the company.
amanda smith caterers - catering & event planning - t. 917 626 6055 - www.amandasmithcaterers.com
Amanda Smith Caterers and ArtBites are pleased to celebrate the holidays and present an art tour and cooking class tracing the French influence in early American art, architecture, food and wine as inspired by Thomas Jefferson. The first American "foodie", Jefferson's tastes were shaped during his time as minister to France. He always looked at the Old World to make the New World better and introduced many staple ingredients into the American culinary pantheon.
First, join Maite Gomez-Rejón of ArtBites at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York to weave art and culinary history while viewing the Met's collection of French and American paintings and decorative arts. Then head to the kitchen for a cooking class and dinner inspired by 18th century French and American recipes and by Amanda Smith's cookbook 'Paris in a Basket' that would make Thomas Jefferson proud!
Friday, November 20, 2009
5:30 to 6:30pm - museum discussion
7:00 to 9:30pm - cooking class and sit down dinner
Limited to 12 participants
Menu:
Salade aux Herbes avec la Vinaigrette a l'Estragon - Herb Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette
Artichauds a l'Anchoiade - Artichoke Anchoiade
Raie a la Vinaigrette Tiede - Skate with Warm Caper and Olive Vinaigrette
Poulet aux Figues et Calvados - Chicken with Figs and Calvados
Pommes Fondants - Braised Potatoes
Haricots Verts - French Green Beans
Tarte au Citron - Lemon Tart with Raspberry Coulis
Cost of $130 per person includes museum admission, tour, van transfer from museum to kitchen, all ingredients, instruction, recipes and wine with dinner.
Register under "upcoming classes" at www.artbites.net.
Instructor biographies:
Maite Gomez-Rejón
Maite has a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin, an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Grande Diplome from the French Culinary Institute in New York City. Since 1995, Maite has worked in the education departments of such renowned museums as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, LACMA and the Getty Villa; and has worked as a private chef and caterer. In 2008, Maite founded ArtBites, art and culinary history combined with hands-on cooking instruction, which she has taught at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens and Norton Simon Museum in Los Angeles, and the 92nd Street Y and Isamu Noguchi Museum in New York.
Amanda Pilar Smith
Amanda has a BS from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University where she also received an MPS in Agricultural Economics. Since graduating, she has lived and worked in many parts of the world, among them South East Asia working with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, South Africa, Mexico working with Del Monte Fresh Produce and Paris, France where she lived five years and co-wrote a book "Paris in a Basket" which is a sociological study about the open air food markets and history of the "city of light". Amanda started her New York based catering company, Amanda Smith Caterers (aka Good Food in a Basket) in 2002, and has been luring and wowing clients since. Maite was Amanda's first chef and remains an inspiring and ever present contributor to the company.
amanda smith caterers - catering & event planning - t. 917 626 6055 - www.amandasmithcaterers.com
Saturday, September 12, 2009
civilization is desirable
Upon reading the New York Times Style section last Thursday, I read an article about Comme des Garcons whose label, perfumes and stylist, Rei Kawakubo, were brought to my attention when I was living in Paris by a dear friend who worked there and was in charge of their perfumes.
This article caught my attention, not only for bringing to the foreground what this artist has been doing for all of these years without any concern for following any trend but for following herself - whether as a designer or her belief in her designers - but for a sentence that she states at the end which has been itching at me since I came back to the United States from Paris:
"America hasn't quite grocked the idea that civilization is desirable; that culture is the cornerstone of civilization, and that thriving culture supports unfettered - read: occasionally offensive - art.
Art can't just press your pleasure buttons and sell itself to you. It can't need to care whether you like it - that's the space where new ideas are born."
I have constantly felt this unsettled by this in presenting myself and my company. Trying desperately to live outside the box with the pressure to push me inside. You need an unequivacle self certainty to manage this or be a risk taker.
This article caught my attention, not only for bringing to the foreground what this artist has been doing for all of these years without any concern for following any trend but for following herself - whether as a designer or her belief in her designers - but for a sentence that she states at the end which has been itching at me since I came back to the United States from Paris:
"America hasn't quite grocked the idea that civilization is desirable; that culture is the cornerstone of civilization, and that thriving culture supports unfettered - read: occasionally offensive - art.
Art can't just press your pleasure buttons and sell itself to you. It can't need to care whether you like it - that's the space where new ideas are born."
I have constantly felt this unsettled by this in presenting myself and my company. Trying desperately to live outside the box with the pressure to push me inside. You need an unequivacle self certainty to manage this or be a risk taker.
Monday, August 10, 2009
FOOD STYLING
Last week I was asked to prepare some desserts for a photo shoot at a swanky New York studio. It all seemed pretty straight forward until I remembered the sinking souffles and shiny salads of the days when my co-author and I were photographing recipes for our book. At the time, we were purists and refused to succumb to using anything artificial to alter the image (we did though place an upside down ramekin inside the onion soup bowl to keep the bread afloat) - so I insisted on the same parameters here.
The stylist, director and photographer all agreed that the colors had to be vibrant and the shapes as angular as possible. They wanted deep purples and oranges and were looking for straight lines.
Fortunately, on my way back to the kitchen, I remembered that we had made hibiscus flower curd tarts for the Mexican independence day celebration last year that was a deep purplish pink and I had some in my freezer. I went to the market and bought raspberries for a rich raspberry mousse.
Once in the kitchen, the jamaica (hibiscus) worked like a gem... I filled one of the crystal flutes that they had given me to work with and the result was a mouthwatering, satiny vision that needed only a dallop of cream on top (the cream i have to admit was loaded with sugar and stabilizer so that it would not fall) One down and two to go.
The raspberry mousse though delicious and luxious just made me yawn and I kept trying to alter it but it was just ... cream with a faint pink and dots of yellow... it killed me but this was selection two.
Midnight came around and the orange creation was NOT proving to be a success.... I had even started using food coloring to explore the different hues. Nothing doing. I finally remembered a mango puree that we often use to make specialty cocktails at big summer parties. I pulled one out of the freezer and was giddy at the site of the golden orange that reminded me of the robes that the monks wear in Thailand. Little had to be done - just a bit of gelatin for one part and a larger bit of whipped cream for the other - to compose a beautifully bi-colored creation that had the same elegance and sensuality of the first. I was done.
After dropping everything off, I went home and laughed at myself and the anxiety that I had passed. For all I knew, none of these would ever make it to the final cut anyway. I was proud though to know that I had used natural products and not fallen back on artificial fillers. For me, the food should look real and not a tennis ball covered in paint.
This weekend, I read a couple of articles in the New York Times that gave me further solace: creative folk who are foodies and also adhere to the same principles.... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/dining/29movie.html... hurray!
The stylist, director and photographer all agreed that the colors had to be vibrant and the shapes as angular as possible. They wanted deep purples and oranges and were looking for straight lines.
Fortunately, on my way back to the kitchen, I remembered that we had made hibiscus flower curd tarts for the Mexican independence day celebration last year that was a deep purplish pink and I had some in my freezer. I went to the market and bought raspberries for a rich raspberry mousse.
Once in the kitchen, the jamaica (hibiscus) worked like a gem... I filled one of the crystal flutes that they had given me to work with and the result was a mouthwatering, satiny vision that needed only a dallop of cream on top (the cream i have to admit was loaded with sugar and stabilizer so that it would not fall) One down and two to go.
The raspberry mousse though delicious and luxious just made me yawn and I kept trying to alter it but it was just ... cream with a faint pink and dots of yellow... it killed me but this was selection two.
Midnight came around and the orange creation was NOT proving to be a success.... I had even started using food coloring to explore the different hues. Nothing doing. I finally remembered a mango puree that we often use to make specialty cocktails at big summer parties. I pulled one out of the freezer and was giddy at the site of the golden orange that reminded me of the robes that the monks wear in Thailand. Little had to be done - just a bit of gelatin for one part and a larger bit of whipped cream for the other - to compose a beautifully bi-colored creation that had the same elegance and sensuality of the first. I was done.
After dropping everything off, I went home and laughed at myself and the anxiety that I had passed. For all I knew, none of these would ever make it to the final cut anyway. I was proud though to know that I had used natural products and not fallen back on artificial fillers. For me, the food should look real and not a tennis ball covered in paint.
This weekend, I read a couple of articles in the New York Times that gave me further solace: creative folk who are foodies and also adhere to the same principles.... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/dining/29movie.html... hurray!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Meeting Julia
The night before last I was invited to the screening of "Julie and Julia" by a friend at New York Magazine and I relived the time I spent in Paris. The movie is a hoot - especially Meryl Streep - for any foodie.
The character of Julie really brought out the importance that Julia Child has played in the life of any person involved in food. When I was writing my book and our recipes were not quite right, her book was the source of the solutions.
When I returned from Paris in 2000, my co-author and I had the idea of doing a television show following the theme of our book.... travelling through Paris on our bicylces, visiting markets and then going to beautiful homes to cook! We went to see Geoffrey Drummond, the director who has been involved in Julia's tv fame since the beginning and, unfortunately because Julia was having her renaissance, he did not have time to consider our project and we left it.
Anyhow, I started following Julia again and when she came to do a signing for her new book, I ran to Barnes and Noble and brought her a copy of our book as a gift. Meeting her was knee-wobbling - she was so very gracious.
All of these memories came back the other night! Viva Julia!
The character of Julie really brought out the importance that Julia Child has played in the life of any person involved in food. When I was writing my book and our recipes were not quite right, her book was the source of the solutions.
When I returned from Paris in 2000, my co-author and I had the idea of doing a television show following the theme of our book.... travelling through Paris on our bicylces, visiting markets and then going to beautiful homes to cook! We went to see Geoffrey Drummond, the director who has been involved in Julia's tv fame since the beginning and, unfortunately because Julia was having her renaissance, he did not have time to consider our project and we left it.
Anyhow, I started following Julia again and when she came to do a signing for her new book, I ran to Barnes and Noble and brought her a copy of our book as a gift. Meeting her was knee-wobbling - she was so very gracious.
All of these memories came back the other night! Viva Julia!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
NY PHILHARMONIC PICNICS IN THE PARK
Amanda Smith Caterers had the honor of preparing our picnics for 350 Patrons of the New York Philharmonic this year. We had special reusable sacks made for the occasion and included one of our three menus served in 100% recycled containers, cutlery and cups. 
Mayor Bloombers, Alec Baldwin and the hosts of the concert Didi and Oscar Shafer were among the guests, but this little boy was our favorite!
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