The end of the year came upon us like a flash. One moment we were busy at work like the elves and suddenly we found ourselves underneath the tree filled with buche de noel and champagne and paper scattered everywhere!
It's been quite a year with a lot of new challenges, many surprises, disappointments and accomplishments; but there are few of us who aren't happy to know that it is over.
Amanda Smith Caterers is gearing up for the new year with many new projects. Not only is the catering keeping us busy but we find that more and more clients are asking us to help in the coordination and planning of their events as they find themselves restricted by venues or simply they want us to oversee the details.
The cooking classes have proved to be incredibly popular and one of our students even offered to host the next one in her home. Companies have shown interest as a group activity for their staff and the word is spreading that not only is it a great place to learn but a good time to be had by all.
In addition, we are looking for a permanent home for our kitchen where we can receive our clients not only for breakfast, lunch or a glass of wine, but also where they can visualize their parties first hand.
All of this may seem like an overzealous plan, but we feel that our surviviving the last 12 months is a message that we should keep moving ahead and with full force. We hope that everyone enters this new year with the same strength and energy... of course after you get up from under the tree and tip toe your way to the new year.
Thank you for your constant support - we couldn't have done it without you.
Feliz Ano Nuevo a todos!
Amanda Pilar Smith and her Team
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
A Class of Art and Food
"Thomas Jefferson served as minister to the Court of Louis XVI from 1784 to 1789. Though no stranger to French cuisine when he set sail, he left behind the Virginian tradition of ham, fried Chicken and collard greens for the spectacle that was French cuisine" this is how Maite Gomez Rejon from ArtBites begins her talk about Thomas Jefferson at the class we held on November 20th and 21st at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.Maite and I have known eachother for almost 10 years - we have worked together, cooked together, laughed together... and are now putting it all together to teach together.
After touring the Metropolitan's French Galleries where we admired paintings, lavish rooms, silver platters and fine porcelain, we ventured to the American Wing to see the more moderate interiors and paintings. Maite brought these items to life with such insight and humor that even our most fervent museum-goers and historian were tickled to learn.
From the museum fourteen of us were shuttled to our kitchen midtown where prosecco and canapes were waiting us along with all of the fresh ingredients, menus and step by step instructions.
The menu was:
Salade aux Herbes - Herb Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette
Artichauds a l'Anchoiade - Artichoke Anchoiade
Raie a la Vinaigrette Tiede - Skate with Warm Caper and Olive Vinaigrette
Poulet aux Figure et Calvados - Chicken with Figs and Calvados
Pommes Fondants - Braised Potatoes
Tarte au Citron - Lemon Tart with Raspberry Coulis
Everyone rolled up their sleeves and started cooking and within two
hours we sat down to a wonderful meal. And both nights the results were equally delicious and perfectly executed. Bravo!
Our wines were donated by The Wine Advisory("Changing the world, one bottle at a time")
who are donating 10% of any bottles sold through our classes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
All in all it was a great time and we are looking forward to the next classes March 19 and 20 and the next in May. We'll keep you posted!
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!
Register under "upcoming classes" at http://www.artbites.net
Register under "upcoming classes" at http://www.artbites.net
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 http://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 - http://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 http://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 - http://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
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