A New Kitchen Adventure

Back in January, a friend of mine asked me to help her design a menu for a baby shower she was hosting in March. After a few discussions about it, she asked if I would be interested in catering the event. Of course I was interested! Though, I do admit I was (and still am) a bit nervous about everything turning out the way I want it to. I've never cooked for people I don't know! Regardless, she offered me an incredible opportunity and I knew I had to take it.

The baby shower is a mid-morning Sunday brunch event with a color scheme of grapefruit pink and navy blue. I wanted to keep the menu simple, so I could drop off the food at her house and she could easily put it out for a buffet style service. I also wanted to maintain as much focus as possible on locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. After pouring over cookbooks and my favorite food blogs, I built the menu, which the my friend (the hostess) was so excited about:

• Three quiches: traditional quiche Lorraine; arugula, lemon & homemade ricotta; and swiss chard, crimini mushroom, & sharp white cheddar
• Beet & blood orange salad with spicy greens & blood orange sherry vinaigrette
• Raspberry buttermilk and blueberry lemon mini scones with sweet lemon butter
• Truffles two ways: chocolate blueberry with lavender sugar & chocolate caramel with himalayan pink salt

I plan on sharing some of the recipes with you over the next two days as I prep and cook all of these dishes, as well as share what I learned along the way. First thing I learned? Not to boil sugar and write a blog post at the same time, because you end up with burnt sugar.

Regardless of how embarrassing or premature this is, I've also named my little catering company Sage Kitchen. I'd love to know what you think!