Fun Playing with Food at the Queen's Croquet

Last weekend, we catered for the 22nd Annual Queen's Croquet, in Cincinnati Ohio! My team would provide meals for our volunteers during the day on Friday, and meals for all of the approximately 80 attendees from Friday dinner through Sunday's farewell lunch. The Queen's Croquet started as a Memorial Day weekend grill out party at Queen Mary Lee's house. Then, it got out of hand and moved to a hotel. Our theme this year: Building Bridges. 

Beginning with a bare hotel ballroom, a bunch of tables, 4 refrigerators, and plentiful extension cords and outlet taps provided by the hotel, we assembled our kitchen and serving line. To the rear right, we had a portable oven, commercial rice cooker, 17 quart roaster, and room to plug in crock pots as needed for the two Saturday dinner items that would cook in crock pots.

In the photo above, Queen Mary Lee peruses the snack food service line (dry salty and sweet treats, plus a hotdog machine, veggies and dip, cheese cubes, pepperoni and other goodies) with input from Court Jester Drake. The Queen's Grillfriend, John, is in the doorway contemplating filling the hotdog cooker, as his grilling assistant Lori watches the scene. The working end of our kitchen consisted of the six butane stoves you see here.

We prepared a simple, yet delicious breakfast for our volunteers Friday morning: Tater Tot Casserole with Eggs, Milk and Cheddar Cheese. I put them together Thursday evening, so all we had to do Friday morning was pop them in the portable oven.

Friday lunch consisted of "make your own" cold cut sandwiches, with a simple tuna salad, lettuce & tomatoes, and cheese slices. Sorry, no photos.

Friday night, the party would commence in earnest. As we began planning for the event over the winter, the Queen had mentioned her love of Chinese Buffet, and so we determined to bring a bit of that to our first meal. Behold, Bridges to the East:

As usual, our dinner buffet began with three soup choices. 

Shantung (Chinese Velvet Chicken Corn Soup With Bacon) made by Me

Vegan Minestrone (made by CJ Howarth)

The third soup (no photo) was Beef Barley, from Gordon Food Service. GFS's "ready to use" line of refrigerated soups (available by order only at the retail stores) actually taste very good, though you don't want to know what is in them! Virginia had saved a few bags in the freezer after a large party she held in February, and donated them to the Croquet!

Dinty Moore Beef Stew with Peas

Virginia also donated this, to ensure that anyone who didn't care for Chinese-style food would have something they'd like to eat. 

Steamed White and Brown Rices

Beef with Black Pepper Sauce, Carrots & Scapes

Virginia also graced us with a large quantity of garlic scapes from her backyard, which is loaded with garlic plants. We used them in a variety of dishes over the weekend (and offered some finely chopped on the salad bar), including this one. Here's a photo of naked scapes, from our garden:

I used inexpensive beef roast for the black pepper sauce dish. Giant Eagle offers this roast cut into "steaks." After cutting the steaks into "stir fry" size pieces, and bathing it in an overnight marinade of egg white, cornstarch and sherry, I passed the meat through hot oil (about 250-275 degrees) to velvetize it. For service, I heated up cooking oil in a pot, sauteed the carrots and scapes for a few minutes, then added the beef, then my pre-made sauce. Once the sauce bubbled - it was done! The meat was very moist and, most important, tender.

Chicken with Broccoli in Brown Bean Sauce

This entree resulted from a similar process. Prior to the party, chicken breast was cut up, marinated in egg white, cornstarch and sherry, then velvetized in hot oil and chilled. The broccoli was blanched for about a minute, then chilled and bagged. After sauteeing some garlic and ginger, I added the previously prepared sauce mixture to a pot and brought it to a bubble. Once it thickened, the chicken and broccoli each went in. Stir fry without the wok!

"Stir Fried" Green Beans with Garlic

The Queen had alerted me that this is her favorite Chinese Buffet dish. Thanks to fabulous green beans and garlic from Cleveland's own Premier Produce (and also the broccoli used above - thank you Joe Harvey!), I was able to make this dish happen, in several small batches, on a butane burner. The beans were tipped and blanched in advance, then chilled. For service, oil was heated in my five quart rondo pan, and sliced garlic added. When it was hot, the green beans got their turn. A sprinkle of salt - and done! 

Cold Sesame Noodle Salad

Again, the main ingredient (the noodles) was blanched and chilled pre-event. Add the sauce (also made in advance), and some sesame oil, then toss, and this was ready to serve!

Edamame Salad

Our friend Caren made this tasty vegetarian option.

Finally, we offered a salad bar (and fortune cookies):

Choices included lettuce-radish mix, grape tomatoes, chopped scapes, shredded carrots, peas, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, stuffed olives and mushrooms.

Also served up after dinner was an amazing bridge cake, constructed by Ernie and Nita. Here is a link to a photo of it taken by one of our guests. In addition to being the Cake Fabricators to the Queen, Ernie and Nita provided hot breakfast on both Saturday (made to order eggs and omelets, and pancakes) and Sunday (scrambled eggs & cheese).

We usually don't serve soup at the Saturday Lunch (The Great American Grill Out), but since Virginia had some more GFS product to donate, we began the line with GFS Vegan Minestrone. 

Though not in the same league as CJ's homemade version had been, our guests did enjoy this option. Not to be outdone by GFS - CJ also provided a cold soup for Saturday's lunch:

Gazpacho!

For the baked beans (which we make from scratch every year), I took inspiration from a recipe I sampled at the North Union Farmers' Market over the winter.

Apple & Bacon Baked Beans

Here, small white beans are joined by bacon (and the renderings from cooking the bacon down), Granny Smith Apples, Ketchup, Onion, Brown Sugar and Cinnamon. Yum.

Grilled Half Pound Burgers

John grilled up all of these juicy meats - burgers, chicken (honey teriyaki and plain), mild metts and beer-soaked brats.

Of course, you can't have burgers without fixins:

Or cole slaw and potato salad:

Chef Eric's Recipe Cole Slaw

GFS Southern Style Potato Salad with Fresh Dill

And the serving line ends with fresh watermelon slices!

Saturday dinner was titled: Bridges to Satiety, and we loaded up on the comfort food!

The base for this Bridge over Boiled Waters was Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup (another Virginia donation) cooked with cream and milk instead of water, with the Tortellini (heated from frozen right in the soup pot) floating (thus providing the bridge over the boiled waters) and fresh basil. Canned soup never tasted so good! The other two soups were also Virginia's GFS overstock:

Potato-Bacon Soup

Italian Wedding Soup

Virginia prepared the crock pot mac 'n cheese that followed (cooked pasta, butter, Velveeta and milk, and it cooks itself). 

As it turned out, Scott's "Bite in the Ass" Chili was a bit more, um, bite-ier this year - I discovered that it paired amazingly well with the mac n cheese. Scott, who always brings a pot of chili to this party, is also our Recycler; virtually all of the aluminum, glass and plastic used over the weekend is recycled, thanks to Scott.

"A Bite in the Ass Chili" made by Scott

Virginia made her crockpot chicken and stuffing, which Her Majesty greatly enjoyed at the February party, and it was a big hit!

Since our theme was bridges, the one food that dominated my planning was Rice A Roni - I remembered that the package would sometimes have an image of the Golden Gate Bridge on it. Beth was able to find and deliver some graphics - and so the challenge was on: could I make Rice A Roni from scratch for a crowd? Oh, yes.

Beef Style Rice A Roni with GFS Meatballs  (another donation from Virginia), topped with Garden Parsley

Vegetarian Rice A Roni (made with butter instead of goose fat)

Caren made the above salad of cous cous, garbanzo beans, apricots and fresh herbs.

The serving line concluded with another salad bar:

The salad bar carried blanched green beans that hadn't been used on Friday, and the remainder of Friday's tuna salad, together with the usual suspects of carrots, mushrooms and cheese. 

Sunday's eating began with Ernie's scrambled eggs and some delightful muffins that CJ prepared. At lunchtime, the leftovers parade commenced, with re-heated burgers and baked beans, lunch meat, various vegetation, sesame noodle salad, and a whole fresh crockpot of mac n cheese! What a great weekend of cooking and eating with friends! 

Indeed, at the Queen's Court, held on Saturday evening, I was treated to a serenade from my towel-snapping Hospitality Crew, to the tune of Whatever Lola Wants (from the play, Damn Yankees; thank you Becky for coming up with this!):

Whatever Nancy wants

Nancy gets.

And little man, little Nancy

wants you!

Make up your mind to have

no regrets.

Put an apron on,

until the dawn.

You're through!

She feeds us well,

that's what she aims for.

The food is swell,

that's what we came for.

Whatever Nancy wants, 

Nancy gets!

You're no exception to the rule,

she's irresistible, you fool.

Give in!

Give in!

Fun playing with food and friends in Croquetia. We're already planning for the next party!

Fun Playing With Food at the Cleveland Asian Festival, 2012

With a rhythmic welcome from the Kwan Family Lion Dancers, Cleveland kicked off its third annual Asian Festival this morning. We actually arrived rather early, so we could pick up some needed items at Park To Shop (and park our car). While we would have loved to spend the entire day at the Festival as we did last year, too many pressing obligations would make that impossible this time. The Festival is free to attend and open to all. In addition to food, two stages provide non-stop entertainment, and there are vendors galore selling products and services that may interest you. A children's area offers games, crafts, attractions and "inflatable sumo wrestling" for the minis. And Lolly the Trolley provides complimentary tours of Cleveland Asiatown.

A few changes for this year - a larger eating area is provided in the "food court" a/k/a the main Asia Plaza parking lot. The performance stage that shared the space with food vendors last year is now larger and located on Payne Avenue proper. Some of the vendors we loved last year did not return, but many did, together with some new faces. 

One thing we noticed was that some of the spicier cuisines seemed, um, gentled down a bit, especially compared to last year. Still, it all tasted good, and that's what counts.

Since we arrived shortly before the official commencement of the festivities, we walked around the food court and photographed even though not everyone was ready. The photos are in the order of the vendors; we didn't eat in the order shown, but if you decide to visit the Festival tomorrow, this order will make it easier to find your target.

Otani Japanese Restaurant returned with their portable sushi case

#1 Pho was the first new face we encountered

We had wanted to try Flavors of India last year, but lacked sufficient intestinal real estate. How would their Nepalese cuisine taste?

Everest Lamb Curry: Lamb with ginger, onion, tomatoes and Himalayan spices

Though we really enjoyed this plate, we wished that the tempting spices that played peek-a-boo with our palates were more prominent. Though the fragrance said "India," the flavors were a little different and we wanted more! We licked up every bit of that gravy (thank goodness they gave us a spoon). 

We had chatted with a gentleman while enjoying our first plates, as he consumed Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings) - delicate dough containing pork or crab and a savory liquid filling. He pointed us to Li Wah, but warned us that these weren't the greatest. He was right - my guess is that they came out of a food service package, which doesn't make sense because Li Wah had it's full restaurant kitchen right on the premises. Oh well.

Li Wah's Little Cousin

E. 30th Cafe also had the same food items for sale at a table in front of the restaurant, in Asia Plaza. No pizza this year.

We loved the grilled chicken skewer from Asian Grille last year. 

I am an unabashed Koko Bakery lover. If you've never experienced a real Chinese bakery, you need to give Koko a try! As with last year, both sweets and savories are available:

We brought home a number of the above items, which wrapped flaky pastry around various savory fillings. Our selections of Bacon & Wasabi (above, right), Sausage & Cheese and Curry Potato & Cheese (above, left), as well as Ham & Cheese & Vegetables & Cheese were fabulous after just a few minutes in the toaster oven. We've got a couple of Taro strips (two photos up) that will probably wait until tomorrow.

Map of Thailand, as it did last year, had "show plates" at the ready; as last year, I photographed them but unfortunately did not get to sample their wares. Here's the dish that gave me the best photo:

Thai Style Basil Chicken

King Fire Baby looked so good last year, but we'd hit "uncle"! This year - they were a first stop.

Grilled baby ribs with Khmer pickled vegetables

Lemon Grass Chicken Wings

Iced Mint Green Tea Lemonade

King Fire Baby is offering a coupon on its website: purchase $12 from the booth, and get an Iced Mint Green Tea Lemonade for free! Since our order of one rib plate, one wing plate, and one tea got us over $12, we got my tea free. A little sweet for my taste, perhaps, but a truly lovely combination of tea and lemonade. My only wish was for the Cambodian flavors to pop a bit more - both meats were delicious and nicely cooked, and the slaw was yummy, but I wanted more tingle, more spice! 

And now we have . . . our pick for Best Bites of Festival (of those we tasted, of course): Tamarind Asian Cuisine! Alas - I cannot link you to a website, or even a Facebook page, because it seems that caterer Marina Villanueva Velmin doesn't have any yet! But this Filipina can cook!

Pork Adobo, Pancit Bihon (rice noodles with chicken, sausage, hard cooked egg),  pickled vegetables 

Tender, luscious pork in adobo sauce joined stir fried rice noodles loaded with a sausage similar to lap cheong but softer, chicken, hard cooked eggs, and vegetables. The small side of pickled vegetables (which had some chilies) provided acid and heat - and all of these elements together combined to make this dish our absolute favorite of the day.  Marina's business card lists contact info in Westlake and Venice Florida - I hope that we see more of her cooking here in Cleveland!

We took home a Banh Mi. When we were finally hungry again, we removed the crisp vegetables and toasted it, then put the veggies back. Yum.

Ono Turo-Turo was another booth we had been forced to pass on last year. It was at the top of our list, but by the time we got to them, we knew we'd be packing most of our goodies up for later noshing.

Dinoguan (Chocolate Meat) 

This delicious mole-like dish was served up with plenty of incendiary whole chilies - so we were a little surprised that the meat, while perfectly tender and delicious, with hints of chocolate and seasonings, didn't have much chili flavor. Last year, after we'd reached satiety, our friend Stuart told us we had to try their food. While I'm glad that we did this year, I'm still puzzled how something cooked with that many chilies could taste so mild. We'll cut the chilies up and add them when we reheat the leftovers.

This signless stand was presented by the West Side Market's own Kim Se Cambodian

And I somehow neglected to photograph Always Gutom, Always Pinoy, a Filipino stand that we much enjoyed last year. Looks like they had an awesome steamed pork bun that we missed. 

Once you step out of the food court, you will find three stands serving shaved ice in the Payne Street concourse; I got photos of two of them. It looked like refreshing fun!

Whew - lots of great food to play with at the Cleveland Asian Festival! And there is still one day to go in the 2012 edition. The weather is grand and the food is fun at the 2012 Cleveland Asian Festival, so go on out  on May 20 and play with your food!