Planning for A Red + Turquoise Day!

Joanna

Joanna Weddings Cuisine Thursday - French Cuisine Rehearsal Luncheon

Le Jardin du Thé Menu

French Cuisine for The Bridal Luncheon or an Afternoon Rehearsal Luncheon

Here is a look at just some of what we have planned coming your way this spring 2011 on one of our Wedding Brasserie Menus.

Bon Appetite!

Pâté de Canard

Duck Pate with pistachio nuts, cornichons and mustard

Assorted French Cheeses

Cranberry compote, tea infused honey and warm baguettes

Blinis de Saumon Fumé

Tea Smoked salmon and crème fraiche and oestra caviar

Grilled Rosemary Prawns

Green peppercorns & blood orange vinaigrette

Salade Nicoise

Salad Le Jardin

Mixed baby lettuces tossed with candied walnuts and black fig vinaigrette

Un Mambo à Paris

Grilled ham and Cheese with a sliced avocado, vine tomato and spicy goat cheese

Croque Monsieur

White bread with layers of Gruyere cheese, ham and béchamel, topped with melted Gruyere

Quiche aux Legume

Spring vegetable tart with baby greens raspberry vinaigrette

Oeufs poachés aux asperges

Poached eggs with grilled asparagus on rye toasts and shaved parmesan

Tea Smoked Salmon Salad

Baby mache lettuce tossed with vine tomatoes, caramelized fennel and mustard vinaigrette

Sandwich au Merguez

Spicy lamb sausage with harissa and grilled onions


Beverages
Coffee (French Roast)
Espresso (Vienna)
Cappuccino

Café au Lait

Hot Cocoa
Tea (Marriage Freres Paris)
Ice Tea
Lemonade
Champagne
Wines
Beers
 

Look for more Wedding Springtime Menus next week!

Avec Joie!
Joanna

Cuisine: Christmas Peppermint Bark - Joyeaux Noêl!

Here is a simple and easy little gift to make for all your friends and family. Fast and so Colorful, Peppermint Bark – I love the taste of Chocolate and Peppermint together - the richness of the Chocolate and the sweet, refreshing and crackly crushed pepperminty taste of the Candy Canes.  They're easy and exhilarating to make and great fun smashing and bashing the candy canes into linen napkins. All the ingredients are organic and can be found at Whole Foods Market. This recipe is enough for one cookie sheet of Christmas Peppermint Bark and makes enough bark for six "Peppermint Bark Gift Boxes."

Christmas Peppermint Bark Recipe

• 24 ounces white chocolate chips
• 24 ounces milk chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 20 candy canes

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with a vegetable cooking spray.

2. Pour all the milk chocolate chips onto the pan and spread them around. Bake for a couple of minutes until they look a bit melted. Then take the pan from the oven and spread the chocolate around with a spatula. Put the pan in the refrigerator to cool and harden for about 30 minutes.

3. Next open the candy canes, place them on a cookie sheet under a clean dishtowel and crush them with a hammer (as I said this part is fun). Sort the larger candy cane pieces from the candy cane dust (set aside).

4. Melt the white chocolate chips in a double boiler (I used a small glass bowl over a pan of hot water) and stirring constantly. Add the peppermint extract and stir in the candy cane dust which will color your chocolate a light shade of pink. Let it cool a bit, and then pour it over the top of your milk chocolate layer.

5. Sprinkle this last layer with candy cane pieces and press them down gently so as to not stick.

6. Refrigerate pan for several hours, shake off the excess candy pieces, and then break the bark into chunks. Best to keep Peppermint Bark refrigerated.

Pack pieces of Peppermint Bark in Cellophane Bags and place bags in small box cushioned with tissue paper.

Close box up and tie with a Big Fat Red Satin Bow.

Merry Christmas!

Summer Anniversay High Tea

Nothing could stop a Wedding Anniversary High Tea – not even105 degrees in Orange County this past week. Joanna Hendrie Events and Fêtes set the stage for an iconic High Tea complete with Silver Samovar, linens and tea cups, dessert plates, tea pots and porcelain from Rent A Tea Party. The 75 guests supped on tea sandwiches – a smoked salmon and dill, a sundried tomato and crème fraiche, a sweet onion and mascarpone cheese on raisin brioche and a Madeira and red current chicken. Also, high tea is not complete without the the savories: Mini chive biscuits and country ham, cherry bread and hazelnut port butter, fig chicken pate and cornichons on baguette, and mini croque monsieur. Sweet petite cookies – macaroons, blueberry shortbread, French crème brownies, and bite size lemon squares shared each of the guest tables with Joanna’s trademark organic farm fresh strawberries and Chantilly Crème – the strawberries crowned dessert plates and trays and were scattered among two tiered serveware of savories, sweets and sandwiches. (Thank You Vintage Tea Leaf http://vintagetealeaf.com/) - Tea for the day was a green tea called Casablanca and an Oolong from Ceylon called Peaches & Cream served with fresh apricot scones.

The anniversary gateau was a two tiered chocolate ganache cake with chocolate fudge filling, piping and served with a sparking wine from the South of France.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT Rent A Tea Party

My new pet rental firm in Orange County and Los Angeles – a service I now can’t live without – is Tricia Van Doren’s Rent- A -Tea Party. In addition to being extremely nice Tricia is accommodating, friendly and particularly responsive when working within deadlines. She has a first-class collection of Tea Cups and Saucers, Tea Pots and magnificent accoutrements you can’t wait to lay your eyes on – She has it all for your next tea party. Her tea pots are beautiful, big and colorful, with a mix and max attitude of flowers, vines, gold and pastels. Once grouped together these pieces look heavenly on a perfectly set tea table. From a “Tea for Two or for a party of 75 or more (Thanks Tricia - for everything I needed for last weekend’s High Tea), she has what you’re looking for. If she doesn’t have the piece you need I am confident she will find it.

I can’t wait to work with Rent a Tea Party again. Please stroll on over to Tricia’s website at http://www.rentateaparty.com, and give her a call and rent a tea party and create your own tea celebration this month

Little Bit About Me

Hello I am Joanna, I'm the founder, owner and planner at Joanna Hendrie Events & Fêtes the company I founded after planning events in the corporate world as well as catering the weddings, bridal showers and receptions for friends. I started my own events company to serve brides & grooms as well as the social and charity community. With a marketing and advertising background, I have combined years of corporate communications experience with design to create the fantasy driven Joanna Hendrie Events and Fêtes. We cater to the bride on the day of and all the days leading up to the ceremony she has dreamed of forever. Our brides want stunning, elegant and seamless events while at the same time not wanting to think of anything else other than the magical wedding day. What started out for me as a wedding coordination division of my catering company Joanna Hendrie Joie De Vivre & Cie http://joannahendrie.com - has grown into an independent full-service event planning and design agency.

French Tea Bridal Shower

A simple French Tea is a lovely way to send your bride off to her new life with him.

French tea from Hediard or Marige Frere, a simple fresh fruit tart, petite tea sandwiches - exotic crab and dill, tomato, montrachet and basil and walnut, cherry are perfect choices for spring summer shower. For your sweets - Passion fruit drop scones and crème anglais along with petites fours secs. I like to prepare a fresh fruit punch – prepared the day before and chilled - it looks beautiful and makes a terrific focal point for your guests. Greet your guests, as some have driven miles with trays of sparkling water and sliced fruit. Your guests will love you for it.