FANDANGO Catering Donated More Leftover Holiday Food to Covenant House

FANDANGO Catering donated more leftover holiday food to Covenant House today, Dec. 30, 2009. This is one of our regular shelters to receive our food donations and is close to our office in the Montrose area of Houston.

In loving memory of my Spanish-born father, José Ríos Padilla, we support Catholic Charities and other charitable endeavors in Houston.

Growing up my father, whose great-uncle, Father Evaristo Artola, was a Catholic priest from Benicarló, Castellón province, Spain, taught us, as his uncle had also shown him, to practice charity in whatever way possible and we regularly gave to orphanages in Mexico as well as to inner-city poor through parish organizations in San Antonio, my hometown. And my undergrad school, Trinity University, was and is big on volunteerism. So Jesús and I, through FANDANGO Catering our business and personally, do as much as we can, whenever we can.

Best of the New Year to All!

Kristina

FANDANGO Catering Donates Leftover Holiday Food

FANDANGO Catering will donate leftover holiday food to the homeless who gather in front of the Houston Public Library in downtown Houston several nights a week. Desserts, tamales, cheeses, salads, veggies, chips, handmade candies, and more...

Please consider donating your leftover holiday food to the needy. Let's all end 2009 and start 2010 by remembering the less fortunate.

Happy New Year!

¡Feliz Salida y Entrada de Año!

Kristina

FANDANGO Catering Offers Holiday Cocktail Ideas

FANDANGO Catering offers holiday cocktail ideas for your events this season, below.

Poinsetta--Per person: 1/2 oz. Cointreau or Triple Sec, 2 oz. cranberry juice, 4 oz. champagne--Pour Cointreau and cranberry juice into a champagne flute, goblet, or martini glass and fill with champagne

Cranberry Sparkler--Per person: Pour equal amounts of chilled sparkling wine or champagne and cranberry juice into a champagne glass. Garnish each glass with a fresh cranberry if desired.

Cranberry Gin--Per person: Pour equal parts gin and cranberry juice into a martini glass or goblet.

Pomegranate Sparkler--Per person: 2 oz. cranberry juice, 4 oz. Prosecco, Spanish cava, or a sparkling wine

¡Salud!

Kristina

FANDANGO Catering Offers More Holiday Event Tips--Part III

FANDANGO Catering offers Part III of its holiday event tips. Below, a how-to for organizing your dessert table at your holiday buffet.

The Dessert Table

• Set up a small table covered with a cloth and put the dessert or the dessert buffet on this table. You want guests to be able to see and anticipate your desserts!
• Leave the desserts, if full size, whole until everyone has finished dinner, then slice and serve everyone a piece, with our without ice cream or whipped cream. Rather than asking if they want dessert you may want to just serve everyone a piece-- most people will eat the dessert if it's sliced and served to them.
• The mini desserts are fun and people tend to eat more of these since no one has to slice them.
• You can use nice plates or platters, cake stands, or even tier stands for your desserts, or try a combination to make your dessert table interesting. But if you have a showstopper dessert, especialy if it's large, it's better to make that the showpiece on its platter on the dessert table. In any case, don't crowd the dessert table.
• You may want to have separate napkins and utensils on or near the dessert table just for the dessert, or you may want to have a central napkin/cutlery location for all the food at your event, including the dessert.

Bon Appetit!

Kristina

FANDANGO Catering Offers More Holiday Event Tips-Part II

FANDANGO Catering offers Part II of our holiday event tips. Below, a how-to for organizing the food table at your holiday buffet.

The Food Table

• Strategically place plates and cutlery wrapped in napkins before the food itself so they are the first stop. If you don't have time to wrap cutlery, put it on a plate or basket (try lining with a napkin or doily) or, to save room, in a cylindrical container such as a sturdy glass (you can also line this with a napkin).
• Select foods that taste best at room temperature or cold because hot foods won't stay hot withou a hot plate, chafer, or crockpot. Don't use warming equipment on your buffet table unless you assign someone to monitor it. Crockpot and hot plate electric cords look unsightly on a buffet table. If you do use a chafer, put extra liquid--sauce, gravy--in the chafer with the food so it won't dry out.
• Vary the height of the food on the table: you can improvise simple risers with telephone books (under the tablecloth) or by using cake stands.
• Clean dropped food periodically off the buffet table during your event.

Next: How-to for organizing your Dessert Table

Bon Appetit!

Kristina