Fandango Catering Offers More Dinner Party Ideas and Resources

Since there has been so much interest on the part of our clients this late summer and early fall-ish season in dinner party entertaining, today we offer more dinner party ideas and some web resources with more dinner party ideas and tips. 

A client recently had a cool idea for a fall dinner party: putting several tables together to make one long table outdoors, with a appetizer food station, an outdoor cooking area, and servers serving the main course.

We love this idea and it can be tailored to your needs.  You could do all three things or choose only one. 

The long table outdoors is the unifier. If the only tables you can get to make one long table don't match or are unattractive, cover them with overlapping tablecloths in the same color or design (make sure that the tablecloths drop nearly or all the way to the ground or you'll see mismatched, maybe unattrative, table legs). 

You could have this long table and a self-serve finger foods station and have people serve themselves and sit at the long table.  Or you can have servers serve the guests finger foods from the station at the long table. 

Or you can have an outdoor cooking area where guests serve themselves and sit at the long table, or are served at the long table.  If you do this, serve interesting food, more so than standard BBQ items...Foods like paella or grilled Spanish sausages, interesting kebabs (Middle Eastern or Russian or other Slavic or Greek), Florentine steak sprinkled with lemon juice, satay or fish skewers...

Go casual or more formal, adults only or with kids, any way you put it together, an outdoor dinner party is cool and fun.

Here is a list of web resources on dinner parties:

www.divinedinnerparty.com

www.food.com/recipes/dinner-party

www.delish.com/entertaining-ideas/parties/dinner-parties/

www.adinnerparty.net

www.celebrations.com/dinnerparties

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com

Fandango Catering Offers 6 Ideas for Outdoor Events

The outdoor event, whether a cocktail party, a theme grilling party, a charity occasion, or a beach wedding, is popular this year, especially now that the weather is nice, and today we offer 6 ideas for making yours a success.

If you are in an insect-prone area, repel insects, but safely and naturally-A new eco-friendly formula made from lemongrass is now available for misting outdoor areas safely.

Make sure there's adequate lighting--Most hosts don't do a good job in this area, and people can trip in the dark and hurt themselves, not to mention that being at an outdoor event without adequate lighting is like being at a campfire.  Many options exist, from lanterns to luminarias to candles (flame candles in safe, enclosed containers only, please), to solar lights.  Or move the party indoors once it gets dark if you don't want to bother with adequate lighting.

Avoid falling leaves--Do not put open beverage containers like punchbowls or open food trays under tree leaves that shed

Make sure any paperware (napkins, plates, etc.) doesn't blow away--Put them in a basket, box, or something to keep them from blowing away.

Tablecloths should also not blow away--For outdoor events, heavy cloth like duck, sateen, or raw silk (or for a very patio-ish feel, vinyl) is better than light fabrics, which lift or blow away.  Tablecloth weights exist but it's better to buy a heavy fabric tablecloth that you can use indoors or outside.

Even if your event is outdoors, decorate the food trays--Decorate your trays with blooms, fresh herb sprigs, sugared grapes, something...This will lift your event's wow factor and establish you as a cool host.  Or have a buffet indoors and have the guests inside and outside.  Either way, decorate your food trays.

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com

Fandango Catering Offers 4 Ideas for Your Spring & Summer Outdoor Parties

As warm weather approaches many of us are planning outdoor events--not only grilling parties but also, very popular this spring, outdoor or indoor/outdoor cocktail parties and dinners.  Today we offer 4 ideas to make your outdoor event more interesting and look better.

Choose a theme--A theme can be a particular type of food or cuisine or it can also be created around a signature drink, such as an outdoor tasting of wines, whiskey, specialty vodkas, etc.  Outdoor food themes are things like paella parties, Italian grilling parties (e.g., Florentine-style steaks grilled with lemon and/or rubbed with pesto, grilled vegetables, panzanella, Italian desserts, an Italian red wine), Texan or other style of BBQ, or, on a lighter note, Mediterranean tapas or small bites.

Unify outdoor tables--If you use a variety of outdoor tables, unify the look by renting heavy duck (or another heavy cotton fabric as wind will lift a light fabric tablecloth).  This looks better than a hodgepodge of tables.

Make the bar look nice--If you have a bartender use a heavy tablecloth, even one made of vinyl, and make sure that the bar tablecloth goes to the ground as the legs of tables usually used for bars are generally ugly.  Also make sure the bartender puts the extra bottles and coolers under the table--tha't why you need a tablecloth to the ground! You'll be amazed at how much better it looks than using a short tablecloth exposing ugly table legs and having extra bottles and coolers in sight!

Candles should be in containers that don't tip over--If you use candles on your outdoor tables, put them in candleholders or weighted luminaria bags heavy enough so they won't tip over, especially if you use tealights.  Along the same line, put paper napkins in something that will keep them from blowing away--loosely rolled in a heavy glass, for example.

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com

Fandango Catering and Events to Provide Sustainable Catering at Discovery Green Event

We are honored to have been chosen to provide sustainable catering for an expected 1,500 guests at this year's Family Day event at Discovery Green on Sept. 10, 2011.

Family Day, sponsored by Houston City Council Member James Rodríguez in partnership with community organizations, is an annual event for families at the start of the school year with family and children's activities and educational booths highlighting career opportunities.

This year's career theme is "Green Careers."

Our sustainable catering for this event will reduce its carbon footprint by nearly 40%.  Our sustainable catering procedures for the event will include:

• 100% biodegradable packaging of box lunches and salsa station cups
• Recycled, non-bleached paper napkins
• Local produce used in box lunches
• Continuous refilling of box lunches from our downtown kitchen to avoid using electric generators at the park to keep food fresh
• House-made baked not fried tortilla chips

At Fandango we have long advocated for and practiced sustainable catering and we are honored to be able to demonstrate the use of sustainable catering methods at large public events as well as smaller private events.

On the menu:

• Turkey and Cheese Wraps with Chipotle Ranch Dressing
• Roasted Vegetables and Herbed Cheese on Ciabatta
• Pesto Chicken, Cheese, and Tomato Wraps with Herbed Mayo
• Santa Fe Chicken Wraps with Grilled Chicken, Tomato, and Lime-Poblano Crema
• House-Made Baked Tortilla Chips and House-Made Roasted Tomato and Jalapeño Salsa
• Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies
• Cookie Assortment

For more information on the event and Discovery Green see also: www.discoverygreen.org

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com