February Big Picture

Lavender meringue hearts with passion fruit cream on a spiral glass plate

as featured in You and Your Wedding Magazine.

In Season - English Oysters

Fresh oysters from Kent, Essex and Cornwall are considered to be amoungst the world’s finest food. They can be eaten all year round but are at their best outside of the May-August spawning season and, of course, must be as fresh as possible.

“He was a bold man that first ate an oyster” and indeed it is a brave host who chooses to serve them. Not everyone appreciates their bracing taste, but for those looking to impress, to indulge or to make use of their potent aphrodisiac qualities, they are a remarkably flexible additions to your event menu.

- For purists - passed raw from the shell on frozen trays with an offer of lemon or tobassco
- To impress - shucked to order from an iced bar and taken with Bloody Mary shot
- As a starter - poached oysters with blood orange jelly
- As a canapé - oyster beignet on a prism skewer with a ginger and chilli dipping sauce
- As a robust main - Oyster, beef and Guinness pie

Secret Garden: Westminster Abbey Gardens

Quite simply, the most exclusive and most sought after summer venue in London.

As far as I (and my clients) are concerned, nowhere comes close to matching its combination of heavenly gardens and incredible location.

It is also rare to find an outdoor venue where you can be utterly confident that all will be well inspite of an unpredictable British climate. Anything between 200 and 500 guests can enjoy alfresco cocktails in Big Ben's shadow, or if need be, seek sanctuary inside the framed marquee.

Impressive, central, grand, green, historical - Westminster Abbey Gardens ticks every box on the venue wishlist.

The catch? It is available for a mere 20 days in July.

The 2010 diary opens this week - I predict that my phone will be red hot with enquiries from those-in-the-know.

How to Throw a Corporate Ceilidh

Last week marked Burns Night and, as regular readers of our old newsletters will know, a time that we highly recommend you consider as an alternative for festive entertaining. Deck your chosen venue in tartan, with heather floral displays on every table and wow your guests with a Chieftain Haggis ceremony, lots of whisky tots and (of course) a piper. This menu was created for challenging clients who needed us to ensure that every ingredient of an otherwise traditional menu reflected their proud Scottish heritage and include plenty their own brand of premium whiskey.

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

Aboon them a' ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:

Weel are ye wordy of a grace

As lang's my arm.

Canapés

Oatcakes topped with Lanark blue cheese and fig

Venison sausages with port amd redcurrant sauce

Filo tartlets with Finnan haddock mousse

Starter

Smoked Scottish salmon, baby salad leaves

with homemade brown bread, Ballantine’s butter and lemon wedge

Haggis

 wi’ bashit neeps an’ champit tatties

Main

 Roast sirloin of Scottish beef, roast potatoes, braised red cabbage,

fine green beans and a rich whisky jus

Dessert

 Pear and thyme tart
served with whisky cream

Afters

 Fresh teas and tisanes

with tablet and whisky truffles