DietelEarly European Adventure

On the road again - First stop Rymes then on to Paris.  

Traveling was good for our car. Comfortable and full of old habits that never die:

Reports from the other car were not so relaxing, Jim Zilli feared for his life while our wonderful 21 year old Dutch host, JJ, went 180 kil an hour, coming within 20 feet (ok, 6 meters) of the car in front of them and then zipping around it. I think they kissed the ground upon exiting the vehicle.  We found them in a state of relief when we caught up with them.

Our first stop was the Pommery Estate to see the champange cellars 

Sir Warren got to take the cork off the bottle with a sword 

And then we got to taste fruits of his labors with some lovely little snacks 

At quick look at the cathedral in Ryms:

Kelly and Vince get lost so stand around and take "selfies" (watch, this becomes a theme)

And then we catch up (find) the group for lunch:  

Can't remember what this was, seafood and kraut :-) sorry I'll get better (what kind of catering blog is this right?)

DietelEarly European Adventure

FXE begins!!  Food Exicutive Europe year 1 so excited to be part of the inaugural year.  

Greeted by butlers

Fun finds:

Champange tea: Pauline seemed to enjoy it and the Citris Ginger was my favorite. 

Dee look at this spork, the new cocktail plate and a food warmer built into a piano 

Fantasticly interesting speakers throughout the day and then a fast fun filled night on a downtown culinary tour of Maastricht consisting of world famouse restaurants, old and new friends, Vince's first taste of Aperol Sprits and of course my favorite....the chocolate shop 

Conference culinary finds: Lady Gaga Soda (some kind of juice with vodka - served while in the seats of the theater while the speaker entered and it carried quite a punch), cheese croissant on a stick and shortbread cookie tea bags:

 

DietelEarly European Adventure - Maastricht

After a morning of easy traveling we arrived in Maastricht ready for nap. 

So after a little preparation in and of our hotel room

We head down to meet our host from EPCAS (European Party Caterers Association).  In Europe catering refers to the entire food service industry (restaurants, consesions, street food and special events) our particular segment of catering is called Party Catering. 

Everyone did a little introduction and of course my husbands personal introduction started with "Howdie, Ya'll".  

After a friendly cocktail hour we sat down for a lovely dinner where I was ironically served Beef Tenderloin on a bed of mixed vegetables (zucchini squash and haricot verts) with a cheesy rissota ball.  So funny,  we came all this way to get served exactly what we serve our clients back at home. 

Oh and the chocolate cover ball of mint icecream was yummy :-)

DietelEarly European Adventure Day 2 - Give your body to the game

Today was full of food.  What an experience, not just a culinary experience but a business/sales experience as well. 

We started off our day traveling to Bissone for a tasting at Backstage Ricevimenti & Banqueting (well at least that's where I started my day, Vince and Warren started their day in the gym...good for them).  Alex Barbisotti and his team did a wonderful job.  We walked into the room and spread before us was a feast fit for a king. 

Some of my personal favorites were:

These little salted bread nuggets (none if us can remember the name of)

Battered and fried crudités:

And these little dishes of lasagna:

Alex and his team were very engaging and attentive to what Warren was looking for. It was great seeing them work as a team, taking notes and getting excited about the concept of the event. 

So much fun!!  We left happy and stuffed.  With only 2 hours until we were to be at the next tasting we had time for a quick stop at another potential venue. 

However, tastings in Italy include a lot of  wines which result it site visits like this....

Still stuffed from tasting number one we headed to tasting number two which was a very different experience.  The food was very flavorful but the caterer didn't seem to understand the concept Warren was looking for.  This was their third meeting and still there was no regard for the details being asked of him. He didn't take notes and at the end of the meeting he asked Warren to email him the details of what he was looking for even after we just spent 2 hours telling him.  Wow what a business lesson. I can't wait to return home and talk with the team about paying attention to the client and the relationship difference between these two caterers with their clients.  It really was a shame because the pictures we looked at prior to tasting the food were wonderful but logistics are the clients top priority and the comfort level was just not there.  However, some of the food was very flavorful. Some culinary finds: 

Quince Jam cubes with cheese.  So tasty and I know my team can come up with a beautiful concept for serving something similar. 

Yummy vegetarian lasagna:

Pesto pasta shells with almonds: 

And a variety of wonderful desserts: 

However you can tell by the look on Warrens face there just wasn't a personal connection made here and he had had just about enough of this guy talking all about himself and the events that's he's done and not enough about the event Warren was looking for.  

At the end of the night I was so full my stomach was bloated like I was 7 months pregnant.  We walked a mile and a half back to the hotel in a cool rain and I colaspes in bed with the worst tummy ache I've had in a while.  I knew I should not have been eating all that wonderful food all day but how can you resit? Sometimes you just have to give your body to the game.   Work Work Work 

DietelEarly European Adventure

Who would have know that catering would have ever taken me around world, crazy. For the next 12 days we have the pleasure of flowing Mr Warren Deitel around Europe.  We are going to the EPCAS Winter General Assembly and Food Executive which will take place in Maastricht Netherlands but first we stop off in Milan Italy to do site visits and catering tasting for an event Warren is doing in May.  

Our first stop was at Progetto Calabiana Milano. 

Very cool place. We so wish we had a place like this back home.  But the best part about it are the ideas we are going to be able to take back home and incorporate into the design on CANAL 337 :

Super cool metal wall

We so need one of these (now I really am going to have to let Vince take up welding. Fingers crossed he doesn't burn down the new house)

Cool sinks:

And an idea to dress up the elevator doors: 

Other places we visited were interesting but non as cool as the first. 

The culinary find of the day:

Parmesan Flan with Prosciutto

I really need to sweet talk my way into this recipe.