News
Spring blossoms on the plum trees, blustery rain filling the reservoirs, and brightly flavored pea shoots in the farmer’s market. Signs of spring are here! At the Kitchen, we’ve been continuing our busy ways. Besides assorted catering, team building groups and birthday parties, we are hosting a whole bunch of wedding planners this week in a mini-fair, combining forces with a baker and a letter press invitation maker, and focusing our attention on showing the planners how we run a Rehearsal Dinner in our kitchen.
Finally some rain! I picked all the ripe tomatoes (yeah, I know they’re not supposed to be there in February) off my plants before hand, so they wouldn’t split from the extra water. In the spirit of winter tomatoes (no they are not the best flavored, but not bad, all Romas), I’ve been making tomato confit a lot.
What Is Culinary Team Building, and Why Should I Tell MY HR Department About It? — Perhaps it's time to plan next year's enrichment activities. We all know that a happy office is a productive one, so here's some food for thought about the experience you'll get at the Paulding & Company kitchen. We'll be happy to email our new marketing brochure to your HR department. To request one, email tracy@pauldingandco.com.
Brisk air, winter squash, air chilled chickens. Crisp apples and long-cooked greens. Rain and soup made from the last of the fresh dry farmed Early Girl tomatoes, or from winter squash or air cooled chickens or long cooked greens...things that keep us warm rather than cool us off. My team building menus have changed over from the “early autumn” set, to the new “early winter” ones, that will take us through the December parties.
The Heat Is on! — Things to Do the next few weeks: On Sunday the 12th, I am competing in the Crabby Chef competition, which takes place in the Spenger's restaurant parking lot. There will be lots to do and eat from 11-4, but at 2 PM, the competition heats up--with an Iron Chef event featuring crab and a mystery ingredient. I'll be competing against 15 other chefs, mostly from area restaurants--so a cheering section will be a big advantage.
Great Classes! — Are you confused about the many choices you have, buying chickens? Have you wished you could simply cut one up yourself instead of paying someone else to do it for you? Yearned for homemade chicken broth when you wanted to make soup? Wondered what else you can make with a chicken? If you can say “yes” to any of these questions, we have the class(es) for you!
Changes are afoot at Paulding & Company! It is the end of a long era, as I have decided to retire my quarterly Basic Cooking Supper Club series of classes after 20 years and over 500 classes. In their stead, I am working with various great kitchen talents to bring new and different classes to the kitchen, many of which I’ll co-teach. You’ll find the first below--a September series of 3 classes that go way beyond what we’ve offered before.
Hot off the press: Paulding & Company is featured in a front-page article in the July issue of Bay Area Businesswoman, a free paper distributed all over the bay area. This month's issue has a food theme--and many other interesting articles, as well as recipes from some local women who run high-powered restaurant kitchens. The paper doesn't have an online version, so you'll have to check your local street corner rack for a copy. The 4th of July, at least around my neighborhood, means block parties.
It's time to sign up for summer Basic Cooking classes. I've mixed things up a bit--I'm starting later, July 9th. I'm offering the classes in small segments so you can both take a few classes, and not miss the ones during your summer vacation. Hopefully, I've not made things too confusing on the calendar--but you can take all six classes, or any of the 3 2-week segments. You can also take individual classes but need to email me if those are the first, third or fifth--I have those set to sign up for a pair.
Let me start by sending you to my new blog. I am having a lot of fun with this new medium--not daily entries, but hopefully interesting ones, with lots of pictures. It’s an easy, immediate means of communication and I am finding my way with it. You can even add questions and comments. The monthly newsletter will continue of course, this will arrive directly in your in-box whereas the blog won’t, although you can subscribe to the rss feed, and be notified of new postings via your email program.