I decided to thank my terrific clients and trades by holding a Client Appreciation Open House Christmas party today. Really great to see everybody: it turned out that some of them knew friends of friends and everyone seemed to hit it off.
Needless to say I forgot to take pictures of my guests once the doorbell started ringing but I did remember to snap a few shots of the food before we dug in. (There’s so much left over that there will be some very happy realtors at Royal LePage tomorrow when I drop it all off!)
I had a couple of cheese plates with fresh fruit and berries.
Below is my classic gin/molasses/soya marinated and baked salmon with a mango chutney relish. Upper right is a platter holding corn blini with maple seared scallops and corn relish, and coconut shrimp. (The only problem with the shrimp was I dipped them in the batter frozen and then cooked them without realizing they hadn’t been peeled. Yikes! People were far too polite to say anything; it wasn’t until I had one myself that I realized what I’d done. Off they went into the garbage. Sorry everyone! )
At the bottom right of this shot are smoked trout on tostitos with lime sour cream and chutney –they were really terrific little bites.
I had a wide assortment of breads, crackers and breadsticks to go with the various dips and spreads.
The simplest recipe was one of the tastiest: mozzarella cheese squares with fresh basil and cherry tomatoes. The dip, by the way, in the vegetable platter was sour cream with parmesan and Dijon. Yummy!
Then of course came desserts. From left to right: green rice krispy squares; atmeal/cranberry/chocolate chip; chocolate crackles; fruit cake, and pistachio mini-cakes.
I had some guests who are gluten intolerant so most of the items on this tray of goodies were gluten-free. Shortbread wreaths; red velvet pops; gluten free cupcakes; white chocolate/cranberry/pistachio bark and chocolate cheesecake truffles. And then, of course, decorated gingerbread.
And then, one of my guests (who is both one of my trades and a terrific pal of mine, Jake Morgan, showed up and brought this with him as a Christmas gift! It’s so gorgeous …. and so very much appreciated. Thanks, Jake!
See why I like my clients and trades so much?
All in all, I’d say it was a successful party, and thanks again to all my wonderful clients! (By the way, if you want any of these recipes; leave a comment and I’ll be happy to post them.)
