stuff

first let me apologize for the post about ants... second, I'm a little nervous about this catering job and as such sleep is suffering... here's our *final* menu. He's been changing things almost daily on me and it has been stressing me out - so I finally stopped calling him and asking if the menu was OK and just emailed him a final menu. He replied back and said we're good - whew.

Hors d'oeuvre:
Pigs in a Blanket (kosher all beef hot dogs, venison dogs, pillsbury croissant dough method)
Garlic Naan with Mango Chutney
California Rolls
Smoked Salmon and Caviar
Garlic and Basil encrusted tuna
Hummus and Baked Pita
Figs stuffed with goat cheese, pecans, and wrapped with turkey bacon
Cheese plate with 4 kinds of cheese (I'll pick them out when I go shopping later today), herb-infused honey, dried cherries, and toasted almonds

Entrees:
Chicken Tikka Masala (really good recipe - i'm testing it on Friday)
Indian Rice (garlic/saffron/turmeric)
Beef Tenderloin
Haricot Vert
Other Fresh Veg from Farmer's Market
Potato Dauphenoise
Fresh Tomato Salad with Basil, Mozz, EVOlive Oil, sea salt, cracked pepper

Dessert:
Cake from some master hippie cake maker Woodstock (i can imagine its good)
Tropical Fruit Bowl
Cheese plate, refreshed

I was pretty disorganized at first getting everything together... I finally developed a system for organizing and communicating with my clients and its been smooth since about Saturday, which is a relief. For awhile I was way overwhelmed. I'm doing the shopping today and then on Friday I'm going to do some of the basic prep (herb-honey, tikka-masala spice mixtures, mango chutney) here at my apartment or up at Chef's house in Red Hook (his house is a great staging area as its about half way between mine and the client).

In other news, none of you have ever seen my apartment, but if you had you would know what a relief it was to spend 5 hours earlier yesterday afternoon doing a deep-clean. The place is immaculate and has a great feel to it... So far in Biology I've got 167/160 points offered in a 900 point course.... One more lecture midterm next week, then a few weeks off with just quizzes until the finals. I know I've mentioned this before, but I can't tell you how good it feels to be doing well in that class. Especially the past coupla' weeks where the material has been challenging.