Brunch & Co's Event #8 - Jetsetter's Brunch - Destination Foodie Heaven - HAS LANDED!!

Photo by Pia Facundo

Today, 15 lovely guests boarded Brunch & Co Airlines for a whistle-stop tour to three of our favourite foodie destinations - Europe, North Africa & the Middle East. We had lots of fun setting our table with beautiful travel inspired placemats made by our pal, Lisa and boarding pass name cards which were a real hit!

Photo by Pia Facundo

On arrival, our guests were welcomed with homemade lemongrass cordial or cinnamon spiced iced tea to sip on at the departure lounge.

Photo by Pia Facundo

Once everybody had found our secret location, we swiftly fastened our seat belts and jetted off to Europe (Italy) for our first course of Panettone French toast served with caramelized pears and whipped mascarpone cream infused with orange blossom drizzled with glistening caramel-pear sauce. I had planned to have a go at making Ricotta cheese to go with this first course but will have to save that experiment for the next brunch event!

Photo by Pia Facundo

With tummies happy but still rumbling, we took off again to our next destination of North Africa (Tunisia) for our main course of Shakshuka - a red pepper & tomato stew infused with saffron & cumin served with a baked egg sprinkled with crumbled feta cheese and parsley.  We served this with pan fried merguez sausages, toasted Turkish Pide bread and a sharp tasting herb salad of watercress, rocket & coriander tossed with a lemon, olive oil & orange blossom dressing.

Photo by Pia Facundo

Before taking off for our final destination, our guests did a little seat swapping - it's so much fun watching people meeting for the first time and seeing new connections forming - that's what Brunch & Co is all about!

Photo by Pia Facundo

With conversation humming, we served a palate cleanser  consisting of a very tart homemade lemon sorbet sprinkled with crushed sugar & mint.

Photo by Pia Facundo

At our final destination of the Middle East, our guests feasted on a strawberry, pomegranate & rose Fool (whipped cream, folded with mascarpone) sprinkled with cubes of rose flavoured Turkish Delight and topped with pistachio flavoured Persian fairy floss it certainly made an interesting colour combination!

Photo by Pia Facundo

Along side our glasses of creamy goodness, we served little meringue drops for our guests to mix in to add more sweetness and texture. Destination Foodie Heaven - Landed!

Photo by Pia Facundo

Today, one of our special passengers, Pia, (who also happens to be an amazing photographer as you can see from these photos - thanks Pia!!), was celebrating her 30th birthday with a bunch of her friends - wishing you a happy, fulfilling and delicious year ahead!

Photo from Pia's camera!

Thanks again to all our lovely guests - your enjoyment & eagerness to try out all our new dishes & to meet other guests warms our hearts.

Photo by Pia Facundo

We look forward to welcoming you all again to Brunch & Co in the near future!  In the meantime, as always, Happy Brunching to one and all!

Mark & Louise xx

PS - Huge thanks also to our guest helper Hwee Yin - you're a STAR!

Decadent Afternoon Tea - Easter treats!

At 3pm today our secret location was set for our first ever official Decadent Afternoon Tea Event.  We dressed our two tables with floral table clothes and covered them with invitingly special homemade sweet & savory treats.  Golden Lindt bunny rabbits hopped about the table between the plates to make the tea extra Easterly special!  Each dish was lovingly prepared by myself and our wonderful friend and Baker-extrordinaire - Hwee Yin!  Our menu was a mixture of family favorite recipes and some new "experiments". Happy to say that all dishes were a buttery & sugary success!

Photo by Kelly - Hot Cross Muffins

Our event also broke attendance records - with a staggering 18 special & wonderful guests.  It was lovely to meet you all and get to know a little bit more about you over a cup of tea and a slice or two of cake.

Here are some photos of the event & what the guests daintily tucked into during the afternoon...

In the forefront, Hwee Yin's raspberry cupcakes on the top & green tea cupcakes with red bean centres, and chocolate souffle cupcakes with a peppermint & white chocolate cream topping. To the left, hot cross muffins - a little twist on the normal hot cross buns!

Hwee Yin's lovely cheesecake slices and in the background some Scottish smoked salmon & cucumber finger sandwiches...so cute!

The "heavy weight" of this table of delicacies... a gorgeously rich chocolate, hazelnut & meringue cake - totally moreish with its crisp meringue top and gooey middle.... it may have outdone one or two of the guests!

Would you care for a caesar salad inspired deviled egg?  Why yes please!   Mmmmm, Yum!

Here's a close up:

Photo by Kelly

In the below photo, we have in the foreground, a lovely Elderflower & Strawberry cream cake, followed by Hwee Yin's gorgeous homemade mini sweet & savory scones.  Behind to the left, Kentucky butter cake a la the quintessential all American baking/cooking queen - Betty Crocker...we're talking old school people!

Other yummy treats that we did not capture close ups of included savory vegetarian tarts, filo parcels stuffed with organic spinach, toasted pinenuts, cottage cheese & feta served piping hot from the oven, coronation chicken finger sandwiches, snickerdoodle cookies and some lovely proper hot cross buns made by Hwee Yin's Father - who is also a great Baker.  Ok so we may have over-catered slightly but at least each of our guests left with a "Da Pao" to nibble on later!

Well, what a lovely afternoon we had with you all.  Hwee Yin & I had great pleasure baking up these special treats....we hope you had fun too and that you'll be able to come & visit again soon! Keep posted on our upcoming events on this blog (Events tab) or you can "Like" our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/brunchandco

In the meantime, Happy brunching & Happy Easter
Mark & Louise xx

Photo by Kelly

P.S. My cute tiered cake stand - put to good use!  Thank you A&B!