Wedding + New Tea Samples

Today I started at the castle at 11:00a.m. again to prepare for today’s and tomorrow’s weddings. I started making the canapés for today, then bacon butties for the evening buffet. After lunch, as I was helping out and chatting with the breakfast chef upstairs, a delivery came with some samples for potential new items for afternoon tea. As the chef knows I love sampling, especially sweets, he gave me a taste of each. There were new macaroon cookies – but they weren’t quite as good as the ones we currently use. There were also mini pita breads and brioche buns, which were fun, but personally I prefer the scones, crumpets, and tea cake we have now. The most intriguing part was the bread – flat, crustless sheets of different colored and flavored bread. There was spinach, olive, cocoa, lemon, and tomato bread, in large rectangles, easy to make sandwiches out of without the waste of cutting off all the crusts. Apparently we are looking to amp up our afternoon tea sandwiches, and try out new filings as well. Currently we offer ham and mustard, salmon and horseradish crème fraiche, and cucumber and cream cheese on white and brown bread. Next week, we are going to try out the new breads and new fillings. 

Other than that, the rest of my day was filled with wedding prep jobs, plating canapés, and the wedding service. 

Tonight’s menu was as follows:
Canapés: Roasted Potatoes with Onion Marmalade and Crème Fraiche, Tempura of Prawns, Vegetable Spring Rolls with Sweet Chili Sauce, Spiced Chicken Kebabs, Tomato and Basil Crustini, Cherry Tomatoes stuffed with Crab.
Starter: Confit Duck and Wild Mushroom Terrine, Spiced Pear Chutney, Balsamic and Sherry Reduction
Bread: Wheat bread, raisin rolls, sesame seeded rolls, white rolls, caraway rolls, red pepper rolls. 
Soup:  Forest Wild Mushroom with Chive Crème Fraiche
Sorbet: Apricot Lime
Main Course Option #1 - Meat: Sirloin Steak served medium, braised shallot, celeriac purée, fondant potato, brandy and Madagascar green peppercorn sauce.
Main Course Option #2 - Chicken:  Roast Breast of Local Chicken, Champ Potatoes, Herb Stuffing, Chasseur Sauce
Side Dishes: Roast Baby Potatoes, and Roast carrots, onions, parsnip, and turnip.
Dessert: Warm Apple Berry Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream
Petits Fours Assortment: madeleines, cranberry white fudge, fruit jellies, flaked white chocolate truffles, Belgian dark chocolate truffles. 
Evening Buffet – Bacon Butties, Chip Cones

Dance floor backdrop at today's wedding - beach theme!