Mother's Day Champagne Brunch

Today was the third in a series of annual Mother’s Day Brunches in different cities. This blog is for you MissyFitzy!

The inspiration came from my lovely green view of Mount Victoria in Hong Kong. The view from my window is of the trees on the mountainside. All year-round there is a green view. I decided to bring the outside in to my home. Slowly I have been converting my living room into a haven of green.

Although Often I feel that the Urban Jungle is too gray and monotonous for my true inner nature, one day this week, I thoroughly enjoyed the smell of fresh blossoms cooking in the heat and humidity on the grey concrete of Hong Kong. The sunlight came out yesterday morning, giving me the push to get going with my Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch cooking. And cook I did.

My inspiration board for the food was done on my Mother's Day Board over on Pinterest. I suppose Pinterest also gave me a mood board to inspire my décor for the party.
 
This is me toying with layout:

As well, my assistant was able to find some lovely flowers from the lady under the bridge. Her flowers are always a little dusty, but the need for instant flower power was urgent, so they did in a pinch.

Crepes are a favourite around here. I once hired an assistant purely because of her ability to make perfect crepes. I was considering making fish tacos, but I wanted to make everything from scratch. (I have to admit, I cheated on the artichokes, olives, baguette and sun-dried tomatoes and used bottled and deli sources; but all else was handmade.) The real pleaser in this Spinach and Goat Cheese Crepe recipe was the goat’s cheese – it was divine when slightly melted. Although the recipe I used called for chipotle, I’m pleased I left it out the result was such a delicate melding of flavours.

Because I had a hankering for fish (taco option mentioned above) I made these Salmon Croquettes. This was a fresh salmon fillet that I baked to perfection. When the onions were fried, they had a creamy texture and a cheese-like flavour. It will be hard to use canned salmon again. The mix of housewife bread and white bread crumbs gave real body to the croquettes.

I love my antipasto – when hubby and were first dating in TO, we would always order the same thing at the restaurant: a pizza, the antipasto and a bottle of red which usual made up half the dinner bill. At our wedding we had a delicious antipasto too. This was a labour-intensive project (well worth it with the tasty and praise-worthy results). 

Mini-quiches were an eye-opener for me when I worked at the Steckle (say steck-Lee) Heritage Homestead in Kitchener, Ontario. My mentor, Jean Steckle taught me to make quiche, without the crust. What a time saver! These little guys were a bit tiny, but packed with flavour. My assistant painstakingly bathed, stemmed and chopped the fresh spinach so I could steam and flavour the delicious results. And I always add a speck of freshly ground nutmeg into my quiche.

Quinoa Greek Salad was a healthy option - although, everything was pretty healthy at this table. Somehow the fresh coriander just allowed the flavours to meld together. I used a Greek salad inspiration for the dressing. The cucumbers are so crunchy these last few weeks. And the cherry tomatoes from Israel did the trick.

The Carrot Cake is an old traditional in my family – my mom makes a kick-ass carrot cake. This was an ode to my own mother, who was not sufficiently rewarded this year on Mother’s Day from my end – don’t worry mom, I’ll get you back soon! I have to admit, the pieces of pineapple could’ve been a tad smaller…

Brownies, say no more. These were pretty gooey and delicious. I could’ve added more walnuts. I love the taste of walnuts and chocolate. Hey, why aren’t there any chocolate bars with walnuts added? I actually like walnut in my carrot cake too, but I thought it’d be overkill.

I cannot believe that I got a good batch of strawberries. I managed to wash and dry these and left them out for a day to dry completely so I could dip them. I put them back into the fridge to let the chocolate harden.

What a hit. There was one little-lady at the party, a four-year old friend who thoroughly enjoyed gobbling up these tasty morsels. Here are the ladies: