First Choice Gourmet Catering

18/09/2024

Enjoy feta with watermelon. An unlikely duo that hits the spot. The fresh sweetness of the melon in combat with the salty creaminess of the cheese. The winner? Your taste buds!

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

18/09/2024

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

15/09/2024

or - Can you taste the difference? Italian or French? Cow’s milk or Sheep’s milk? Robust or Sharp? Enjoy with poached pear, walnut and chicory OR with warm fig and balsamic onion. Either way - just enjoy.
First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

10/09/2024

It Happens. There is no rule book on how memories surface. You don’t know what these memories are until each is triggered. You don’t know what that trigger will be until it triggers and you won’t know when, until it happens. And if none of this happens, then there is no memory. Thankfully, food is one trigger which constantly awakens new childhood memories for me. They surface from that dormant labyrinth of moments, a trove of memories buried in bygone years.
Visits to the Queen Victoria Market rarely fail to awaken glimpses into my early childhood, shopping there with mum. I learnt from an early age that going to the QVM meant an early morning rise, a tram journey there and back and of holding onto a countless number of string bags whose sole purpose was to be overfilled with a myriad of fruit, vegetables, seafood, meats, small goods, dairy products and anything else “we have run out of.” Knowing that there was no use complaining as each bag got heavier to carry. Mum was on a mission, each stall displaying large price tags for the stacked fresh produce on display, some carrying warnings - Do Not Touch The Produce and stall holders becoming vocal with customers if they dared disobey. Listening to mum directing vendors to only sell her fruit and vegetables and especially tomatoes, from the front of the display which in her view were supposedly in better condition than the “rubbish” from the not so visible rear. Butchers and fishmongers contributing to the cacophony of noise in the meat hall, yelling out their specials, each attempting to outdo the other on pricing trying to lure customers their way. Finding solace in the deli and produce hall where the marble countered shops always presented as crowded and overstocked with small goods, dairy products and other wares, seemingly impossible for the vendors to work in efficiently as they looked down at customers waiting to fill their orders. Most times the vendor would lean outward and give me a slice of ham or a piece of cheese to sample whilst waiting for mum to decide on what to order. The Queen Victoria Market has always been a place to enthral with its plethora of food, and with the crowds, the noise and the smells capturing countless snapshots of moments. However, the pinnacle of shopping with mum at QVM was knowing that before boarding the tram for the journey home, the last purchase that mum would make would be from the American doughnut van, those delicious sugar sprinkled fried balls of dough with jam centres so hot that they should have had a warning label. But for a seven year old, blistered lips meant nothing. During the tram ride home, my tongue would work overtime, licking the remnants of sugar and jam that had settled on my mouth and chin, the perfect antidote for soothing burnt lips.

t FIRST CHOICE GOURMET CATERING we are proud to offer you the finest in food selection, fully personalized and highly professional service, full peace of mind and common sense affordable pricing.

31/08/2024

What do and fishing have in common?

Spotting a pair of budgies in a pet store recently triggered childhood memories of dusk to dawn squid fishing off Queenscliff pier with my parents. Many a time I would sleep on the hard wooden bench inside the old ferry waiting shed located at the end of the pier whilst mum and dad continued fishing through to the early hours of the morning. Bluey and Susie were my pet budgies. Their cage was spacious and clean, housing a nesting box, a bathing bowl, plenty of food, water, plastic trinkets and a small double sided hanging mirror with a tiny bell attached. Breeding conditions were ideal and to my delight, successful. Those early years saw quite a number of baby budgies emerging from the nesting box. Our squid fishing trips to Queenscliff were invariably also successful. Squid was a constant in our diet, and from an early age I learnt how to clean and prepare squid for mum to dish up. There is one fishing memory however that trumps the rest. It was quite dark, windy and cold and I was positioned between mum and dad against the pier railing. The constant casting and retrieving of the squid jig line into the dark waters for a seven year old had an aura of expectation and excitement, waiting for the resistance and the pull of the line. The water immediately below was illuminated in part by dad’s lantern which hung low over the side of the pier and on this particular occasion, I hooked onto something that was significantly more difficult to drag back. With mum’s excited encouragement and dad’s assistance, I managed to land it - something quite unexpected. A cuttlefish. , unlike squid that swim in shoals, are often solitary and somewhat difficult to catch on a line. Mum’s recipe for the cuttlefish was one of stuffing and baking, not unique but a taste that I have never been able to replicate. Maybe because it was my catch - the sweetest of all. So, getting back to linking budgerigars and squid fishing. Bluey and Susie were gifted the cuttlebone. Wedged into the side of their cage and watching them grind and nibble on it has me now wondering if they too subsequently found the taste of my catch difficult to replicate.

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

28/08/2024

Another childhood memory through the power of food - Dessert after the main meal was never an option when I was growing up. It never happened. Instead, mum always insisted on fresh fruit and as such, my childhood sugary cravings were never really sated. There were occasions however when mum would prepare rice pudding, soft and creamy, sprinkled with cinnamon and in her view, the only healthy alternative although never a substitute for fruit. Dad on the other hand, who was also a bit of a sweet tooth would on the odd spur of the moment, whip up a custard, get it to the right consistency and then just before it fully set load it with sultanas. Sprinkled with a hint of nutmeg, dad saw his creation as the best of both worlds - a pseudo dessert sweetened naturally by the fruit.

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

27/08/2024

Bacon Wrapped — A pork roast that remains moist and makes for a flavoursome repast with parsnip and gravy

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

26/08/2024

Eggs and bacon - two ingredients that paired off eons ago and have lived happily and harmoniously ever since. My father had an extensive music collection and whenever mum dished up egg and bacon pie (a family favourite), dad would have “Theme from a Summer Place” playing in the background. Just like the pie, an oldie but goodie.

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

24/08/2024

- another comfort food that takes me back to my childhood. I would watch my mother prepare this dish and listen intently as she talked me through her recipe and without fail, repeat verbatim each step of the process, pausing every so often to ask, “understand?” Waiting for a reply which invariably was a nod of my head. Her sauce for this dish was prepared from slowly braised beef ragu with the meat so tender, it would pull apart. The goodness of mum’s pasticcio meant that leftover’s could be eaten cold, awakening another taste sensation equal to that of oven to plate.

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

22/08/2024

- During my time living in Sydney, I embarked on a provincial food journey exploring rustic style recipes and dishes which encapsulated the home cooked approach, uncomplicated - simple, textured and flavoursome. Cue in tomatoes - fruit or vegetable? Tomatoes are a fruit but often referred to as a vegetable and worldwide have the distinction of being the most eaten vegetable.
My mother’s yemista (tomatoes and capsicum), ticked all the above boxes. Unsurpassed in flavour, simple and textured, this was a home cooked meal that bonded us as a family A rustic uncomplicated charm heartily consumed with no leftovers other than lasting memories.

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

21/08/2024

An all electric strings performance at the Art Gallery of NSW featuring our very own Candice Mei (on the left).

19/08/2024

- One of my joys of life from a very early age was helping my mother with the daily meal preparation. Growing up as the youngest of three children meant having to strive for attention and establishing my presence in the family dynamics. Mum’s kitchen was my salvation. In my innocence, this was the only place in our household that I felt elevated to the top of the family structure, second only to mum who dealt me a repertoire of food challenges and involving me in many aspects of our daily meals. My senses all seemed to work in harmony, each one coming to the forefront as needed then fading allowing the next one to step up. Listening, watching, smelling, feeling with the ultimate decider, tasting. - Imagine a child using their hands to work through a mixture of ground beef and pork, milk soaked bread slices (sans crust), egg, onion, garlic, seasoning and parsley. Binding the ingredients and feeling the mixture coming together through the fingers. Hard work for a five year old but immeasurably rewarding. Finally shaping into balls, dusting with flour then having mum shallow fry these morsels in olive oil. Drained and served up with tzatziki. For me, I preferred them plain or with tomato sauce, despite my mum’s misgiving on my condiment choice.

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html

19/08/2024

- Waiting to board the ferry for the five hour journey from Crete to Mykonos some years ago allowed me time to rediscover a long forgotten taste sensation, avgolemeno - a soup like no other.
It was in a small tavern located near the brocante flea market within walking distance of the terminal and the first sip reminded me of my mother’s insistence that the best cure for all childhood malaise was avgolemeno. With three siblings, this was a soup mum served up regularly when I was a child. Quick and easy to make, but also with the challenge of making sure that when mixing the egg and lemon together, it didn’t curdle.

First Choice Gourmet Catering - Event catering service for both Private and Corporate clients
Web: firstchoicecatering.com.au/contact.html
Menu: firstchoicecatering.com.au/menus.html