a sweet & savory shower

[photo courtesy of Anna D., edited by me]

This past Saturday was my dear friend, S's bridal shower.  The same friend that got engaged 5 months ago, will be getting married next month! I am so excited and happy for her and her fiance, and wish them a lifetime of love, happiness and lots of sweets! 

S's bridesmaids and I decided to have the shower based on a loose theme of "brunch & tea", so I came up with a menu of sweet as well as savory-mostly finger foods for the occasion.  

Let's start with dessert, shall we? 

Top-Bottom: Cheesecake Bites, French Macarons, & Mini Banana Whoopie Pies w/ Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Filling Although having 3 different desserts plus cake (made by bride's pastry chef sister-in-law) may seem over-indulgent, I thought this display looked quite pretty in the tiered stand.  It went very well with our theme as it gave off that quaint "tea & crumpets" feel to the shower.  The macarons were just plain almond shells  (raspberry ganache ones tinted pink) and the fillings were raspberry-nutella-chocolate ganache and blackberry buttercream dusted with purple sanding sugar.  It was the first time I dipped macarons in sugar - gave it a lil' sparkle for the special occasion.  I didn't get to taste one w/ the sugar, but I'm sure it added a nice light crunchy texture to the macaron. The whoopie pies were a last minute addition to the menu because some of the macarons cracked (still feeling out the temperament of the oven in our new apartment) - and I felt it was necessary to have something else to substitute in case all of them came out unworthy of presentation.  In the end, everything worked out...good things come in threes!

Brunch consisted of assorted muffins - browned butter blueberry, apple, and pumpkin butterscotch... these muffins were a homerun with everyone - especially one guest, M, who had to tell me after every bite of each muffin she tried that it was "SO good!!"  She also cracked me up when she bit into the blueberry muffin and announced to everyone that it had "real" blueberries in them! As opposed to fake ones?  lol!  

I guess people have settled with those so-called blueberry muffins found at the corner deli wrapped in plastic wrap, labeled "gourmet" - um, how gourmet can something be if it's being sold at a deli wrapped in plastic??   

I think I confused people with placing the muffins in the cupcake holder - I heard people calling them cupcakes... they're muffins, people... cupcakes have frosting! lol... Sorry for the confusion, I had to put them in something pretty! 

Onto some savory stuff - Chicken & Apple Quesadillas, and in the background were two types of finger/tea sandwiches - Salmon & Herb, and Cucumber.  I personally loved the quesadillas because of the subtle sweet & tarty-ness of the apples.  I love combining sweet & savory! 

I also made Mini Ham & Cheese Frittatas - recipe courtesy of Giada DeLaurentis, and Prosciutto Palmiers - which were just store-bought puff pastry that I rolled with tomato paste, prosciutto, & pecorino romano cheese.  These were so good right out of the oven!  I'm kind of bummed we couldn't serve them warm since the shower start time was determined by the arrival of the bride-to-be and guests so they would've gotten cold regardless.  

I have to say, I enjoyed making the savory foods as much as I did the sweet ones... someone mentioned starting a catering business? Hmm. I think I'll stick with sweets for now, but if anyone would like me to plan a bridal/baby shower brunch for them, I'm down!  I can't help it... I love food and all things pretty!

Thanks to my fellow bridesmaids, and my friend, F, for helping to put everything together... and to all the guests for coming to celebrate our beauteous bride! <3