At a recent event we hosted a in-house tequila tasting in one of our client’s homes. We found this to be a fun way to add a new element to a corporate event and it was a resounding success. We located the tequila bar in a typically lesser-utilized space, which also helped spread the guests throughout the home. While the guests had the option to taste all of the tequila ‘neat’, we also stocked the tequila bar with lime wedges and fresh-squeezed juices, agave nectar, salt, bottled water and ice in order to offer a fun, less intense alternative to everyone at the event. The most important element of the event was our tequiliero Jeremy Flanigan, having a tequila ‘sommelier’ who could explain the nuances of the 6 different tequilas offered gave guests a fun opportunity to learn something about what they were tasting.
At the tasting bar, two different brands of tequila were offered Partida, a lowland producer, which combines traditional methods with modern technology including stainless steel autoclaves; and El Tesoro de Don Felipe, from the highlands, which takes the opposite approach using entirely traditional methods such as brick and stone ovens (hornos). From each of the two brands, three categories were offered: plata, reposado and anejo, which range from being bottled immediately after distillation to being aged two to three years.
So we’ve had a really successful week here at SGC, we’ve harvested our first summer squash, tomatoes and watermelon. Unfortunately when we went to have the watermelon for our staff lunch, it was a little under-ripe, but we still should be able to make some watermelon rind chutney with the rind. Our Executive Chef Joe Beck lightly fried the squash which was fantastic and I will try to post a recipe within the next couple days.
We seen a lot of progress this week, and we have our first watermelon. I can’t even describe the excitement when we moved the leaves out the way and found this little guy hiding under the leaves. It’s going to be at least a couple of weeks before he’s ready for harvest, but very excited nonetheless.
We also have our first squash and our first eggplants both of which have been coming along nicely. We’re looking forward to eating the squash later in the week, but the eggplants will probably take at least another week or two. While we have a few cherry tomatoes ready to eat, the rest of the tomatoes are taking their time to ripen, though we do have lots of buds.
All of our climbing vegetables have been doing so well that added additional trellising which took the total height to over twelve feet, and less than a week later, our lima beans have already reached the top. Our cucumbers have reached the second tier as well and we are eagerly awaiting our first batch. The Squash continue to grow by leaps and bounds and I think we shall be picking a few by the end of the week. The tomatoes continue to do very well, and I think we are reaching a critical mass past the point the squirrels can keep up.
One of the perks of working in a catering company is the never-ending stream of sweets that come out of our pastry department. Since we’ve slowed down for the summer, our pastry chef Padua Player, has been particularly busy. Though my camera doesn’t do them justice, everything was fantastic.
The garden is continuing to look great and this week I I’ve been able to harvest beets, snow and sugar snap peas and some very late spring onions. I’m going to post what we make with everything later this week. I can’t believe how big the squash and cucumber plants are getting and I suspect they will soon start taking over part of our back parking lot. If you scroll down to my post on June 21st, you can see how far they have come in a month.
The garden has continued to explode, and we are now the envy of our neighborhood. Unfortunately, the neighborhood is mostly comprised of bandits and nibblers who have been helping themselves to our stock. See if you can see one of the thieves in particular on the upper right part of the fence. They also have been grabbing all our cherry and pear tomatoes right before they are ripe, and they don’t even have the decency to eat everything they take down. We’re not quite sure how we’re going to deal with our squirrel problem without fencing off the entire garden, so for the time-being we’re going to hope that we produce more than they can eat.
Some of our other unwelcome neighbors include these little guys. 
The only other critter we’ve seen so far is this little 
As you can see we are pretty excited about our first harvest. The peppers have been doing great and have doubled in size over the past two weeks. We have several varieties, including jalepenos, cherry bomb and cayenne. The jalepenos are disappointingly mild, but have great flavor; the cayenne and cherry bombs have great heat. We are going to use them to make fresh salsa for our staff training session this Sunday.
The rest of the garden is doing great. We feel like we could do a daily update, as it seems something new is popping up every day. The watermelon is completely taking over its section of the garden, and it’s been taking our best efforts to keep it from invading the peppers. 
It’s been amazing to watch the beans send up their runners; they’ve been growing a couple inches each day, and we’re thinking that we may need to add some height to the trellising.
