Sharon’s Birthday @ Wilson Creek Winery

It may be 2011, but on April 9th, we were taken back to the days of floral dresses and big ‘ol hats!  My sister-in-law was turning 25….again (!) :) and she decided that she would like to do her birthday on the lawns of Wilson Creek Winery in the beautiful wine country of Southern California! 

She had asked me to help her out with the food stuff, since I loooove cooking and baking and thrive on catering parties! I usually do the sweets end of parties, but this time around, since we were doing a few simple savory appetizers, I did both savory and sweet.  We started out with making a menu for 3 appetizers…since this was an afternoon event and it was mainly a time to hang out and relax with some appetizers and wine.  

We decided on crab stuffed mushrooms, bacon wrapped dates, and prosciutto wrapped shrimp and pineapple! 
I’ve made the crab stuffed mushrooms before and she absolutely loved them, so had requested them for her birthday.  I’ve also made bacon wrapped dates before, and they were just as tasty made at home as ordering from fancy tapas restaurants in LA!  I loved the taste of the savory maple bacon wrapped around a ricotta filled date.  That sweet and savory taste was a perfect backdrop to the crisp wine we will enjoy!  The prosciutto wrapped shrimp and pineapple, however, proved just a might more difficult to maneuver than I had imagined!  Have you ever tried to grip a raw shrimp together with a chunk of slippery pineapple…and then try to wrap a thin sliver of prosciutto around it, without ripping the prosciutto to shreds, while keep the shrimp and pineapple together? OH, and then poke a toothpick through it??  

They were tricky lil suckers! But, luckily for us, they turned out great! 

Stuffed mushrooms

Bacon wrapped dates

 Prosciutto wrapped shrimp

So how is it we went from 3 appetizers to 9??  It’s because I get over-excited about food and tend to over-do :) Who doesn’t like more food??  I sure do!  The menu has now expanded to: Sausage and goat cheese stuffed mushroom, chicken wing pops, cold-cut sandwiches, French macarons, celebratory champagne cookie cutouts, and mini chocolate cups filled with whipped cream or custard and topped with fresh fruit! Everything was fairly simple to make…mostly…just a bit time consuming.  

Let me tell you about those chicken wing pops.  I almost developed carpel tunnel making them!  I learned about chicken wing pops from Chef Tim at the culinary institute I’m attending, during our chicken class.  All I can say about these pops is: slippery chicken wing + sharp knife + trying to remove one bone = carpel tunnel and lots of knicks on my fingers!  It was well worth it though!!

My favorite part of the menu would have to be the desserts!  Since we were at the winery, and there were kids present, I figured the kids would get a kick out of these champagne cookies!  And they did!  They were “toasting”  us with the cookies…not to mention gobbling them up as fast as humanly possible!  The mini chocolate cups went so fast, the birthday girl didn’t even get a chance to try it!  I was originally going to make chocolate dipped strawberries, but that was something I’ve made several times already…so I wanted to try something different: hence, the chocolate cups!  I individually molded each cup and filled it with either custard or home-made whipped cream and topped with fresh fruit!  This was a fantastic alternative to chocolate strawberries; it was a very classy and elegant dessert, perfect for a classy and elegant setting!