Hey, you! ☀️
Following the post I wrote about our daughter's confirmation celebration (click here for the post), I have received lots of messages asking me how I had organised myself. Even friends and family asked how I managed to pull everything off. Truthfully, I don't really know how, but somehow I did. Pat on my shoulder LOL.
So I've got all of my notes with me here and I'm ready to share them.
Time and Organization were my two best friends.
Let me give you a little background so you can understand the choices I made. The celebration started with a mass at 10am. I thought the mass would be 1 hour long, but it actually took 2 hours! That slightly messed up with the plans, but it was ok. The venue was at a friend's house, so the plan was to go straight from the church to the friend's house. We wouldn't be dropping by our home because we told friends and family to come at 1pm. By the time, our guests would arrive, we would be serving appetizers while the men would get the BBQ going. Then we would grill meat, serve salads, and Filipino food. Finally the desserts. By the way, we decided to have this served as a buffet rather than a typical French sit-down meal. This was so much easier and convenient for me!
Finalising the Menu List
The things that I had to consider were the weather, if I could make / prepare the dishes ahead (or at least prep them), the ingredients used and method of cooking. Because we were having the celebration at a friend's house, as much as possible I didn't want to use his oven or any other appliances to cook (t quickly reheat was ok).
First thing first - the appetizers. I needed this to be quick to make and most importantly, dishes I could prepare ahead.
Appetizers:
5 kinds of Cake Salé (French Savory Cakes): ham and cheese, tuna and green olives, chorizo and feta, bacon and red onion, bell peppers and onion)
Hummus and Carrot Sticks
Tuna Rillettes and Bread
Charcuterie Board
Cheese Board
Then the grilled meats, salads, and Filipino food.
Barbecue:
Cote de Boeuf / Bone-In Prime Rib
Lamb Chops
Pork Ribs
Chicken and Veggies Skewers
Salads:
Pasta Salad
Taboulé
Green Salad
Potato Salad
Beetroot Salad
Filipino Lumpia:
Pork Lumpia
Shrimp Lumpia
Dynamite Lumpia
Filipino Food:
Rice
Bam-I
Lechon Liempo
And finally the desserts.
Desserts:
Letter S Cake
Lemon Loaf Cake
Banana Bread
Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis
Candy Board
Dessert Board
Fresh Fruits Platter
Preparing Ahead
There's preparing ahead and prepaaaaaring ahead. 😂😂 By that, I mean weeks ahead.
3 weeks before the celebration
My first focus was on the French Cake Salé, which if tightly wrapped can be kept in the freezer for up to 1 month. They thaw perfectly well and in my opinion are even better compared to the freshly baked ones.
✨ French Cake Salé
Prepare the 5 Cake Salé as indicated in the recipe.
Let them cool down completely.
When cool, tightly wrap with parchment paper then aluminium foil.
Transfer to freezer.
My next focus were the Filipino Lumpia, which can also be stored in the freezer up to 1 month. As much as possible, use fresh ingredients especially the meat and shrimp. If you are concerned about the lumpia wrapper, don't be - that can be re-frozen with no problem. If you cannot find fresh shrimps or meat, then I would suggest part-fry the lumpia, cool down, then freezer in the freezer.
✨Filipino Lumpia
Make your pork lumpia, shrimp lumpia, and dynamite lumpia as indicated in the recipe.
Transfer to a baking sheet, one layer at a time, then freeze for one hour.
Remove from freezer and transfer to a freezer bag.
Transfer the freezer bag to the freezer.
Two weeks before the celebration
Sweet cakes can also be stored in the freezer for a few weeks. So next on my list were the Lemon Loaf Cake and Banana Bread. I also decided to make a letter cake. I went with a brownie cake foundation.
✨ Lemon Loaf Cake
Make the Lemon Loaf Cake as indicated in the recipe.
Remove from oven and cool down completely.
When cool, tightly wrap and transfer to freezer.
✨ Banana Bread
Make the Banana Bread as indicated in the recipe.
Remove from oven and cool down completely.
When cool, tightly wrap and transfer to freezer.
✨ Letter S Cake
Make the Letter Cake as indicated in the recipe.
Remove from oven.
Cool down and transfer to a cake board.
Cut out the letter S and transfer the cake crumbs to a freezer bag (this will made into cake pops).
Wrap tightly and transfer to the freezer.
✨ Cake Pops
Transfer the cake crumbs to a freezer bag and freeze.
In case, you're wondering I do have an extra freezer which makes it easy for me to freeze all of these food. This is the last of the food to be frozen. Before I forget though, if you still have space, make ice cubes if you can.
Three days before the celebration
✨ Hummus
Make Hummus as indicated in the recipe.
Store in a tightly-wrapped container in the refrigerator.
Prepare the carrot sticks and store in another tightly-wrapped container in the refrigerator.
✨ Tuna Rillette
Make Tuna Rillette using the recipe.
Store in a tightly-wrapped container in the refrigerator.
✨ Taboulé Salad
Make the Taboulé Salad as indicated in the recipe.
Transfer to a serving bowl and cover with cling wrap.
Store in the refrigerator.
Two days before the party
✨ Italian Pasta Salad
Make the Italian Pasta Salad as indicated in the recipe, except for the arugula salad.
Transfer to your serving bowl and cover with cling wrap.
Store in the refrigerator.
✨ Beetroot Salad
Make the Beetroot Salad as indicated in the recipe.
Transfer to a serving bowl and cover with cling wrap.
Store in the refrigerator.
✨ Creamy Potato Salad
Make the Potato Salad as indicated in the recipe, except for the parsley.
Transfer to a serving bowl and cover with cling wrap.
Store in the refrigerator.
One day before the party
✨ Chicken and Veggies Skewers
Marinate the chicken in the marinade of choice.
Store in the fridge.
After a few hours, make skewers with the marinated chicken and vegetables of choice.
Transfer to a platter and cover with cling wrap.
Transfer back to refrigerator.
✨ Green Salad
Wash and dry thoroughly the green salad.
Cut in bite-size and transfer to a big freezer (or 2 if needed).
Transfer to the refrigerator.
Prepare a vinaigrette as indicated in the recipe.
Transfer to a mason jar and close.
Store in the refrigerator.
✨ Letter S Cake
Remove the letter cake from freezer and transfer the the refrigerator.
Prepare the ganache as indicated in the recipe.
Cover the cake with the chocolate ganache.
Carefully cover with aluminium foil or cling wrap and store in refrigerator.
✨ Lamb Chops
Marinate the lamb chops with olive oil, herbs de Provence, salt, and black pepper in a freezer bag or big bowl.
Store in the refrigerator.
✨ Pork Ribs
Marinate the pork ribs with barbecue sauce in a freezer bag or big bowl.
Store in the refrigerator.
✨ Cake Pops
Make the cake pops as indicated in the recipe.
Cover and store in the refrigerator.
✨ Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis
Make the Panna Cotta as indicated in the recipe.
Transfer to mini-ramekins and store in the refrigerator.
Make the raspberry coulis as indicated in the recipe.
Transfer to a mason jar, close, and store in the refrigerator.
On the day of the party
✨ Drinks
Immediately cool the drinks in a cooler or beverage tub filled with ice.
✨ White Rice
Using a rice cooker, cook rice.
Serve.
✨ Barbecue (ask friends for help)
Grill the chicken and veggies skewers, bone-in prime rib, lamb chops, and pork ribs.
Serve.
✨ Cake Salé
Thaw the Cake Salé on the kitchen counter for at least 2-3 hours (depending on the weather).
Slice, transfer to a serving platter and serve.
✨ Lumpia (ask friends for help)
Heat some oil in a deep pan.
Fry the lumpia.
When they are fried, transfer to paper-lined plate.
Serve with some sweet chili sauce.
✨ Hummus
Remove the hummus from fridge and gently mix.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle paprika for colour.
Serve with carrot sticks.
✨ Tuna Rillette
Remove from refrigerator and gently mix.
Top with chopped chives or scallions.
Serve with sliced baguette bread.
✨ Italian Pasta Salad
Add the Arugula salad to the Italian Pasta Salad.
Mix and serve.
✨ Charcuterie Board
Remove from the refrigerator.
Serve
✨ Cheese Board
Remove from the refrigerator.
Serve with a cheese knife and bread
✨ Taboulé Salad
Mix the Taboulé Salad and serve.
✨ Beetroot Salad
Mix the Beetroot Salad and serve.
✨ Green Salad
In a big bowl, transfer the green salad and vinaigrette.
Mix together well and serve.
✨ Creamy Potato Salad
Mix the potato salad and top with chopped parsley.
Serve.
✨ Bam-I Noodles
Reheat noodles in the microwave.
Serve with calamansi or sliced lime.
✨ Lechon Liempo
Reheat in the oven or better yet air fryer.
Serve with filipino dipping sauce.
✨ Letter S Cake
Remove from the refrigerator.
Decorate with decors of choice (chocolate, macarons, fresh fruits, ...)
Serve.
✨ Lemon Loaf Cake
Thaw completely on the kitchen counter for at least 2-3 hours.
Slice and serve.
✨ Banana Bread
Thaw completely on the kitchen counter for at least 2-3 hours.
Slice and serve.
✨ Cake Pops
Remove from the refrigerator.
Serve.
✨ Dessert Board
On a serving plate, add mini sweets (palmiers, coconut rochers, lengua de gato, popcorn, ...)
Serve.
✨ Candy Board
On a serving plate, add different kinds of candies.
Serve
✨ Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis
Remove the panna cotta and coulis from the refrigerator.
Top each ramekin with a spoon or two of coulis each.
Add a mini mint leaf for color.
Serve.
✨ Fruit Platter
Prepare the fruit platter by slicing fruits of choice.
Transfer to a serving platter and serve.
So I guess that's pretty it for the preparation on the day of the celebration. Two tips I would like to highlight is one, don't hesitate to ask help from friends and two, prepare garbage bags for the waste and freezer bags if your guests want to bring home leftovers. And before I forget, keep cool, breathe, and stay organized.
So what do you think? Should I have added anything else? 😊