Year Two of The Great Recession is already 2 months old. As a high profile off-premises caterer and leaseholder of the Plaza Hotel's Grand Ballroom, I am constantly asked about the current trends in entertaining for non-profit clients.

The trend is simple - pay less and maximize...

Last week ended with a grand and glorious finale - a ticker tape parade tribute to the NY Yankees and their dedicated fans, and for this caterer, a day to be swept up in the enthusiasm of being a victorious New Yorker.

I have just traveled half way around the world for a 3½-day visit with my sister and her family. And though I long to travel to all the places between the Galilee and New York City, there was no time for a stop over.

What to pack? Aside from a...

Step back from all the details -- the menu, guest counts and RSVP's, room layout, operational minutia, music, florist, photographer -- and just focus on the ingredients.

We start with the food, the foundation of the meal that is the focus of our attention and the hands that lovingly...

A year and a half after closing for renovation, El Museo del Barrio is back. And what a reopening it has been. Culinary fare does not vary much museum to museum (do you see a difference between the sandwiches at the Guggenheim and the Whitney or the Met?) but we...

I met His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Monday at the Garrison Institute in Putnam County. I am neither Buddhist nor particularly spiritual lately, but the invitation had been so unexpected and generous that I accepted.

Late Sunday night I Googled "what to wear when meeting the Dalai Lama."

A rite of passage - attending our first parents weekend at college in Lewiston Maine during the peak fall foliage season. Touchdown in Portland, which has been receiving lots of press for culinary innovation and creative new restaurants and cafes though sushi was the choice for our late lunch on...

Jeff Zalaznick, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of www.alwayshungryny.com, had agreed to let me guest blog on his website. It is enough to post weekly for Huffington, so I have been waiting for the inspiration to strike.

And at last, it had. (At least I thought so.)

It is Yom Kippur,...

48 hours after welcoming the Jewish New Year, a two day holiday, the festivities wind down. Marked by specific prayers, it also is the beginning of a ten day period of introspection and penitence.

As it is a 'major' Jewish holiday, families, extended families and close friends gather around...

In the past two weeks, I have covered a lot of miles. New York to Maine and back with stops in between.

First time experiences: Super Walmart, dinner at the Culinary Institute of America, IKEA, first child to college, Columbia County fair.

Memorable moments: the New Amsterdam Market, trying...

This week, at Katchkie Farm, we welcomed our last two summer groups to the Sylvia Center.
45 children, ranging in ages from 5 to 17 piled off the bus late Tuesday morning. They were residents of 3 NYC shelters; from Bushwick in Brooklyn and Springfield Gardens and Briarwood shelters...

It struck me out of the blue, while looking at our website. So much content in there! And then it hit -- it is just like my office or my home. Filled with stuff.

There are girls I know who love shoes and have racks bursting with never ending...

The Northeast finally welcomes summer. It is midway through August, and there are a few weeks left to enjoy long days and the laid back atmosphere of the season. Except of course on a farm, where it is high season (akin to what was once a retailers Christmas) and days...

It has been a dream to host a formal dinner on our farm. It was an idea discussed long ago which finally came to fruition. The farm, though young, is out of infancy - somewhere in adolescence and ready for more formal entertaining. The Spring Clean-ups, Fall Festivals, all dress...

Dawn, Saturday - looking outside to savor a brilliant morning. There will be abundant sunshine. I am reminded of the E. E. Cummings poem - when water turns to ice does it remember it once was water; when ice turns back into water, does it remember it was once ice?

Saturday evening, for the first time in a very long time, I was inspired in the kitchen. It has been months since I have had a passionate cooking session. I have roasted many chickens, made salads and side dishes, cooked soups and even tempting complete dinners. But it was about...

So much rain fell in a short period of time Friday night in Putnam County. Must be some sort of record, close to five inches in about two hours. Saturday morning I went down to the dock to take my rowboat out on the lake. That it was filled with...

I have been thinking about a cool new feature in my new car all week. My loyal, decade old mini-van, of 114,000 miles and 20-odd bumper stickers has been retired to make way for an energy efficient Hybrid. The technological changes from 1999 to 2009 have been significant. What an...

Happy 6th of July. Reasons to celebrate - there are so many, even in these days of immense uncertainty. Now more than ever, we need to grasp the wonderful events that happen in the course of a week or a day and recognize them as great moments, cheer each other,...

It is almost the end of June and we will be halfway through 2009, the year of the greatest catering challenge. Not because of food or event planning or any logistical issues. It is because of the economic climate and the fact that entertaining is controversial.

There is a...