The DAMES Dinner

I was the entertainment at a fabulous event this past Thursday night - the annual Sisterhood DAMES Dinner at Temple Beth Emeth that was filled with fun and friendship. I hardly think of myself as a "celebrity," though, despite the tremendously flattering billing shown above! I'm just a flaky chick who cooks, bakes, takes pictures of her food, and then blathers about everything she eats.

I just had to show everyone how amazing the meal was! It was prepared by the very talented Burt Steinberg and Ron Philipp, who are not only great cooks but also really good guys. Their contact information is at the bottom of the post; you absolutely want to call them to cater an event for you if you're in the Ann Arbor-ish area. (If you're not in the area, trust that I ate enough the other night for both you and me!)

The hors d'oeuvres table:


A spicy cranberry-mango chutney (front) and Brie en croute topped with cranberries (back):


A zesty cheese fondue with roasted vegetables, plus other dips for the croutons:


My dinner plate, featuring generous portions served by the chefs themselves; they love to interact with guests, so they presented and plated the food while schmoozing. There's Chicken Franchese (lightly breaded and topped with a vibrant sauce of beurre blanc with artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, and Kalamata olives), Asian cole slaw with a lime-cilantro vinaigrette, tortellini in Alfredo sauce, and a crisp-tender vegetable assortment:


No words needed for this photo!


And, finally ....

Guests were asked to bring non-perishables to be donated to The Back Door Food Pantry, which provides food and personal hygiene items to those in need; these items were then going to be placed on the dining tables as centerpieces, in honor of the evening's food-related theme. We'd thought that each of the 80 guests might bring a couple of cans ... instead, they brought entire shopping bags full of goodies - such abundance that most of it couldn't be displayed or else there'd have been no room for dinner plates! I was so touched to see such generosity ... :)


I had a wonderful time at the dinner, making new friends and eating fabulous food! Many, many thanks to the Sisterhood for inviting and welcoming me ... :)

And don't worry - I didn't forget! Here's the contact information for the chefs who prepared the amazing dinner:

Burt Steinberg, Executive Chef
Chef on Demand
burtsteinberg@yahoo.com
We put the "art" in culinary arts!

Ron Philipp, Chef Ron of Romanoff's
248-875-3336
Home style to haute cuisine