Chinese desserts: February 2013

Catering For a Business Lunch

Many of us have had to attend a business lunch or meeting for work which was catered. But how many of us had to hire the catering company? Often times, these meetings are scheduled the day before - or even the morning of. If you are charged with the task of finding food for the next business lunch, don't panic. Here are some tips for catering a business lunch on short notice.

Find out who will be attending the lunch meeting. How many people will be eating? Ask your boss or the meeting executive whether or not the lunch should be casual or more upscale. This is important because you certainly will not want to order a three-course meal for an informal business lunch. Conversely, you will not want to order sub sandwiches for a room full of executives or board of directors, unless specifically asked. Of course, you may have a budget to which you need to adhere. This may also determine the type of food you purchase for your business lunch. In most cases, however, sandwiches and fruit or potato chips are ideal for an impromptu business lunch.

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Try to find out what type of food the attendees prefer. If there is time, take a quick poll of the attendees and see if they have a craving for a certain type of food. You can also provide them with a choice - Mexican or Chinese food? Sandwiches or Pasta? Be careful, though. You may have a lot of differing responses, which will leave some of the attendees disappointed in your food selection. When in doubt, it is best to make the decision yourself. If you have had business lunches with these people in the past, think of some of the dishes that you know they enjoy.

Catering For a Business Lunch

Begin calling restaurants and caterers. Trying to find a caterer for business lunch on short notice can be difficult, but many catering companies expect to prepare food for business lunches and meetings with little turnaround time. When you find a caterer that is able to provide you with the food you need, ask about all of your options. Will the food be delivered or will you need to pick it up? Exactly what side dishes or condiments are included in the lunch? Does the caterer provide plates, napkins and utensils? Will they provide any heating trays (if needed)?

Once the food is prepared and in the office, set up the conference room or designated area where you are having your business lunch. Place the food in a central location along with plates, cups and napkins so everyone has easy access to it. Some catering companies will provide you with set up and clean up service, but you probably won't need that unless the meeting is more formal and upscale.

Allow the attendees to enjoy the food and discuss business. Once the meeting is over, clean up and restore the conference room to its previous condition. Having your business lunch catered on short notice may seem difficult, but by following the tips provided here, your attendees will think you've had it planned for weeks.

Catering For a Business Lunch

Mr. Abernathy is a marketing agent of DeFazio's Catering. The full-service professional catering company offers a wide variety of menu options suitable for all types of events - formal events, weddings, birthday parties, and even backyard barbecues. Take the stress from your party planning by hiring a caterer for your next party or event; the service is surprisingly affordable and you will get to spend more of your time enjoying yourself. For more information on their Catering Richmond Virginia please visit their website.

Chinese Restaurant Menus - Menu Design and Printing Tips to Beat the Competition

If you own a Chinese restaurant and are thinking about printing new menu designs to boost your sales, you must use your customer knowledge and smart design practices to be successful. Many Chinese restaurants use flyer printing services to help increase their sales and also to increase customer interest in surrounding areas. Even if you no not offer take out services, you can still benefit from Chinese menu printing designed to increase sales. Both dine-in and take out menus can really benefit your business when paired with an effective distribution method.

Design Your Chinese Menu to Beat the Competition - 4 Easy Tips:

1.      Include both Chinese and English translations in your new menu design. It may be beneficial for you to use two separate menus - a separate version for those who speak English and Chinese. Not only does this make your restaurant feel more authentic for all customers, it also makes things much easier for your Chinese customers who may not understand the English translations of your menu. This simple adjustment will automatically broaden your target audience thus increasing your new customer potential and sales.

2.      Include high-resolution pictures of your Chinese dishes that are "hot sellers" and unpopular products. This will show people how great your food looks on familiar dishes, as well as introduce them to some of your more profitable, yet less popular dishes at the same time. You can also offer "Meal Deals" in your menu choice for both dine-in and take out customers. When people are ordering Chinese food, they tend to be in a group or as a couple, so make sure you consider these various types of situations to help encourage people to purchase from you. Special offers and coupon deals are another great way to increase your sales order total and make your customers happy at the same time. Imagine what an extra five dollars per order could do for your business!

3.      Make sure you focus on your business branding properly. Include your logo, mascot imagery, and clear and concise typography to ensure customers easily recognize your brand. Even if customers do not order from you immediately, your brand should be memorable and the flyer design should reflect the same style and coloring as your branding. This ensures that the next time they order Chinese food, they will remember your flyer and dig it out to specifically make an order with your business and not your competition.

4.      Don't cut corners with your Chinese menu printing. There are lots of ways you can save money on your printing bill, such as bulk orders, and using an online printing company, but you don't need to compromise on your printing quality or color to get a good deal. Chinese color menu printing is essential to getting a good customer response, so make sure your menus are in full color and printing to a high standard of quality. Use an online printer with low prices, helpful service, and samples of previous Chinese menus that they can show you.

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Chinese Restaurant Menus - Menu Design and Printing Tips to Beat the Competition

Chris Barr is an experienced marketing professional and graduate of Christopher Newport University. His areas of expertise include SEO, Direct Mail, Ad Campaigns, Business Development, Copywriting, Product Management, New Vertical Identification, Lead/Pipeline Development, PPC (Google, Yahoo, MSN), Email Campaigns (HTML), Analytics, Technical Writing, PR (press releases, radio, media communications, Organic Search Optimization, Article Writing, Technical Writing, Video and Audio Production, Blogs/Web 2.0/Social Networking, Link Building, MS Windows XP/Vista/Office, ACT!. Chris currently serves as Marketing Director for Taradel.com and may be contacted directly regarding your print advertising needs.

Best Restaurant to Have a Christmas Party

Well it is that time of year again to start planning for your annual Christmas party. After last year's success the real question is how could you ever do better? Well for starters, you can't have the best Christmas parties at the office, you need to have them out in the real world where everyone would have a reason to have some serious fun. What better place to hold a Christmas party then at a local restaurant. They have the space, they have the food and they definitely have the beverages to host your party, so why not?

Well unfortunately, it comes down to timing. Most of the well-known restaurants who cater to parties will slowly start booking up the popular days for other parties. What this means is that the longer you take deciding on a venue, the less venues which will be available for you to choose from. Don't be left having to throw your party after Christmas is over like some people do every year.

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The best restaurants to have a Christmas party in are the ones that have the bars; preferably some sort of open bar set-up because no one wants to party without the booze and no one will really wants to pay for them after all. It only makes sense. But before you can think about all of the logistics you need to find out which venues are still available. They are going faster then you would believe so don't take to long planning for the Christmas party.

Best Restaurant to Have a Christmas Party

Restaurant Esher

American Restaurant Esher [http://www.eltoritouk.com/index2.html]

Copycat Restaurant Recipes - How To Make Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes at Home

Have you ever eaten at a restaurant and thought, wow what a great meal? Well, how would you like to be able to make that same food in the comfort of your own home? Many of the popular things people eat at the most popular restaurants are surprisingly easy to make. You just need the copycat restaurant recipes.

When you know how to make your favorite restaurant food, you can not only save the expense from buying it all the time, but also you can eat it whenever you want without rushing out to the restaurant. Of course, you can also amaze your friends and family when you whip up dishes they all though you could only get by eating out.

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Whether you enjoy Mexican food, Italian food, Chinese food, or even traditional American cuisine, you can get your hands on your favorite copycat restaurant recipes and start making them tonight.

Copycat Restaurant Recipes - How To Make Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes at Home

Imagine having the secret recipes for such crowd pleasers as Applebee's Santa Fe Chicken Salad or Cheesecake Factory's Chicken Madeira, or even Olive Garden's Capellini Pomodoro.

And it's not just main entrees you can make.

You can also fire up sauces, desserts, and even the most famous drinks and cocktails. From winners like Emeril's Southwest Seasoning and Outback's Steak Marinade to Red Lobster's Chocolate Lava Cakes and Ruby Tuesday's Apple Pie. And for drinks you can make Sonic's Cranberry Limeade, Tony Roma's Chocolate Martini, and even McDonald's Iced Coffee.

Okay, so it sounds great to be able to make these awesome copycat restaurant recipes in your own home, but how and where do you find them?

It's actually quite easy thanks to Chef Tom. He is a master at breaking down and decoding everyone's favorite restaurant dishes, and creating easy to follow recipes to recreate them in your own home.

In fact, he's actually put an entire book together with all those favorites (over 300 of them) from the top restaurants and restaurant chains.

Copycat Restaurant Recipes - How To Make Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes at Home

To get all the recipes for yourself, get the FREE Guide: Copycat Restaurant - Discover How To Make Your Favorite Restaurant Recipes at Home! Visit http://copycatrestaurant.com for instant access.

Tom J. Brady

Chinese Starter Recipes

Chinese starter recipes can be a great option whether you are catering for a dinner party or a buffet. You can serve a Chinese starter recipe before any main course cuisine and you might even want to serve a Chinese starter before a traditional western main meal.

Examples of tasty Chinese starters recipes include spring rolls, prawn crackers with a homemade dipping sauce, wonton soup, chicken and sweet corn soup, Chinese stuffed mushrooms, steamed dumplings and more. If you serve recipes like these on Asian crockery with Chinese spoons or chopsticks your home cooking is sure to be very much appreciated.

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More Chinese Starters Ideas

Chinese Starter Recipes

There are lots of vegetarian Chinese starters you can make. What about homemade egg rolls or spring rolls with cabbage, mushrooms and bean sprouts inside or vegetarian dumplings?

Stuffed mushrooms or zucchini work well and you can use spiced rice as the filling. Chinese chicken wings are great at a buffet and you can add Chinese ingredients like water chestnuts, oriental mushrooms or bamboo shoots to any salad recipe to give it a flavour of China.

Recipe for Chinese Crepes

These tasty crepes are filled with spring onions, black bean sauce, fresh coriander and more for an authentic Chinese flavour. Use fried wonton skin or fried pork rind to make a crunchy filling. This recipe makes one Chinese crepe, so double it as many times as necessary, making one crepe at a time.

You can find these crepes on Chinese street corners, cooked fresh to order, and they also make a great starter before any kind of meal. They are hot, flavourful and spicy without being too spicy. If you prefer a mild flavour you can leave out the chili sauce.

You will need:

1 tablespoon black bean sauce
2 tablespoons soy milk
2 tablespoons millet flour
1 teaspoon water
1/2 teaspoon chili sauce
1/2 spring onion, sliced
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 small square crackers
1 tablespoon torn fresh coriander leaves
1 beaten egg
Cooking spray

How to make them:

Whisk the soy milk with the vegetable oil and millet flour to make a batter. Add a teaspoon of water if it is too thick. Stir a teaspoon of water into the black bean sauce. Mix another teaspoon of water into the chili sauce. Put these two sauces to one side.

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray and heat it over a moderately low heat. Pour the batter into the pan and spread it so you get a thin crepe. Cook it for a couple of minutes or until firm, then pour the beaten egg over it. Cook it until the egg sets. Sprinkle the coriander and spring onion slices on top, pressing them into the egg.

Flip the crepe over and spread the chili sauce and black bean sauces on. Put the crackers in the middle, leaving 1cm of space between them. Flip the top third of the crepe over the crackers, then fold the bottom third up. Double the crepe over so the crackers are on top of each other. Serve hot.

Chinese Starter Recipes

Chinese starter recipes are easy to make and your dinner guests will love them. You can find plenty of wonderful starter recipes at StarterRecipes.co.uk. We have a great collection of recipes to suit every occasion and palate.

The Chinese Diet

It is a well-known fact that being overweight or obese is a major health hazard, which in the past concerned mainly the Western world and much less the Asian population. The reason for such difference was and still is clearly the different eating habits and nutrition in those countries. Unfortunately, this seems to change rapidly to the worse in the 21st century, with Asia's population's income structure rising and these countries coming more and more under the influence of the well-known U.S. fast food chains and soft drink corporations.

So it may nearly seem a bit nostalgic, when I present here the virtues of the Chinese diet but as I had the opportunity last year in November to come to and stay in Shanghai for a few months, I could experience the still existing difference myself. I wholeheartedly can state that I quickly became a fan of the Chinese kitchen and this for at least three reasons:

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1. The incredible variation of meals you get in China is unmatched to all Western style kitchens.

The Chinese Diet

2. Even with only little or no physical exercising, which is basically limited to fitness clubs in Shanghai (of which I am not a fan!), it was virtually impossible for me to put on any weight eating the traditional Chinese diet. From experience I know, that with Western food I would have gained at least 3 to 5 kg!

3. Due to it's preparation, the ingredients and eating style (chop sticks), the Chinese kitchen and way of eating is by far healthier.

These positive experiences motivates me to put together a brief insight into the secrets of Chinese food, which has a tradition of a few thousand years and used to keep one fifth of the human race slim. Perhaps the one or other spa owner will be encouraged to introduce some of those elements (occasionally) into his or her spa kitchen (why not at home too?) for the client's benefit.

Here now come the 12 basic rules of the Chinese diet:

1. Stop counting calories Chinese look at food as nourishing, not unwanted calories and eat slowly (by virtue of chop sticks!) only until not hungry any more - and not to finish the servings under time pressure as we know it so often.

2. Don't fear the fan ("cooked rice") This is no carbohydrate loading. More than a billion slim people and 3000 years of history can't be wrong!.

3. The liquid diet Known as "congee," it is liquid fan (rice based) and eaten for breakfast mainly - warm and either sweet or savoury. It has a cleansing effect and prevents dehydration.

4. Veggies are the dishes Traditional Chinese diet is carnivore-lite and veggies rich. The anti-oxidants are found in veggies, not dead meat.

5. Mixing is key The food comes on the table in large numbers and small quantities each. Western food is served in the opposite way. Taking a little many times ensures that the diner feels satiated earlier.

6. Eat till full Right. That is what the Chinese diet allows you to do. Comfortably full but not stuffed because your brain realizes too late that you have eaten too much. The beauty of slowness, not speed, at work!

7. A meal is an occasion, not sheer necessity Three proper meals a day and enjoyed with family and friends, not our snack-on-the run or firing up the microwave in order not to miss the soccer game on TV - that makes the difference!

8. Balance the flavors Most Chinese meals incorporate five flavors: sweet, sour, salty, pungent and bitter. Those flavors enter into different organs, which results in less desire for sweets as we know it from Western diets. Even the common craving for chocolate does lose its power here.

9. Eat food, which is "alive" Chinese food is traditionally freshly picked, not processed and conserved. They believe a living organism requires "real" food and not a food substitute.

10. Green is healthy Green tea is the much healthier choice than coffee or black tea. Slightly stimulating with its small caffeine content and full of anti-oxidants, when brewed with not quite-boiling water, it is said that five or more cups per day keeps cancer away.

11. Food is meant to keep you fit Chinese believe that food must ensure to keep disease away, must constantly support health and immunity. Those health boosters are seen in ginger, chillies and garlic in particular. They are delicious and support the body's health.

12. Respect the body's climate The Chinese don't entertain the malpractice of putting icy beverages into their body as so common in the West or steaming hot soup. They prefer in general room temperature and the food is cooked and not raw, therefore warm too - in complete harmony with body temperature.

After experiencing the benefits of such very different, more healthy eating habits and nutrition, I only can encourage you to evaluate carefully the above said. Try to take over as much as you feel comfortable with into your health business (should you have one) and/or private life, which is not difficult as today most supermarkets have an assortment of Chinese food on the shelf. Even better if there is a Chinese store in your area.

Last but not least I invite you to have a look at existing literature and recipes of Chinese diet, which will not only deepen your knowledge of the matter but will allow you to design and cook many healthy Chinese meals for family and friends.

The Chinese Diet

Dr Axel Brandt is an entrepreneur and consultant in the health and wellness market since 1992. He designed and managed South Africa's first 5 star holistic wellness center in Cape Town, has written various ebooks and numerous blogs about health and spa business. His blog http://www.startingaspabusiness.com is a good introduction into the health and wellness field.