Do We Love Food? Do We Love Art? Do We Love PEM?

YES is the answer to all of the above.  Of course we love food! And art!! And PEM!!!

We run a business that is populated with "foodies" and we adore it when our clients also want that kind of very creative approach.  Recently we were able to do the "Nick Cave" preview party at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) and we were asked to make a menu that approached the kind of creativity demonstrated in Mr. Cave's exhibit.

Our PEM Chef, Rhiannon Nowak came up with an outstanding menu of foods that combined the stunning visual colors, as well as foods with some "sound" to them, to kick off this special exhibit.

 Stationed

Passed TidBits

Prosciutto and Crepe Roulades with Melon Salsa

Bite-Sized, Chive Infused Polenta Cake with Roasted Cherry Tomato Half, Roasted Red Onion and Basil Relish

Shredded Chicken and Napa Cabbage Slaw on a Cucumber Round with Crunchy Ramen Noodle Bits

 Miniature "Chicago-style" Hot Dogs, to honor Nick Cave and his kinda town.

Tapas-Style "Little" Plates

 Pan Seared, Red- and Yellow- Beet- Dyed-Tofu on a Bed of Seaweed Salad with Crispy Ginger and Black Sesame Vinaigrette

Skin-On Striped Bass, Cooked at the Station, served atop Sweet Potato and Purple Potato Purees, with Crispy Leeks and Chive Oil

Cola-marinated, sliced flat-iron steak over roasted corn and edamame succotash with chile- and herb-infused oil, and Latin-spiced tomato confit.

 Desserts

Pistachio, Raspberry, Chocolate and other lovely French Macarons

Tiger Cake

 Mini-cupcakes with Nerds, Pop Rocks and Colored Sugars

If you like the idea of a creative caterer that can customize your event to exactly what you have in mind, you should consider working with Hawthorne Catering.  We will bring your dream to life.

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If you would like to know more about the Nick Cave exhibit, here is some information from PEM's website:

Photos of Nick Cave's work by James Prinz Photography. Courtesy of Nick Cave and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

SALEM, MA -- Original and otherworldly, Nick Cave's art blends the boundaries between sculpture, costume, video, dance and public performance in unexpected ways.  The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) continues its growing contemporary art program with three never-before-seen Nick Cave Soundsuits made especially for this exhibition, alongside his immersive film projection.  FreePort [No. 006]: Nick Cave will be on view at PEM  March 2 through May 27, 2013.

Cave's humanoid Soundsuit sculptures are built from a diverse bricolage of found objects and materials collected by the artist, including twigs, sisal, beads, sequins and feathers.  When worn, Cave's Soundsuits take on a larger-than-life dimension, obscuring the wearer's identity, gender and class and unleashing the sculpture's kinetic potential.  Drawing on his experience with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cave choreographs performers' movements to activate the Soundsuits' inherent motion and highlight their mesmerizing appeal.  Two Soundsuit performance films, Drive-by and Clowning, will be presented in conjunction with this exhibition.

"The physicality of Nick Cave's Soundsuits invites viewers to imagine what it might feel like to inhabit one. Textural, faceless, disorienting and enigmatic, Cave's Soundsuits are whimsical, but project a certain power," says Trevor Smith, PEM's curator of contemporary art. "We are excited to share this groundbreaking artist with our visitors and we hope to expand the definition of what performance art can be."

Cave was born in Fulton, Missouri in 1959. He lives and works in Chicago where he is a professor of fashion design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The three Soundsuits featured in this exhibition are among the last that the artist intends to create. Cave, who since the early 1990s has created more than 500 Soundsuits, plans to explore new artistic avenues.

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I hope to see you here, or at PEM.

Juli