Retirement Party Food Pictures!

17 years ago

Wow, the party for my retirement was fabulous! We had 47 people in attendance, spread all over the inside of the house and the patio. It started at 1:00 pm and the last folks left at 9:00 pm. I never had an 8 hour party before!

I asked some friends specifically to photograph the food, but have not received those photos yet, but here are the pix I took. If the other pix arrive in my IN box, I'll post them in this post. The menu-in-progress was posted previously. The lasagne and the meatball sliders really went fast, but the Oreo cheesecake truffles disappeared within minutes!

Here's the last remaining wonderful Oreo cheesecake truffle (but not how they were served! I just used the styrofoam as a prop for this pix)--if I had not hidden this one, there would be nothing to photograph!!!

Had loads of fresh fruit...here's one picture

Chilled veggie salad, most veggies lightly steamed, with a balsamic vinaigrette...it was easy to keep refilling this large glass bowl

and grated parm with salami added to the chilled veggie salad atop an individual serving plate...

...and here's one of the trays of Caprese salad (before I added the olive oil drizzle)

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Comments (23)

caliloo
17 years ago
Wow - everything looks delish! And an 8 hour party? LOL! Sounds like everyone was having way too much fun to go home! COngrats on a great day!

And can you please post the Oreo CHeesecake Truffle recipe? It sounds TDF!

Alexa
shellm
17 years ago
Wow,everything looks,very pretty.Congrats on retiring.

Shelley
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diinohio
17 years ago
Nice! I'm getting good ideas for DDs baby shower. Love the plating. And congatulations on your retirement. I would like the truffle recipe too.

Di
loves2cook4six
17 years ago
Wow. You sound like you had loads of fun.

Love your pics. BUT WHAT HAPPENED with the cookies? I opened this thread just to see the answer :)

Alexa and Di, I've linked the recipe for you below

Here is a link that might be useful: Oreo Cheesecake Truffle recipe
annie1992
17 years ago
What beautiful food, Sooz, and an 8 hour party? Yes, that's just the right amount of time for friends to eat, I think.

Congratulations, everything went well and now you're retired? So whatcha gonna do now?

Annie
artsyshell
17 years ago
Great looking food! Glad you had a wonderful time!

Shelley S.
sooz
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for all the comments and compliments! Oh my goodness, loves2cook4six, there was nothing left of the cookies!!!!! Nothing!!! Not even crumbs! Glad you had a chance to see them on another post!

Hey, annie, as for what am I going to do? For now, whatever the day brings!!!

Here's what I did for the oreo cheesecake truffles on a stick--
1 package oreo cookies
1 8oz. package cream cheese (softened)
chocolate melts (I used Wilton because I couldn't find anything else) or chocolate bark, but another poster, azzalea, mentioned using Merckens melts.

1. Finely crush 7 whole cookies in a food processor or place them in a ziploc bag and crush into a fine consistency. Reserve for later.
2. Crush remaining whole cookies and then stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon to help mash the two together. This part will make you feel as if you should have worked out more! ha ha
3. Roll the mixture into 1" balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. At this point, I put them in the fridge, but you can put them in the freezer too, just to solidify a bit.
4. Melt chocolate as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry. Then, as I did each one, I dipped the end of a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate, and then put it into the truffle.
5. Re-dip just the tops in melted chocolate, then dip into the cookie crumbs that you set aside in Step #1. Put on cookie sheet again, and refrigerate.
Makes about 3 dozen.
The original recipe is from the Bakerella blog by way of trudymom, who posts here, and the bake at 350 website, also mentioned to me by trudymom.
:O)
Doing the happy retirement dance!
Sooz
jude31
17 years ago
Congratulations on your retirement..!!!And what a party...8 hours.!! The food looks wonderful and the veggies and the caprese salad have my mouth watering.

Have fun starting a new chapter in your life!

jude
ghoghunter
17 years ago
Well I vote that you should start up your own catering business now that you have so much more free time!!! Everything looks just wonderful!
Joann
canarybird01
17 years ago
Congratulations Sooz!

Looks like you had great food at a wonderful party.

Now you will find like the rest of us who are, that being retired keeps you much busier than going out to work every day! :-)

SharonCb
User
17 years ago
Congrats on the retirement and the party! The food looks wonderful, so beautifully presented!
loves2cook4six
17 years ago
Sooz, glad the cookies went down well. Now you get to spend tons of time baking and socializing, reading some good books and having a blast. ENJOY!
Tracey_OH
17 years ago
Everything looks wonderful! In this day and age, it's awesome to see a party spread that didn't come straight from the deli department. You did great.

Tracey
dixiedog_2007
17 years ago
Sooz it all looks wonderful. Congrats. on the retirement and having such a great party!
jude31
17 years ago
Sooz, I'm lusting after those steamed, chilled veggies. Did you make your own Balsamic vinaigrette? And....I'm eager to see the rest of the pictures. Eye candy for sure.!!!!!

jude
lakeguy35
17 years ago
Looks and sounds like a great party! Thanks for reporting back and sharing the pics!!

David
sooz
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks, all, for the compliments and good wishes! Jude, I should have just taken more pictures! The folks who were asked to take pix of the food and people --well, either they were blurry, or they were of the people! No problem, but it would have been nice to show the entire table array of food and flower bouquets!

I used a balsamic recipe from lex culinaria, but for this dish, I deliberately left out the ketchup and the salt (many folks in our age group have high blood pressure so reducing or eliminating any extra sodium is good). Here's the recipe in case you don't have it. It's wonderful!!!

Balsamic Salad Dressing from lex Culinaria
1 cup olive oil (or parmesan infused olive oil) â¨
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar â¨
6 tablespoons good quality grated parmesan cheese â¨
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce â¨
1 tablespoon lemon juice â¨
2 tablespoons sugar â¨
1/2 teaspoon paprika â¨
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard â¨
6 whole cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tsp. garlic powder) â¨
2 tablespoons ketchup (can use a little more to make it thicker) â¨
1 + 1/2 teaspoons salt â¨
Mix everything in a jar and shake. Enjoy !!!

:O)
Sooz, retired one week!!!!
jude31
17 years ago
Thanks for the recipe, Sooz and get ready to be busier in your retirement than you ever thought possible. It's about the best time of my life!

jude
jimster
17 years ago
Congratulations! The food looks superb and there is no doubt you will find lots of fun things to do in retirement.

Jim
annie1971
17 years ago
The absolute worst thing about retiring is the wonderful retirement parties your friends throw for you! That said --they have loved working with you and you have earned their respect! I agree with Jimster. You will have wonderful things to do in retirement --look forward and don't look back!! It will be a joyful new experience!
Annie'71
sally2_gw
17 years ago
Beautiful! That salad looks so good, as does the Truffle on a stick, and the Caprese salad. It sounds and looks like you throw a great party. Happy retirement!

Sally
cotehele
17 years ago
Beautiful and yummy. Congratulations on retiring!
mustangs81
17 years ago
What a testament to your value amongst your colleagues. I'm sure they will miss your contribution to the covered dish luncheons.

Retirement Party Food Pictures!

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