Inspired by tonight's food sampling

Creative but delicious food is always a highlight for any event - both private and corporate. It should be an inspiration of the theme. It should make your guests excited to try it and leaving them wanting more.

Tonight I met with Aliza, Owner and Head Chef for Octogon Catering who treated me to a moroccan-themed sampling of this week's menu. The Moroccan tasting started with pita chips dipped into Matboucha (a cooked spiced tomato salad) and some chips for her Carrot Dip (nicely spiced), Meatballs with Tomatoes, Olives and Homemade preserved lemon, and rolled cookies with raisins, pecans, fruit jam and dates (YUMMY).


Straight off her website, "Octogon catering offers homemade traditional dishes with modern interpretations. A creative culinary experience with innovative customized menus-local or exotic with inspired blend of flavors from various regions of the Mediterranean."

Tonight's tasting not only got me excited for her and the fact that she recently opened a location at 707 Gladstone Avenue, but that we will be working together in planning Octogon Catering's Grand Opening event. More info to come but feel free to drop by her location as she also offers meals to go and unique cooking classes for all ages...truly a Moroccan and Spanish inspired cuisine experience.

Free printable wedding workbook

Collaborating, sharing and promoting other reputable wedding planners in Ottawa is always best done over a coffee on a nice sunny day! I had the opportunity over the weekend to do just that with Sophie from Coverall Event Coordination. I'm so excited for her. She has officially launched "Something Blue" which is a free printable wedding workbook customized by city and state/province. As an experienced Planner, she has developped a tool to facilitate the planning process for brides and grooms - not specifically to replace the requirement for a real Wedding Planner but as a guide to prioritize and track progess. Nothing can replace the warm and fuzzy feeling of knowing you have a real person on the day of your wedding to take care of any problems, handle vendors, set up, and coordinate all aspects includng the itinerary.

Congrats to Sophie for a great idea! Check out Something Blue: Free printable wedding workbook at www.somethingblueworkbook.com!

V for victory for my dear friend Brenda

There are times in our lives when we are forced to really see things in a different perspective and be thankful for our family, friends and their health! I've recently met a great woman who is not only a cancer survivor BUT who's making the most of her second chance at life! While some of use would have given up with a diagnosis of cancer, Brenda decided to turn it into an opportunity. In 2009, while completing chemo, she successfully planned her first ever Survivorship charity fundraiser in hopes of finding a cure. This year she's back to celebrate being a survivor and to plan her second event for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation., in hopes of doubling last year's target. It took me some time to convince her that she really had a reason this year to celebrate and I'm so happy to be a part of it! She has a great line up: Spoken word by Greg Frankson "Ritallin". Comedy by: Catherine Doucette-Smith, Rachelle Todd, Jenninfer Hayward, Jennifer Woodworth - lots of great prizes, silent auction items and so much more! Everyone should join us April 17, 2010 to celebrate Brenda and other cancer survivors and more importantly show support in finding a cure for this deadly disease!!!

For more information.

The traditional wedding registry concept in a not-so traditional way

With more and more couples living together before marriage, it almost seems that having a bridal registry is almost pointless. If you have all the furniture, kitchenware, decorations for your household, what else could there possibly be left for your wedding guests to buy?

Well why not use a gift registry that will offer your family and friends the opportunity to contribute to something you, as the soon-to-be married couple, really want such as a romantic honeymoon, a downpayment on a new car or home, electronics or gadgets, or even a donation to the charity of your choice. This is all possible thanks to a new, not-so-traditoinal registry called Wedding Republic.


How does it work? Well it is quite simple - it allows you to create a wedding profile, select your gifts from their list(or you can create your own gifts), determine how you want to split the gift value by selecting the number of puzzle pieces, rank them based on how important the gift is to the couple, share the link with family and friends, and sit back and track the progess of the registry. The great thing is that guests can choose how many puzzle pieces (or contribution) they will contribute...AND IT'S FREE. You can be as creative as you want with your gift list now.

Excellent idea!