Wednesday, October 31, 2012

what's for dinner, jenny park?

It's a cliche, I know, but it was love at first sight when I first visited the blog Spoon Fork Bacon. The gorgeous photos! The instantly appealing recipes! The crazy-awesome animated GIFs! It's no surprise that Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park, the women behind the site, landed a cookbook deal. And it's no surprise that Tiny Food Party is as wonderful as their site. Today, Jenny, the food stylist half of the team, answers the usual Dinner Party questions about how she entertains at home. (And if you still haven't visited their site yet, go now!)

1. Name, occupation, and city
Jenny Park, food stylist/recipe developer, and co-author of Tiny Food Party: Bite-Size Recipes for Miniature Meals, Los Angeles

2. When was the last time you threw a dinner party, and who was invited?

The last time I threw a dinner party was about a month ago...taco bar night and it was with a small group of my LA friends.


3. What is the best menu you've ever made for company? This is such a tough question and it's difficult to just pinpoint one specific event. One of the menus that sticks out to me is a lovely bone-in prime rib roast with all the fixins'. I started the night with a simple tuna tartare and white bean bruschetta appetizer followed by an anchovy vinaigrette dressed butter lettuce salad beofre jumping into the main course! Dessert was these simple, but super decadent chocolate-hazelnut souffles. (I love variety within my meals!)

4. What's your preference: wine, beer, cocktails?
My personal preference is super fun cocktails and champagne OR really awesome craft beers. I'm not the biggest wino, but definitely always have a few unopened bottles lying around...perfect for these dinner party occasions.

5. What's your favorite dinner party soundtrack?

I really love playing Cat Stevens or Simon and Garfunkel for my guests....just very relaxing background music. I also really like The Postal Service for entertaining.

6. Some friends are coming over for a last-minute dinner. What do you make?
I always have a variety of dried grains, eggs, cheese, onions, garlic, and herbs in my fridge, so I would probably make them some sort of quinoa or farro bowl with a fried egg on top.

7. Do you usually cook everything yourself, or do you have help?
I usually cook everything myself. My boyfriend actually complains that he offers to help all the time and I always shoo him out of the kitchen...I'm a control freak. This is true.

8. Do you ever buy store-bought food, or is everything on your table made from scratch?
I LOVE DIY projects, especially food-related ones, so I do try to make things from scratch as often as possible, even condiments, but I'm not going to say I never store buy anything. I definitely have my handful of store-bought goodies that I love and couldn't live without.

9. What do you like to serve for dessert?

I usually like to prepare elaborate dinners so my desserts are usually pretty simple. I love making sweet tarte tatins (even if I do hate saying it!). They're so easy to make and you an make them with almost anything! My favorite is a simple apple cinnamon tarte tatin. The flavors and textures are just so comforting and delicious....with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream? Best. Dessert. Ever.

10. If you could invite anyone over for dinner (living or dead), who would it be?

Roy Choi
would probably be super high up there along with David Chang. I definitely have a soft spot for my Asian (Korean) brothers! I love what the two of them have done with Korean food within this ever-growing and changing industry. They both revolutionized the way people look at Korean food...way, way, way beyond k-bbq. I also love how both of their styles lend so incredibly well to where they are geographically. So yes, definitely the Momofuku and Kogi dudes! Oh, them and Anthony Bourdain...but doesn't everyone want to wine and dine with him?

[Photo: Teri Lyn Fisher]

3 comments:

judy said...

The photos on Jenny's website are so gorgeous!

judy said...

The photos on Jenny's website are so gorgeous!

Margaret Pinard said...

Great answers, and I love the shout-out to the Koreans in the house. What did we do before bibimbap???

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