A huge "Thank You" goes out to the Holiday Party Committee and chairperson, Dot Wierzbicki for the wonderful arrangements that were made for our Holiday Party. The beautiful Chateau Hathorn located in Warwick, NY was the perfect setting for a fun filled evening. The excellent food and Champagne-Bellini toast made a festive night even more enjoyable. Additional information about this venue can be found at their web site.  http://www.chateauhathorn.com 

         Entertainment was provided by Mike Pacer - An Orchestra of One, a link to his website can be found here. Lively, energetic and  fabulous fun. Members and guests had a great time as you can tell by the pictures.

                 After months of preparation and planning our Bits and Bites tasting event was met with much enthusiasm from our family, friends, and community supporters.

             From the first ideas, back in May, a core group of members took on this project with great excitement. The simple idea was to hold a tasting event comprised of recipes from our members. We would charge admission and tasters/ guests would be able to sample recipes. Almost from the first moment members stepped forward to cook and organize this event, meeting upon meeting was held to take us through the five phases of preparation for the big day.

Phase One. Define what we wanted to do, when and where. While this sounds simple enough, decisions had to be made as to just what we were going to offer that would be doable by us and worth it for the people we hoped to attract to our event. Something that would be fun for all of us and something that was different. At last, the basic idea was born. We would create a cookbook with approximately 20 recipes that we would then make and serve to those people who purchased our book. This decision was closely followed by where and when. It was immediately decided that the fall, close to Thanksgiving would be a great time, and a search for the where was next on our list. Our first stop was to check-out the accommodations at the Comfort Inn located on Hatfield Lane, Goshen. Daniel McMann, General Manager and Bonnie Besselman took wonderful care of us, providing us with an offer we couldn't refuse. The New York Room would be the perfect venue for approx. 50 seated guests. 

Phase Two. Decide which recipes would be included in the book.  Recipes including appetizers, salads, main dishes, pasta, side dishes, desserts and drinks were prepared and sampled by the committee and decisions were made as to which recipes would be included in the cookbook. Criteria for submitting a recipe was that the person who submitted the recipe would be willing to prepare enough for 100 people for the event and the recipe should be one which they would be able to transport on that day, as we would not have a kitchen available at the site. Not an easy task, but soon 20 recipes were decided upon and we were ready for the next phase. Meanwhile, a small army of organized members headed up by Kathy Dembeck, were putting together dishes, napkins, silverware and such. Not to mention sterno, chafing dish racks, and everything from extension cords to matches, and paper towels.  Susan Wierzbicki, Dawn Santos, Rosa Gurny, Dot Wierzbicki, just to name a few marched forward with one thought in mind. Let’s get the job done! Mission accomplished.

Meanwhile, a pampered chef catalog show was hosted by the club and hostess items earned (Thank you to those who participated in the catalog show.) were made into baskets to be raffled off at the event.  Ann Roche received a donation from Michael DiMartino from the Landmark Inn of several bottles of wine which were dressed up into baskets and used for raffle items. LouAnn Rysinger received a donation of red roses for our tables from James V. Rinaldi of Hardenburgh Abstract . Rosa Gurny gathered a free oil change from Mikes Auto Care, Mary Barnes (Carol Cullen's mom) gave a beautiful white afghan and Jeannette Carbone-Marsh gathered a gift certificate from Delancey’s Resturant. Thanks to everyone who gave their time, talent and treasure to our beautiful raffle baskets.

Phase Three. Cookbook construction and sale. With recipes in hand and a computer Carol Cullen, Ann Roche and Joyce Galle tackled the cookbook construction. Again, mission accomplished! Except for eye strain from proof reading, they managed to construct all the cookbooks we needed without a hitch. At the October meeting, cookbooks were given out to the members and the sale was on. One week later, all books were sold. Great!

Phase Four. The November meeting quickly became a work session with all forces organizing and coming together with last minute plans. Checklist upon checklist were reviewed over and every last t was crossed and all I‘s were dotted. Everyone had a job to do and everyone knew exactly when, where and how to get the job done.

September 28th,2010
Women's Networking Luncheon

          Lynn Cione, director of the Goshen Chamber of Commerce, spoke to the group informing them of the many upcoming Chamber events.   Events including next month’s chamber breakfast to take place October 20th with speaker Ed Diana, County Executive of Orange County, NY.,   to be held at Dana Distributors located at 52 Hatfield Lane, Goshen, NY. Mr. Diana will speak on the subject of a new county building. In addition, Lynn gave information on the upcoming Chamber Annual Dinner Dance Gala to be held on November 5th at  The Gardens on Catlin Creek, Slate Hill, NY, honoring outstanding achievement by local citizens, businesses and organizations. The hint of a mixer  to take place in January was mentioned and Lynn reminded the group that the famer's market is winding down with only a few opportunities for people to take advantage of the wide variety of treats found there.  She also made a shout out to Four Square and those people who use it can collect a badge when they check in. (Proof of check in will get you a free apple.) Lynn moved on to door prizes which over flowed the room and much excitement was generated when the drawings took place.  

          Jan Pierce, representing the Holiday Inn Express, spoke to the group about services and accommodations available at this location. The great room, where this event took place, is a perfect place to have meetings and parties. In addition, Holiday Inn Express has teamed up with local caterers to provide catering services  if needed, and (of course) room rentals are available. Be sure to ask for special rates and don’t forget to mention that you are a Goshen Chamber Member.