TENANTS HARBOR — The chilly, rainy weather did nothing to stop a small crowd from gathering at Jackson Memorial Library in Tenants Harbor Thursday, December 3, for a course in holiday appetizers presented by Tim English, part time caterer and board member of Good Tern Co-op.

Yvonne Gloede, director of JML, said the library offers events a couple of times a month.

"All our events are free," she said. "They are open to anyone in the area. We try to have a lot of popular programs. Many are literary related of course, but we off arts and crafts programs and especially cooking. And we've been doing this for years.”

On Saturday, December 5, there will be a workshop on felted animals and in two weeks, on December 12, there will be a holiday bread making demonstration with Sandy Yakovenko, who is pastry chef at the Slipway Restaurant.

Tim English says he likes to keep his catering affairs small; in fact his business doesn't even have a name. He works through Café Miranda and does the occasional small wedding.

"Nothing too grand," he said. "It is something to keep me a little busy, but just to dabble rather than a full time profession."

Tim's message was based on a theme: Keep it simple, keep it local and make it look extravagant.

"Keep it simple with a feeling of bounty," he said. "And try to get your ingredients as close to home as possible. Use your local farmer or gardener. It's really important to have that from the backyard feeling."

English said presentation makes all the difference.

"It's the easiest way to elevate your food," he said. "If you have really tasty food and it's displayed in an average, or standard way, it doesn't seem to taste as good as when it’s displayed with a little more professionalism, or panache, as we say."

English said to splash food with good olive oil and fresh herbs to easily make them more dramatic.

He used a large silver platter, mirrors and a big cutting board to display his dishes that were all simply made.

Blanched carrots and roasted potatoes were each served with a sauce made from fresh yogurt.

Finish the blanched carrots with cilantro, fresh squeezed lemon, paprika, cinnamon and a few drops of vanilla finished with a pinch of salt.

The potatoes got freshly chopped parsley, garlic powder, fresh ground nutmeg, some Cajun seasoning, fresh squeezed orange with some zest thrown in and salt.

A simple dish of roasted cauliflower was treated with olive oil, parsley and freshly squeezed lime.

English said citrus is important to the taste. There is no a specific citrus that's right for a dish.

"I think it's all up to your personal taste," he said. "I personally think that fresh orange juice is something that's underutilized. It's a lovely flavor and it doesn't get used often enough."

"Lemon is pretty commonly used," he said. "Even though the cauliflower was baked sort of had a fried food taste and texture to it. You always want some acidity to cut through that fried feeling and the fresh lime was the perfect vehicle to that. It had a bright taste and it both cut through, and enhanced, that crunchy taste."

English said not to fear experimenting with herbs and spices. It could be a way to take flavors from amazing to magical.

"There's not really a right answer," he said. "Citrus, Balsamic vinegar, anything that cuts though that oil, but that's what's so fun about experimenting tin the kitchen."

His last dish was a rustic bread dish done in an antipasto style. Everyone dug into that.

"I love looking over there and seeing the debris on the platter," he said. "I don't want to see a tidy platter. I want to see that people have gotten in there and went for it. That says community to me. That's what it's all about to me. That people had fun while eating."