Private canape class held at our commissary kitchen

On Sunday June 12, Select played host to a small group of couples for a private canape class at our kitchen. This session for 6 people was offered as a silent auction prize at last year's Taste Local! Taste Fresh! event.

We started our afternoon with a quick tour of Select's shiny new facility, including our expansion into the lower level of our building for increased storage for our props, rental items, and decor. If you've never been inside a catering company's commissary, it's quite a sight!

This class would easily translate into a party at your home, and we supply all ingredients and tools, as well as all the clean-up. For more information about this style of interactive event, call our office or send us an email - 519-650-4777 or info@selectservice.ca

Each couple was presented with a booklet of the recipes we made during the session, to try out their new culinary skills at home.

The stations for our guests to work at

Complete with a Select Service apron

Chef Kelvin prepares the last few ingredients before our guests arrive for the class. We kept the workload light and easy, with everything pre-made and pre-sliced, ready for canape production

Small bowls for each station, with everything they need within reach

The first ambitious students dive right in to making our signature fresh spring rolls

Chef Kelvin make fresh Asian inspired crepes for the chicken parcel canapes coming up later in the class

Phyllo pastry is a great option for canapes - quick and easy, and readily available in the freezer section at the grocery store. We showed our students a few different ways to present phyllo items

Phyllo cups are a great canape option for either warm items or chilled salads. These larger muffin-cup sized shells would be perfect topper for a salad at your next dinner party. Simply fill with a warm or chilled mix and serve

Easy tart shells to make at home - cut out tortillas and bake until crisp. Brush with a flavoured oil for a little extra flavour

The finished Asian chicken crepe bundles and fresh spring rolls, ready to eat

The best part of the class is eating everything you've created at the end!

No meal would be complete with dessert. We had our students roll pepper and grains of Paradise chocolate truffles in coconut, cocoa powder, and chopped maple pepper pecans

All packed and ready to head home with their treats, our guests all left with a box of their homemade truffles.

Annual corporate dinner at the Kitchener City Hall Rotunda

On Thursday May 26, 2011 Select Service catered an annual corporate dinner at the Kitchener City Hall Rotunda for 84 guests. The Rotunda is a great space for a dinner or wedding, and different areas of the building can be used to create defined spaces for reception, dinner, and dancing.

Tables and chairs set up for our team to finish with place settings.

Imogen diligently folds each napkin hours before guests arrive.

The finished room set-up

The centrepieces are from A Dutch Mill Flower Shop in Waterloo

Chef Kelvin plates the first course salad behind the scenes.

The finished salad plate - Select's custom blend of mixed greens with orange segments and olive, finished with crumbled feta and red onion. We opted to present the dressing on the side in individual shot glasses for each guest. Guests can choose how much or how little to add to their plate.

You've probably had a duo entree at a wedding or event before, so why not a trio entree? Chef Kelvin created this trio plate to offer maximum choice for each guest without the added stress of collecting meal choices through RSVPs. From left to right, the plate features venison osso bucco over pureed sweet potato with onion done three ways, quail over garlic mashed potato, and herb crusted arctic char over pureed Peruvian purple potatoes.

Spring wedding at Hauser Hall

Congratulations Dana and Kyle! Their April 30, 2011 wedding was beautiful, and we especially loved the bride's attention to detail with her coordinating signage and labels.

The first step creating our signature Deconstructed Caesar salad: a crisp parmesan basket.

The salad plates are lined up and ready to be finished. This salad features a parmesan cheese basket, crispy disk of pancetta, a tangy house-made Caesar dressing, and Grain Harvest croutons. A great twist on a classic salad!

This picture is courtesy of Anne Edgar Photography, who were Dana and Kyle's wedding photographers. They were kind enough to snap a shot of the entree plate - grilled chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and sun dried tomato, with a tarragon cream sauce, served with a knot of long beans and roasted baby potatoes.

The dream team! We are so grateful to our amazing team of staff who make our weddings happen. We cannot do it without you, thank you for all of your hard work!

A family sweet table, provided by the families of the bride and groom. The couple provided take-away boxes for guests to fill with desserts for the ride home.

Another great idea: to-go cups of coffee for the end of the night. The bride personalized these cups with paper sleeves to match the rest of her favour boxes and paper details.

Breakfast at Tiffany's themed table at fundraiser gala

On Thursday March 24, Select's team donated their time and hand crafted miniature desserts and hors d'oeuvres for the More Than Just Desserts event to benefit the Arthritis Society of Kitchener. We were inspired to create a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" themed table, featuring a trio of desserts and savoury canapes.

On the savoury side, all of the hors d'oeuvres featured miniature pancakes with different toppings. The sweets really stole the show, with tuxedo-attired cake pops (wouldn't these be perfect for a wedding late night or sweets table?), French macarons, and classic petit fours.

Wild and white rice pancakes with herbed cream cheese and green onion


Smoked salmon and sour cream on dill pancakes

Our very popular corn pancake with herbed goat cheese and oven dried tomato. You may recognize these from our Taste Local! Taste Fresh! 2010 appearance - they were such a hit we've been doing them for all kinds of events ever since

Classic petit fours - layers of pound cake and jam with marzipan, enrobed in fondant icing. We dressed them up to look like Tiffany jewelry boxes

The hit of the night, our tuxedo cake pops. We originally found these in Cake Pops by Bakerella, which were presented alongside Bride cake pops. We dressed up our pops for the gala, but this would be a great addition to any wedding sweet table or as a favour

Snow day desserts

Winter has come back with a vengeance today, but we're not taking a snow day - we're inside churning out desserts for tomorrow's More Than Just Desserts gala to benefit the Arthritis Society of Kitchener. The event is expecting to bring 250 people together to enjoy hors d'oeuvres and bite sized desserts from a variety of local restaurants and caterers.

We've chosen "Breakfast at Tiffany's" as a theme for our whole table.

Our tuxedo-attired lemon cake pops are all dressed up with nowhere to go today. Tomorrow they'll be featured front and centre in our display, to add a touch of glamour to our table.


In keeping with the success from last week's French macaron experiment, we've done it again with a bright Tiffany blue for the upcoming gala. With 250 people expected, we've got a few more sweets and treats in store, so it's back to the kitchen to take advantage of the quiet day.