It's summer! Yes, after a very precarious winter and spring, our favorite time of year is finally here. And for those of us that love entertaining, cooking and all that is the culinary arts, this is definitely an inspiring time of year for us. The rooftop parties, the backyard get togethers and those oh ever so sweet family gatherings provides us ample opportunities to share great food and great times with our loved ones. Beyond all that, one of the greatest things about summer is it provides us ample opportunities to bring our love for food & fun with our need to help others. Summer provides great volunteer opportunities for those who enjoy food. Recently one of my clients called and asked me to donate a few items for a breast cancer fundraiser garden party she was holding. I did so without hesitation, as charitable giving is definitely an important element for us here at Fleurimond Catering. A close friend of mine uses the summer time to teach inner city kids about the visual arts by painting murals and beautifying their neighborhoods, and of course, all this is done around lots of laughs and great food. Thus, I want you to all to take this issue, not simply for it's culinary thoughts and tips, but also as a call: to enjoy this weather not just with friends and family, but to get out there and find ways to help others. I've learned that sharing your time, talents and expertise will make any season that much more beautiful.

This month's issue features innovative ways that everyday business people are helping those around them be better. Our Interview with Miru Kim brings us insight into the world of a wonderfully talented artist. Journalist Meta J. Mereday makes a call to the hospitality industry to help initiate change towards healthier eating habits and practices in her article Making the Hospitality Industry more hospitable to future generations through healthier alliances. Our vendor spotlight features Richard Dubuisson of Web Impressions and how he is utilizing the world of tech to not only assist and help for profit businesses, but his initiatives help nurture young people to be the next generation of tech gurus. And of course our wonderful recipe will leave you wanting to rush to your kitchen for that boost of energy to get you going on your mission to conquer the world. As always, enjoy! Eat, drink & of course…Volunteer!

Nadege Fleurimond

According to Wikipedia, the hospitality industry, within the global arena, is a 3.5 trillion dollar service sector that includes hotels, restaurants, casino and related services. This industry, along with the event planning industry, play host to many activities geared towards fundraising and community outreach. While many these funds and goodwill are generated to address social ills abroad including, there is little being done to address the growing obesity epidemic that is threatening young people here and destroying our future business and community leaders. Recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) shows that approximately one in five children in the United States is now overweight. While funds are being utilized, the trend is growing versus decreasing suggesting that current tactics are largely ineffective. The number of overweight children has doubled in the past two decades, leading to a generation at risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and other serious health problems. The data further states that preventing obesity in our children is one of the most important public health issues facing the nation today. It is clear that new ideas and innovative programs are necessary to stem the tide of this increasing problem.

The extensive relationships within the hospitality and event planning community have generated a proactive environment where partnerships are being forged and groups are being launched to improve our young people's eating habits and their understanding of healthy lifestyles from a more effective grass roots level. Young Culinary Masters (YCM) is a non-profit organization that was established to educate young people about nutrition, healthy eating and cooking practices through "hands on" training supports. YCM was founded by Nadege Fleurimond, President of Fleurimond Catering. "Having been so blessed with my catering business, my experience in food service became a way for me to serve my community and to give back by counteracting the poor eating habits that young people experienced in low income neighborhoods where there are more fast food, high fat facilities."

While this organization provides tools for young people to learn to how prepare and eat healthier foods, there is another non-profit that was established to build proactive partnerships within the communities that are hardest hit with the epidemic and the related diseases. Empowered Health Partnerships, Incorporated ( EHP) is a non-profit that was established to promote a heightened sense of awareness about the growing health disparities among minorities, women and senior citizens and generate proactive alliances to better prepare them and future generations. With collaborations in the works with the hospitality, pharmaceutical and academic communities, EHP will provide innovative strategies and programs at the local community level to stem the tide of diabetes and obesity. These organizations reflect a vital trend in bringing practical, everyday solutions to the obesity problem directly to the people who need it the most. These visionaries know how to make the extensive resources of the hospitality industry more "hospitable" to creating a healthier future for our youth and saving families.

For information or to lend support call: Empowered Health Partnerships, (718) 276-4750.

Fleurimond Catering, owner, Nadege Fleurimond sits down with artist Miru Kim to discuss her work, her inspirations, and of course, our favorite topic, food! Come with us as we enjoy an intimate chat with one of our favorite clients. Nadege Fleurimond: Miru, you are often described as an artist...what does the term artist mean to you?

Miru Kim: Artist for me is a very broad term. I believe everyone is an artist and even everything can be an artist. Anything that creates and inspires. I saw an amazing photo of a raven at play. The raven realized that it could slide down a snowy hill on its back, so it kept sliding down and walking back up the hill and sliding down again. The snowy hill created the landscape that inspired the raven, and the raven created this activity that inspired another raven to try the same. To me both the hill and the raven are artists.

NF: The work you do now: how would you describe it? How did you get into it?

MK: I am working on a lot of different projects right now including promoting other artists, but in terms of my own photography work, I would say that it is about hidden layers of cities. I didn't particularly think that I was doing "fine art" or "work" when I was exploring abandoned buildings and underground spaces in the city and snapping pictures, but I got a lot of positive reactions to the photos and the whole thing somehow became a project.

NF: When did you realize of your love for the "arts"?

MK: I can't remember when. When I was 3 or 4, I remember it wasn't really an option not to love art. I drew, paint, played piano all day everyday instead of going to kindergarten. And my parents always took the kids to operas and theater performances and music concerts. When I was six or so, people started recognizing my talent for drawing so I was always encouraged. By the time I was in fourth grade my teachers were always showing off my paintings to older students, so I got a kick out of doing more.

NF: You've been featured for numerous times for your photography work. Please tell us, how does it feel seeing you work in magazines and on the internet?

MK: It's fun. But sometimes with nudity you get really weird reactions. I took a series of photos of myself doing things naked in abandoned, decrepit, or underground spaces in cities, and a lot of people have different reactions to the images - crawling around naked on human bones below Paris, swimming in an abandoned shipyard, etc. On the Internet people make silly comments like, "urban exploration porn," "hot naked girl in urban ruins." When it's in print, I think people generally have more respect. After a run in Time Out I sold a bunch of prints and I was pretty happy.

NF: How would you describe your style?

MK: For me, play is important. Fun gets me going in life. So I guess my style is playful and spontaneous.

NF: Where can we find your work?

MK: www.mirukim.com/nakedcityspleen

NF: What do you say to people in the arts that think it's impossible to live off their talent? Any suggestions?

MK: If a painter with talent told me that he/she didn't want to pursue painting because it was impossible to make much money, I'd say, "work on Wall Street, make money, and see if you're happier or not." Maybe making and spending money is more of his/her passion than painting. I have nothing against that - following your passion.

NF: Now on to my favorite topic. Tell us, do you like to cook? Entertain?

MK: That's a big yes. I love throwing dinner parties. Pretty recently my boyfriend and I fed a hungry 30-person crowd. It was fun. The menu included, mixed mushroom salad with organic Meyer lemon and truffles and chives, home-made shrimp cakes on shiso leaves and spicy sprouts with Wasabi vinegarette, green tea buckwheat noodle salad with Asian pears and summer vegetables in soy-sesame-mustard dressing, 12-hour braised short ribs with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and miso-marinated Chilean sea bass with creamy coconut green curry sauce. So yeah, I absolutely love cooking and I grew up with it. By the time I was 10 I was making dumplings and baking cookies without recipe. Kitchen was always my favorite place in the house.

NF: Summer is around the corner, what are your favorite dining spots doing this time of year.

MK: Gramercy Tavern is a steady spot for late lunch by the bar after you've shopped around Union Square. You get a nice daylight, and the cocktails are always done right. If I'm feeling more ready to be in a cramped space I'll go to the Pearl Oyster Bar. One of the best seafood I've had in New York. I liked it even more than le Bernardin.

NF: how often do you entertain? Is it for friends or business associates? Do you think it takes different approaches entertaining for friends and family as oppose to colleagues and business associates? If so, please explain.

MK: As often as I can. At least once a month if I'm not traveling. I work in a very casual environment at a media company, so my coworkers are all friends. I've entertained my parents' guests or my boyfriend's colleagues, and it's all the same to me pretty much. But when I'm entertaining my parents' guests, I'm usually quieter and more polite.

NF: What types of foods influence your cooking?

MK: All types! I grew up with Korean, Chinese, and Japanese cuisine, so I'm more familiar with East Asian spices than most people, but I have traveled a lot in Europe and I also love Latin American cuisine. I'm not as familiar with African cuisine but I'm interested in all food cultures.

NF: What do you think is the most difficult part about entertaining?

MK: Cleaning up.

NF:You have been a Fleurimond Catering client for several years. What are some of the menu items you enjoy from our menu?

MK: All the desserts are amazing!

NF: What is your food philosophy?

MK: Cooking takes imagination and creativity based on some of the most sensual experiences. It is one of the most essential and powerful art forms, because it stimulates senses in such a direct, immediate way. This is similar to the art of perfumery. You can conjure up people's deeply buried memories and feelings through scents and tastes.

NF: Please share with us a favorite recipe.

MK: I don't know where I pick this up, so I don't have the name or exact proportions of ingredients, but I will just explain.

Mash avocados and mix equal parts with butter and make a smooth paste. Chop parsley and a little bit of shallots very finely. Mix the avocado butter paste with parsley and shallots and lemon juice and salt. You should be able to see a lot of green from the parsley in the paste.
Shape the paste in to a log and refrigerate till hard.
Take halibut or similar white fish and marinate in soy sauce, olive oil, sake, Dijon mustard, lemon, black peppers, and finely chopped shallots for a couple of hours. Pan fry the fish and serve with sliced avocado butter and with parsley and lemon as garnish.

NF: Miru thanks for sitting down with us, and please tell everyone where they may view your work or learn more about your business.

MK: Thank you. My business website is www.nakedcityarts.com and my photography can be seen on www.mirukim.com/nakedcityspleen.

Naked City Arts, LLC is dedicated to promoting young artists via various events in Lower Manhattan. I have an event coming up on June 23rd, 2007. And anyone who is a serious art collector or enthusiast, please feel free to contact for further details.

Vendor Spotlight: Web Impressions

When potential clients visit your company's website, they will undoubtedly form an impression of your organization. What impression would you like for them to walk away with? How about one that leaves an impact long after a client or a prospective client has left the site? At Web Impressions, our mission is to make sure that through their websites, our clients are able to deliver the right messages, paint the best pictures, or tell the exact stories that we know will help captivate their potential clients. We do this very well, and we do this with passion because we know they may not get a second chance to make a good impression...a good web impression. We are Technologists with over 15 years of combined Web Development and IT experience. We are designers, artists, developers, network engineers, and most of the times…perfectionists. Our uniqueness lies in our approach to our work. We strive to empower the next generation of web developers to go into the web development industry. To that end, we recruit and target talented young, urban web designers and developers and provide them with training opportunities, mentoring and coaching, and networking opportunities so that they may develop both their technical skills and their business acumen. We help them understand the intricacies of a web company including marketing, writing contracts, managing clients, etc... In essence, we encourage them to use Web Impressions as a platform to launch their own web development firms. A couple of our mentees are currently working successfully as free-lance designers and have even contracted with us on a few of our own projects. Although our primary focus is to design and develop great websites for our clients, a large percentage of our work has involved doing complete re-designs of some companies' websites. As customers get more and more web savvy and demand more from their online experiences, companies are realizing that their first-generation websites no longer meet their needs. To date, we've completed several site re-designs that have helped launched new marketing campaigns for some of our clients. Moreover, we supplement our web services with a wide range of marketing and IT services. This enables us to take a holistic look at an organization and meet a diverse set of needs through a comprehensive set of services. For example, we were able to manage a start-up company's entire web needs. We designed and developed their website, wrote and edited most of the text content for the site, created a logo, business card and letterhead templates that matched the theme of the website, secured the domain name and recommended the right hosting package for the site. We even provided some web training to some of the company's staff so that they would be able to maintain the website and make their own updates. We pride ourselves in taking the time to create and support the right products for our clients. We take greater pride in knowing that our work has meaning for the next generation as well. We echo the sentiments of the great scholar who said: "To teach a man how he may learn to grow independently, and for himself, is perhaps the greatest service that one man can do another." For more information about Web Impressions please contact: Richard Dubuisson Founder & President Tel: 401.699.9136 Email: rdubuisson@mywebimpression.com Website: www.mywebimpression.com

Recipe:Simply Delicious Spicy Mango Shrimp Skewer

Ingredients: 2 lbs large jumbo shrimp- Tail on 2 tbsp Oil 4 tsp Curry Paste 3 tbsp hot Mango Chutney 4 green onions cut into 2 inch pieces 1 red pepper seeded and devained cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1/2 a lime Mix curry paste and mango chutney and lime juice. On skewers, thread shrimp, red peppers, green onions; brush with marinade of mango chutney and curry paste Grill or broil, basting often with Marinade and turning until shrimp turn pink. Enjoy!

Have a question?
Feel free to contact us at newsletter@fgcatering.com
Note: Your question may be featured in later publications.
Please include your phone or email contact in your inquiry.