December, January, and the first few days of February bring die-hard football fans. That means it’s time to put on your favorite team’s colors, cheer for every touchdown, or for some, mourn the end of your team’s end-of-season. It also means big crowds – and big appetites – in your family room all month long!

As a Chef, there are advantages and disadvantages to all kinds of cooking. Sometimes it has to do with the time of day. Sure, getting up in time to cook breakfast for 250 or 300 people in the ballroom means that my alarm clock goes off very early. But then again, that 275 person wedding on a Saturday night means it’s well into Sunday morning before my day is through.

At Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club, we are constantly trying to help our clients make their event more memorable.

I can’t tell you how often friends, neighbors, and clients here at Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club ask me for advice on planning an amazing summer meal at home. Very often they tend to do a couple of things…

# 1 – they always feel obligated to include meat or chicken off the grill

# 2 – they work within a limiting framework of “Salad, Entrée, and Dessert”

By: Chef Paul O’Toole CEC/AAC, Executive Chef –
Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club

There are so many menu items, whether they be appetizers, entrees, side dishes, or desserts, that you might enjoy when you’re out at a banquet, wedding, or special event, but you never seem to try them at home. At Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club, we get an incredible number of wedding couples that tell us about one in particular. Asparagus.

By: Chef Paul O’Toole CEC/AAC, Executive Chef –
I think we all have had our own experiences as guests at weddings where the cuisine has been – unfortunately – just more of the same. A boring chicken breast and an uninspired potato or rice dish sit gloomily next to vegetables that clearly would rather be somewhere else.