The week so far, and missing pieces from last...

Battleship New Jersey
The Forecastle Area
I can't do it. I can't post every day. Oh well, many of my trusted advisers think that posting less often will heighten interest. I hope so. I have been kind of waiting to do certain types of posts until I taught myself how to insert pictures. I gave up and asked for help today, thanks Jules for teaching me. Now I need to round up a larger inventory of pictures. Last Wednesday one of my clients, Feast Your Eyes Gourmet Catering held a promotional party to introduce their clients and prospective clients to the Battleship New Jersey, a new venue for them that they share exclusive catering status with one other company. The event went really well, the turnout was slightly more than expected, the weather was perfect and Chef Lynn Buono's food was spectacular. Some of the menu highlights for me were the paella, short ribs, fried cauliflower and mini cheesesteak springrolls. The Battleship is a phenomenal place to do a special event with about a dozen different areas to utilize. It can easily hold 1500 for a cocktail style event and I think it has the best views of the Philadelphia skyline that I have seen. The front section of the boat known as the forecastle (pronounced folksull) is my favorite spot along with the Captain's and Admiral's Quarters. Another great feature of the USS NJ is that when it is hot and humid during the summer it always feels at least 10 degrees cooler with a nice breeze. Here is their website: http://www.battleshipnewjersey.org/event_rentals/. I will be starting a series of venue reviews in the next week or so, my full site inspection of this great treasure will come at a later date.

A very busy week for me, lots of action and opportunity in the catering and special event world. I'm working with a couple new clients and continuing my never ending quest to find great new venues to hold events. I do like to think of myself as an expert on area venues and it's really challenging to try to match a client's vision for an event with the right venue. If you are an event planner and need help with venue selection, feel free to contact me and I can usually find a solution in my extensive database of  museums, warehouses, lofts, mansions and other unique places to hold your gathering.

Last night I attended two events in Northern Liberties. The introduction of Tower Premier Concierge as the in house Concierge for tenants of the Piazza and other Tower Development tenants in Northern Liberties was held in their new storefront space on Liberties Walk. The owner Derek Bailey seems very knowledgeable and the breadth of services are extensive including catering and staffing. Across Second Street in the Piazza, the new restaurant King's Oak held a promotional event produced by Jessica Scott. Very well done party, food was yummy, nice live music,  it is a great addition to the Piazza. This adds to the desirability of the Piazza as an event venue.

Today I was invited by Steve Wildemann and Donna Coghlan to attend their Alex's Lemonade Stand picnic and fundraiser at the headquarters of Steve's company, Advanced Staging. Very nice event for a great cause, this was a nice kick-off to the Fourth of July weekend and the numerous barbecues I will be attending. Steve and Donna are two of the best, most professional people in the business, if they weren't there is no way I would have drove to West Chester when I could have been golfing or writing this blog. Steve actually gave me a fun idea for the blog, a post rating the different barbecues from the weekend. I think I will do it.

I started writing this blog post in June and as I look down at the computer clock I see it's now July. Happy July to all. One of today's highlights will be the opening of Rosey's Barbecue in Ambler. A two minute walk from my front door. Welcome to Ambler Chad & Jessica, great to have you here, click for the website: http://www.roseysbbq.com/. Would it be fair to have my barbecue review for tomorrow on a restaurant's first day of business?

Missing you Katie,
Love Dad

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