Category: jeffrey miller catering

Emmalee and Austin couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to say “I do”. The sun was out, and it was out to stay! The soon-to-be Mrs. and her bridesmaids got ready in our newly renovated bridal suite while the Mr. and his groomsmen hung out in the grooms room. Their ceremony was held on the lawn in front of Bellevue’s pearly white gazebo. Guests filled the lawn with smiles and a whole lot of love. The newlyweds and closest friends & family celebrated the rest of the night under our immaculate tent where everyone danced the night away. Thank you Janae Rose Photography for capturing the special moments from this stunning day!

The love was in the air as Kaitlin and Jaclyn celebrated their special day. The happines truly shined through the two, and it was beautiful. The couple shared a joyful first look, a tear-jerking (in a good way, of course) ceremony, and a breathtaking first dance. The couple said “I do” on the lush grounds with a stunning lakeview backdrop. Guests moved to cokctail hour, then were seated for the introductions to the reception. The night concluded with speeches, selfies, and lots and LOTS of dancing! Thank you M2 Photography and their associates for these gorgeous shots.

We now have two remarkable options in North Wilmington. Both properties are part of Bellevue State Park with proceeds being reinvested into the Delaware State Parks system.

Bellevue Hall – an historic 1930’s Greek revival mansion that was a former DuPont estate; set amid 18 acres of formal gardens, sprawling lawns and spectacular features for a fairytale wedding. Some renovation projects include:

• refinishing floors in the mansion
• painting and wiring the commercial kitchen
• improving the extensive landscaping including planting giant spruce trees
• landscaping gardens

Cauffiel Estate – a sophisticated restored barn plus a charming and intimate Colonial Revival house with impressive gardens. Some renovation projects include:

• refinishing floors in the house
• building a willow fence
• adding furniture for the overnight guests
• improving the extensive landscaping including planting giant spruce trees
• landscaping gardens

The JAM team has been hard at work. Check out behind the scene photos below!

On February 29th, JAM Catering partnered with the American Swedish Historical Museum to present a very special five-course tasting menu of “new Nordic cuisine.” This dinner, planned to celebrate the museum’s current New Nordic Cuisine exhibition, featured the superb culinary talents of guest chef Frida Johansson, who took a few days off from her usual duties as executive chef to the Swedish Ambassador in Washington, D.C. to join us here in Philadelphia. With meticulous hand and charming-yet-uncompromising Nordic demeanor, Chef Frida presented an extraordinary menu focused on hyper-seasonal and local ingredients, brought together with a deft modernist touch.

ASHM’s New Nordic Cuisine exhibition explores the values-driven approach to food and dining set forth in the 2004 Nordic Food Manifesto, emphasizing the use of locally sourced ingredients, careful attention to seasonality, ethical production practices, and modern innovation. For well over a decade, world-class restaurants like Noma in Copenhagen, Frantzén in Stockholm, and Maaemo in Oslo have been embracing this culinary philosophy to make centuries-old Nordic culinary traditions new again, in astoundingly beautiful, thought-provoking plates that continue to earn the highest accolades from the world culinary community.

The Museum staff had decorated the candlelit tables with elegant simplicity, using silvered burlap runners and winterberry branches cut from nearby woodlands, and before long the room was buzzing with warm conviviality. ASHM exhibition Curator Trevor Brandt delivered a brief talk about the spirit of Nordic cuisine and its new influence today, and Chef Frida appeared several more times to describe each new dish.

The evening kicked off with passed hors d’oeuvres and elderflower cocktails in the Museum Grand Hall. Guests then moved downstairs to the main event, gathering into seats around a dozen of JAM’s rustic wooden farmhouse tables to toast the evening with a traditional shot of aquavit (Skål!). Chef Frida appeared in the dining room to sing the traditional Helan Går toasting song, and shortly thereafter the parade of fine cuisine began.

The menu also featured a pairing of local beverages put together by ASHM Programs Manger Lauren Burnham, including bracing shots of caraway-infused aquavit from local Philadelphia distiller Row House Spirits, along with bottles of dry cider sourced from Lancaster apples, and an orange-infused honey mead to go with dessert, both from Liquid Alchemy Beverages in Wilmington, Delaware.

By the end of the evening the guests were all in fine form, eating and drinking, admiring the cuisine, and enjoying the company of friends old and new. Several people popped into the kitchen to express their appreciation and say how much they enjoyed the dinner and the company.

A big “tusen tack!” (“a thousand thank yous!”) to all those whose fine teamwork made this wonderful evening so successful and enjoyable. Special thanks to Dreis Molkens, chef at the Danish Embassy, who joined the team as Chef Frida’s righthand man; to ASHM Executive Director Tracey Beck and Programs Manager Lauren Burnham, who coordinated the event, created the table decorations, and selected the beverages; to JAM event planner Mandy Lightcap, who organized the front of the house and service wares; and to the always cheerful JAM kitchen and service staffs, who worked tirelessly to put together such a flawless evening!

Over the years, we have catered and cooked for tens of thousands of people, the famous and the less famous.  We have cooked for Beverly Sills, Muddy Waters, and Bishop Desmond Tutu. We have catered weddings for Tina Fey, and, this past summer, Carson Wentz.  Many years ago, however, we had the great honor to cook dinner for a woman who exemplified courage and grace, and whose actions, over 60 years ago, helped usher in a new era of civil rights.

That woman, of course, was Rosa Parks.  Her decision, in 1955, to refuse to obey the Jim Crow law requiring black Americans to move to the back of the bus led to the famous Montgomery bus boycott, the rise to prominence of Dr. Martin Luther King as the leader of the boycott, and the Supreme Court decision, a year later, which outlawed segregation in Alabama’s public bus and transportation systems.

Many years later, when PBS was filming  “Eyes on the Prize,” a documentary chronicling the early struggle for civil rights in America, Rosa Parks stayed in Philadelphia for a portion of the filming.  She stayed with Sheldon and Lucy Hackney, at the University of Pennsylvania.  At that time, Sheldon was President of Penn, and Lucy was an attorney in the city. Lucy’s mother, Virginia Durr, was also on hand for the filming, as she and her husband Clifford Durr had been friends and supporters of Ms. Parks.   And, when Ms. Parks was arrested, Clifford Durr joined the defense team, an action which enraged much of white Montgomery against the Durrs.

As the in-house caterers for the Hackneys, we were called upon to prepare and serve a number of meals for their special guest, and I had the chance to chat briefly with Ms. Parks.  What I remember was a very gracious, very kind older woman, whose gentle demeanor belied her historic role as a civil rights revolutionary.

Thus, when several months ago, and 30-plus years after meeting Ms. Parks, I got the chance to visit the south on a civil rights journey, I jumped at the opportunity.

Our tour started with a visit to Atlanta and Dr. King’s boyhood neighborhood. We visited the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Dr. King served as assistant pastor to his father, the Reverand  Martin Luther King Sr., and then paid respects at Dr. King’s grave. While all of us know a little more, or a little less about King’s leadership of a movement that was non-violent, it is only with a closer look at the beatings, shootings, house bombings and other abuse the freedom fighters endured that one truly appreciates the magnitude of the courage the members of the movement had to possess.

We walked across the Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama, where, on March 7, 1965, peaceful marchers, attempting to walk from Selma to Montgomery were tear-gassed and viciously beaten by club-wielding police and state troopers.

The most moving experience of the trip was our visit to the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice, also known as the lynching museum.  The chilling exhibit features 800 six-foot metal monuments- one for each county in the US. where a lynching took place.  Etched onto the coffin shaped boxes are the names of the victims from each county.  The boxes are suspended from the ceiling, and as you walk from beginning to end, the ceiling and boxes rise higher and higher in the air until they stop with their bases at eye level.  Touring the museum is a deeply disturbing experience, but one which every American should undertake.

Finally, we toured the Rosa Parks Museum.  Through videoed interviews, posters, articles and other artifacts, we had a chance to better understand the beginning of the Civil Rights movement and this quiet but incredibly brave woman who helped free all of America from Jim Crow.  I left the Museum and the tour grateful for the courage of these brave individuals, and grateful to have had the honor to meet  and prepare a meal for Rosa Parks.