Most of us know at least one or two people who have struggled with breast cancer, and we all know how hard the battle is for them.
As women it is our duty to spread awareness and stand together in an effort to beat breast cancer.
Whether that’s enlightening others about early detection methods, supporting women going through it, participating in foundations that raise funds towards research, or just wearing pink in October, you are doing your part!
As a female run business with the intention to help and support communities close to our heart, we decided to take a strong stance this year. Not only did we share some knowledge with our followers by providing tips, we also hosted an all pink shabbat to close off the month of October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month!
In honor of all women, we invited a couple of female entrepreneurs in the entertainment and hospitality industry to help us prepare the pinkest shabbat possible. Our decision to work exclusively with other female run businesses in this collaboration was also done in an effort to highlight women empowerment.
We felt very close to the cause as women, why? Because spreading awareness comes with sharing preventative measures and that can help save a life. On another note, we felt personally attached to Breast Cancer Awareness after standing by one of our family members as she went through the struggle. The importance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month is to educate on a larger level, but also to make women know they’re always accompanied and never alone.
So follow along on how we ended our October in a quite different, but always exciting manner.
Before we overwhelm you with the most exquisite pink details, we want to formally introduce our partners and thank them for their contributions. As you’ll see in our series of photos recapping the delightful event, we opted for a traditional Jewish Shabbat-esque menu, but always with a modern edge.
Our table setting and serveware were generously provided by Ghila Toledano and Francine Delarosa from @Pom.gifts. Ghila and Francine are the co-founders of a locally based home accessory and gift shop. By contacting them you can find one of a kind pieces, such as plateware, serveware, home accessories, accents, and more to beautify your living spaces.
Our dear friends brought along a collection of flower vases, serving dishes and utensils to go along with our all pink theme.
Next was @shop.paralleldesigns, who provided the ultra-sophisticated placemats. Together we decided on a mix of contemporary patterns and textures such as modern geometric shapes, alongside romantic, pink floral items to create an eclectic, chic result.
In the arena of flowers, we teamed up with Leslie Attias, our favorite florals guru from @Petaliabyleslie. Those of you who have followed us for a while know how much we adore her creations and her way of innovating with flowers and plants.
As usual Leslie chose delicate yet striking flowers to match perfectly with our vision. We are never short of astonished by her way of blending different flower types, while keeping things looking neat and uniform.
Lastly, there is no Shabbat without a feast. The meal began with our traditional blessings and prayers. Our special friend, must we mention 13-year old, Rachelle Ghitelman, provided us with the pink Challah. Who would’ve thought you could even incorporate pink in the challah, but this young entrepreneur of @bake.someonehappy made it possible.
Our culinary star of the evening was Orly Cohen from @orlyberry, who proves that a good meal starts with eating with your eyes, and the final satisfaction always comes from the mouth.
Orly put together the tastiest spread, and used almost every shade of pink, even by Pantone’s standards. The most fascinating detail, Orly did not use even an ounce of artificial food coloring, all dyes were naturally derived from highly pigmented fruits and vegetables, most frequently the beet.
On Orly’s menu there were many classic Jewish dishes such as Borscht and Hummus, but always with a contemporary touch to make things relevant to today’s generation. In classic Apeloig Collection style, we emphasized keeping tradition alive by tying it to modern influences and adapting to today’s trends.
Follow along for the play by play on all of the delicacies put together for the Shabbat gathering:
Borscht:
Traditional Eastern European Jewish beet soup. The deep violet shade of the beet gave this appetizer a vibrant color to kick off our feminine colored dinner! We plated this dish to look a bit like the modern-day Acai Bowl, sprinkling herbs over the soup to add a kick.
Pink Hummus:
To honor our Middle Eastern Jewish guests of the night, we created a pink Hummus. We achieved the pink coloring by adding beet to the typical chickpea mixture. Orly had some other chef secrets to make it extra delightful, but the key to its girly color was that slice of beet.
We plated the hummus using small cone shaped cups, with each individual portion placed in a separate Menorah slot. Each cone contained crudites to make the hummus and dip easy to grab. We had the presence of the watermelon radish, another favorite pink delicacy with the perfect crunch to pair with hummus.
Beet Carpaccio
Another vegetarian option was our beet carpaccio. Orly paired the thinly sliced beets with pistachio crumbs, a creamy dollop of labne, and lemon zest for the perfect sour punch. This dish epitomized balance by having those tart elements from the labne and lemon against the sweetness of the beet.
Again, we find the design of this dish so geometric, modern and aesthetically pleasing with the consistent theme of rounds all throughout.
Watermelon Radish and Turnip Salad
Next up is that fresh salad everyone craves full of flavor. Orly put together an unexpected, gourmet combination composed of watermelon radish, turnip, pickled onion and grapefruit, topped with a Miso dressing. Only a culinary genius could foresee this eccentric mix of flavors aligning so seamlessly.
The bittersweet flavor of the grapefruit was almost made to be paired with the earthiness of the miso and the strong taste of pickled onion. After this salad we also decided the turnip is our favorite root vegetable to consume every Autumn!
The rich tones of these veggies made it clear that pink was the dinner’s theme and reminded the table that we were dedicating the evening to Breast Cancer Awareness.
Deviled Eggs with Beet Juice Pigment
When we say that eating starts with one’s vision, we must be thinking of the pink deviled eggs Orly brought to the table.
Dyed with beet juice, our eggs were spectacularly decorated with an all natural vibrant pink border. Orly complemented the pink egg with a bright green center composed of avocado guacamole and edamame. Of course avocado had to be the vegetable we used when deviating from our pink theme!
This dish deserved a Michelin star to say the least!
Mixed Green Salad with Pink Veggies
To ease us into the warmer, more entree-esque dishes, Orly culminated the cold courses with a mixed veggie, green salad.
With a base of mixed greens and pickled red onion, she added warm rainbow chard and purple cauliflower to introduce our palette to the upcoming hot plates. For an additional dose of potent flavors, she topped the salad with currants, goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.
We were so pleased with this salad, and so full already, but mentally prepared and excited for the mains she promised to offer thereafter.
Roasted Japanese Eggplant with Tahini
After a couple cold appetizers, we were ready to warm up and that was when Orly presented her melt in your mouth roasted Japanese eggplant.
The crispiness she achieved by oven roasting it was brought to perfection with the delicate drizzle of pink tahini. Of course due to the naturally soft texture found in the eggplant’s interior, the dish was topped with crunchy pine nuts and pomegranate seeds.
We were astonished by the Chef’s technique in finding an impeccable middle ground when it came to texture.
Tuna Carpaccio
With this perfect tuna carpaccio, we introduced fish to our meal. When thinking of pink-toned ingredients for our themed Shabbat, it was difficult to locate pink animal proteins.
However, being big fans of Japanese cuisine, we immediately knew raw tuna had to be introduced. This dish was exactly the taste we needed to pair with the multitude of veggies.
Orly kept this simple by dressing it with a Yuzu Mayonnaise. When playing with fish, most of the time more is more!
Beet Lemon Pasta
Last, but never least, came a lemon beet pasta with edamame, pine nuts and basil! If the last 8 dishes hadn’t blown our mind we probably wouldn’t have been able to continue eating. But it was impossible to refuse.
This pasta was zesty, earthy and took us to heaven.
This chef really knows how to leave your mouth watering, even when restricted to an unusual color for food.
Now that you’ve explored the many options we offered at our Pink Shabbat, we want to express how enthralled we feel by the result of our pink Shabbat. From all angles it exceeded our expectations, both in honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as well as for shedding light on female talent.
Apeloig Collection and our lovely partners want to remind our followers and friends that it is so important to dedicate one’s time to doing social good. No matter what effort you make to commemorate a special cause, there is always going to be a byproduct to be cherished. Whether that is raising awareness, funds or acts of kindness, someone will appreciate the actions!
