We’re throwing our arms around summer with BoHo-inspired fashion, flavours and flare!

There’s something magical about the start of summer. It’s not only the beginning of a new season, it reminds us about memories of cottage parties, family road trips and backyard barbecues past. Sharing sweet watermelon with friends, indulging in perfectly-grilled steaks and sipping fun and fruity cocktails on a sun-drenched deck. If spring is about rejuvenation, summer is about living life to the fullest.

Here at Kiss the Cook Catering, it’s also about being creative and developing tasty new recipes and themed menus. Lately we’ve been looking at the retro bohemian, hippy styles that entered into fashion consciousness in the 1960s and came back into vogue a decade ago (thank you Sienna Miller, Kate Moss and Mary-Kate Olsen for reigniting our passion for this posh-hippie look). So, we decided to take it a step further with a BoHo-chic photo shoot featuring some amazing new dishes that we created in our Food Studio just for the occasion.

The best part: because we’re located in Toronto’s Cliffside neighbourhood on the Scarborough Bluffs—one of the city’s most beautiful, underappreciated slices of sandy heaven—we were able to find the perfect setting for the shoot. We couldn’t have found more creative or culinary inspiration if we tried!

To get the aesthetics right, we combined design, pop culture, music and film magazines and websites to make sure we kept the proceedings authentically BoHo-chic. Then our event planner Azeemah Abowath and I set the stage for the whimsical photo shoot with Toronto’s serene lakeside as our backdrop. At the same time, our chefs worked their magic to create a seasonally-inspired menu featuring the finest, freshest local ingredients they could find. The result is a selection of dishes that are as mouth-watering as they are visually pleasing.

For a main dish we included a succulent Smoked BBQ beef brisket on our own butter-toasted cornbread with pickled red onion. Why? We absolutely love barbecue, couldn’t wait to sink our teeth into tender brisket—it’s one of our summertime faves!—and wanted to remind the world that our scratch made cornbread is like nothing they’ve ever tasted. We can’t get enough of fresh corn picked from the Farmer’s market so we also added our Mexican Street Corn Salad into the mix. It’s a blend of grilled corn, jalapeno, red onion, shallots, cilantro, Cotija cheese and lime for tangy goodness. But let’s not forget about our Beachy potato salad with grilled asparagus and lemon Dijon dressing. You’ll have to taste it for yourself to understand how delicious this dish truly is. Then we included our Cumin roasted carrots with toasted pine nuts, a recipe so scrumptious you’ll almost forget that our signature Seafood Paella is also on this menu (almost!). It’s laden with crispy rice (socarrat), shrimp and chorizo and just the right amount of Spanish saffron to provide a perfect golden hue, then served appetizer-style.

We finished the feast with a selection of Rainbow Macarons, so temptingly sweet that it’s absolutely impossible to eat just one—trust us, we tried (and failed) to prove ourselves wrong. So, without further adieu, enjoy our BoHo-chic photo extravaganza and take it as inspiration for your next wedding, corporate event or family gathering.

Smoked BBQ beef brisket on our own butter-toasted cornbread with pickled red onion is one of our summer-time faves!

Authentic paella with socarrat, juicy shrimp and spicy chorizo–simply delicious!

Watermelon salsa and corn chips offer an addictive mix of salt, sweet and spice.

Our Cumin roasted carrots with toasted pine nuts are a crowd-pleasing accompaniment to a summer-time meal.

Our Mexican Street Corn Salad is a fabulous blend of grilled sweet corn and tangy goodness.

Beachy potato salad with grilled asparagus and lemon Dijon dressing. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect side for a BoHo-chic picnic.

What would a beachside BoHo picnic be without some tasty spiked, infused teas?

Rainbow macarons are an irresistible treat any time of year. But we think they’re even sweeter in summer.

Not to be forgotten: Cooper, Kiss the Cook’s unofficial mascot, was keen to get in on the BoHo action.

Looking to plan a BoHo-chic party or other themed event? Contact our team now!

Fia Pagnello, Founder and CEO