Holiday Apéro with Tess Kelly | Sunday 11.22.26 @ 2pm

In France, apéro, short for apéritif, is that sacred hour before dinner devoted to a good drink, a few delicious bites and the pleasure of time spent together. Tess holds this ritual close to her heart—and has a well-curated repertoire of hors d’oeuvres to match.

Let me be blunt, hors d'oeuvres selection is what separates the Marthas from the Sandra Lees in the most definitive of fell swoops. Taking the time to trim, butter and pan toast the bread for your canapés will speak volumes to your guests in a way that store-bought crackers simply can't.

Champignons Farcis
mushrooms stuffed with pork, shallot, garlic, Brie + herbes de Provence

Canapés à la Tapenade
black olive tapenade on buttered, pan-toasted peasant bread

Latkes
crème fraîche + chives

Deviled Eggs
smoked salmon + radish

To wet our whistles, we’ll mix Negronis: equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, or a smoky variation with mezcal in place of gin. A little bitter, a little sweet and just the thing to kick things into gear.

À votre santé !

Tess Kelly is a chef and founder of Séraphine Workshops. She moved to France in 1986 where she developed her love of French cuisine. She apprenticed under the chef of the pâtisserie she lived above in Paris. Madame Bernard took her under her wing and generously shared the art and love of baking French pastries and French cuisine. 

After working for many years in the restaurant business in New York City, she opened Séraphine Bakery in 2014.  Since then Tess has developed fun, hands-on workshops for children and adults. Her desire to feed people and share the art of preparing food is the basis of all of her cooking and baking classes. She teaches a balanced, seasonal approach to eating. Her love of France and French cuisine runs deep, ever since her teenage years in Paris where it all began.

She currently teaches both private and public workshops in New York, and in France.

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