Who here loves a good theme party?!
Ok, now tell me if your hand was up…
Friends (who hosted) and I had such a great time at last summers private garden “Diner en Blanc” party, that – after much wine – by the end I had offered to host a “la Nuit Noire” counterpart, 6 months later.
Hubby hates it when I have too much wine at a dinner and invite everyone to six more dinner parties by the end LOL – sorry, (not sorry), Hubby! You’d think he’d be used to it by now!
I’m happy to report – good times were had by all!
Per the summer theme, every guest/couple was responsible for one dish and a wine pairing. Everyone was super game and chipped in with all the black dishes, cutlery etc, as well. A true group dinner effort!
Unfortunately I didn’t have the time I’d hoped to do some serious recipe development. Life was busy, then the day-of I was actually feeling quite ill and migrainey all am and almost thought I wouldn’t make it for the actual dinner at all.
But, as I went through Granville Island that am, inspiration came upon me in the form of 4 Conch available at the local fish market, and my head was back in the game! The Pinot Noir Soup I was planning took on a new life as a ‘Conch and Wild Mushroom Pinot Soup’ – with Activated Charcoal Creme Fraiche – and it was delicious!
The sourdough turned out beautifully as “coal” buns to accompany anothers’ Mussels dish. Regardless of a young starter, the buns had a perfectly crusty exterior with a spongey sourdough interior – just in BLACK! I had to modify the dough with a lot of extra water to account for the powdery charcoal addition, but that was fine.
The tablescape evolved over the day, having met one of the guests a few days earlier to plan a few things, as I found these beautiful dried roses at the Market (Our Little Flower Co was amazing with suggestions!). Guests dropped various items off early, the shells from the Conch seemed to fit once I started pulling moss from the yard, a black plate found a perch on a Food Table stand, and found items around the house were added a few at a time to finally create a ‘night in the forest by the sea’ kind of vibe LOL. I think it worked!
Some black thin foam from Michaels was perfect for these cut calligraphy letters on the wall I did quickly the night before! AND – within an hour or two of dinner, the table was set! The main lights were left off, and the ‘patio’ lights and candles were the only lighting. It was meant to be NOIRE, after all!
Doesn’t it all look about as DELICIOUS as it tasted?! Everyone really brought their A-game to this one!
My daughter (who joined us crazy dinner peeps w her boyfriend) offered to do this BEAUTIFUL menu chalkboard! For Diner en Blanc we had individually printed menus, so this was a nice change. Someone thought to pose all the liquor pairings in order – genius! I took this the next am when it was lighter out.
AND – that’s a wrap! At least until the next one… (again, SORRY not sorry Hubby!).
Once in awhile it’s just fun to go all out and do something completely different for an evening, don’t you think? Be sure to share some of YOUR themed dinners w me – I love the inspiration.
