Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Dinner at the Barn


Last night the Composer and I were making good on a gift certificate we gave his parents last Christmas--a dinner party.


We've done this before with great success--they invite the guests, we plan and execute the food and just generally act like caterers.  This year they decided to have it in an interesting space--the barn-like annex of a friend's office! I'd never seen anything like it before--just tacked on to the main building, the walls lined with art, and big tables in the middle. It's not very barn-like, but they call it a barn, so okay!


I had to prepare everything at home and bring it ready to serve, so I carefully planned a workable menu. I served three plates (and you'll see I went kind of Cajun):

1. Red beans and andouille sausage in a little Pyrex cup, with tiny cornbread muffins and two crawdads and a baby onion on each plate.

2. Crab and shrimp gumbo served over rice, with potato salad, cole slaw, and marinated green bean salad (fresh steamed, please, no canned!) on the side.

3. Homemade coffee ice cream with chocolate sauce and ginger 
shortbreads.

For a travelling menu, it worked pretty well, and the guests enjoyed it. But I will never, no never, want to be a caterer in real life. Too much carrying.

6 comments:

jenny_o said...

I find this subject fascinating - traveling food. We've had some experience taking numerous meals in all stages of preparation to relative's homes (entire meals, not just an individual dish). It certainly taxed our ingenuity to create a workable menu, transport the food, and make as many items as light as possible, not to mention remembering to pack all the necessary serving utensils and extras. If you care to share more details on how you carried out this generous gift dinner, I - for one - would be interested!

Lisa said...

I love these fancy dinner posts. But having to transport it as you did? Sounds very difficult. Too bad you couldn't find a transportable kitchenette.

Lisateresa

Choate Family said...

I - for two - would be interested, as well! What a lovely gift, both of food and of time, energy, and a servant's heart.

Wendy said...

Triple Wow!

Julie said...

What a great gift idea. Did you get photos of 'the barn' - sounds fascinating.

Farrah said...

You can throw me a party any time you'd like! ;)

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