The Decadent Dinner Party

Inspiration

Tyler says: Encouraged by our success, and rather embarrassed by our post-dinner guests arriving during our "Private" dinner at the 1st Formal Holiday Historical Costume Ball, we decided to throw a second party, focused ON dinner - to be specific exotic foods. This was rather helped along by The Decadent Cookbook.

Emily says: The idea for the second Tyler-and-Emily party came from a desire to throw a party where a more diverse assortment of people would enjoy themselves, and, well, to throw another party. We were also seeking to find a formula that would help our parties appeal to a wider age range.

The Decadent Dinner Party or DDP was also inspired by a book called The Decadent Cookbook. It has recipes for Cat in Tomato Sauce and Virgin's Breasts and is generally wonderful.

So we had to plan. The guest list had to be diverse and the food had to be decadent. Tyler thought his house would be a good place for it, because it's so pretty in the summer, and also free.

The Set-Up

At our previous party, lack of alternatives had caused a few groans when party games were introduced. THIS time, we would have a few separate areas. When guests first arrived, we would shepherd them into a Holding Pen - the veranda - where they could enjoy punch and nibbles, and where we could keep an eye on them from the kitchen window, as we were still cooking.

There would be a separate area on the lawn, with mis-matched tables all shoved together to make one long table (and two small round buffet tables), a number of mismatched chairs (YOU try finding seating for 50!), 8 tiki torches, and a chipped statue of a naked lady, to help make things more... Decadent.

And of course, in the Garden, were christmas-lighted Pavilions, full of Potted Palms, "chaise lounges" of the deck-chair variety, and -of course- sparkly fabric everywhere.

Oh, and I called Emily a Bleeding Harpy at least 37 times while we prepared for our guests. :p

The evening began around six o'clock when guests started to arrive for hors d'oeuvres. There wasn't much decoration needed for this part of the party, as it was in Tyler's back porch area, which is already pretty, and besides, we were still cooking.

There was an assortment of fruit (pineapple, melon and strawberries,) breads and crackers with various dips and cheeses. There was also punch (the same highly successful recipe from the Christmas Ball, as well as a limeade version.)

There were people I hadn't seen since high school, people I had never met at all, people I was acquainted with, and people I was very close with already. I think I spoke to everyone who arrived before seven, at least.

While guests entertained themselves in back, then, Tyler and I began to bring down the food and put place cards on the table (as they had been blowing away before.)

The Food

Food included:

Emu pot pies (on the left.) These were originally going to be Kangaroo pies (as the recipe called for kangaroo) but the kangaroo was $20 a pound. Emu was less expensive, so we bought it instead. Emu is red meat so we used the same recipe and also supplemented with some stew beef to make it go farther. The Emu pies were quite a success, and were all gone at the end of the night.

To the right of the Emu pies is a salad bowl. There were two that size, but we never brought out the other one. When someone has the option to eat kangaroo and emu, one doesn't bother with salad. Except Yimmy.

In the top right of the picture is a rather dark Spinach-potato quiche and a quiche lorraine. The spinachey one was made especially for Yimmy's vegetarianism. Yum.

Then there are Mounds Of Potatoes. They were ten pounds for a dollar, so we bought twenty pounds. The quiche used three. There were a few left over to bake. We called them, decadently, Scorched Earth. And had them again for breakfast. There were lots left over.

On the left in this picture is the Brain Jello. It's grape, strawberry and lemon. And it jiggles.

Above that is the angel food cake with Whipped Cream Breasts and the Vagina Dentata. The Vagina Dentata is a round angel food cake, filled with strawberries, with whipped cream, almond teeth and a giant strawberry clitoris. It really was rather a spectacular dessert. I made the cakes the day before the party, and still we had to cook all day the day of the party. The Breasts and Vagina Dentata were only completed right before they were served, as there was no room in the refrigerator for them to keep the whipped cream from melting.

Continuing clockwise around the table, are Dove's Egg Quiches, courtesy of Gwydion and Trinity. They had shrimp in them and were much better than my quiches (whose crusts were overcooked.) Below the quiches is a dish of Kangaroo, also from Gwydion and Trinity.

And then there is the bowl of what looks like vomit. Do not be fooled. It also tastes like vomit. It was supposed to be Cat In Tomato Sauce (following the recipe from the Decadent Cook Book) but we used rabbit, because eating cat would make people sad. The first step is to marinate the meat in vinegar overnight. This migh account for the taste. Then you add oil, onion, apples and tomatoes and boil it. Yum.

The Dinner

Emily's done a comprehensive job of describing the food. Also, there are pictures of it.

We did use a seating chart this time. After struggling to make sure that blood-feuding enemies wouldn't be next to each other, and that strangers would probably get along, we found that we had a handful of folks left over. Luckily, most of them were allergic to smoking, so we grouped them all together, at the far end away from the smokers, and hoped for the best. As it turns out, a rather ... surprising ... friendship resulted. Which is lucky, because we were worried.

The dinner itself was a wonderful time. People got along with the people they were seated by (arranging seats was quite a lot of effort.) There was mood lighting (citronella tiki torches, citronella candles at every table, and the soft reflection of the moonlinght off of the wings of the numerous mosquitoes.) And there was Donner Party Wine (Good Friends, Good Food.) It was lovely.

Some people liked their seating arrangement so much that they talked afterwards with their neighbors. Huzzah.

This party had about 25 people, and that allowed for the after-dinner festivities to be broken into groups, which made entertaining easier. People could talk in the corner if they liked, or could play the party games if they liked. I think this is a better way to have things than the way it was at the Ball, where everyone had to be involved in the same thing, and some people may have preferred to do something else. The way that this area was divided (appetizers in back, dinner in front, games in the Practice Paisley Glen) allowed different areas to be used for different entertainments. Here, chit-chattery at the table.

The Games

Since there were separate areas for the guests to socialize in, we had an area specifically FOR games, in the pavillions. This was the first time we used this model, and it worked SO well that we've done it ever since.

The two official games we played were Hunt the Slipper and Romanticism/Classicism Test (which, while enjoyable, is not, properly speaking, a game). We also learned a suite of games, from one of our Guests. They are:

Around the World
Camping Trip
Desserts.


Basically, you don't tell anyone what's going on, and they have to figure out the puzzle. And, of course, that there IS a puzzle. They're not TOO difficult. However, at least one confirmed break-up has occurred because of these games.

After the few official games, there were some fun word games, but the night generally continued on its own, driven by socializing and silliness (which is as it should be.)

The party ended when one of the guests got his car stuck in the drive way on the way out and and the boys who were still there tried to free it for a couple of hours before giving up, digging up the railroad ties on each side of it, and going around. In the morning, Tyler's dad freed the car. And we were tired. But it was lovely.

Conclusions

All in all, things worked out well. We learned:
1. Separate areas mean that only people who WANT to play games have to.
2. Some people will ALWAYS want to sit and talk, no matter what else you've got
planned for them.
3. Making dinner for large groups of people is stressful and expensive