Wine Party - Planning

June 26, 2011

Wine Party - Planning

So I've had on my list of life's "Things to Do", along with a bunch of other random crazy things like: speak 10 languages before I die, have a spectacular party on a boat, own a minivan, learn to flamenco dance have a full sized freezer to store all my seasonal foods…. I told you pretty random!. Anyway, this wine party was one of the things I wanted to do since 5 years ago. I was lucky enough to get introduced to a great sommelier through a friend of ours that made all this happen!

I have been in the planning mode for a month now, the invites were out, then the post office went on strike so I had to send e-mails anyway. Oh well, at least the invites I had purchased like 3 years ago finally got used.

By party minus 3 weeks I was excited. This is when I was working on the details of decorations and details. I know I work backwards, but I have learned not to fight the urge to take action on anything really. I do it when I'm excited about it, then I'm sure that I will be doing it from the bottom of my heart, and that it will get done! So I start early and go with my excitement.

My biggest goal for the party was to have everything done by the time everyone got there. So this meant excessive planning and diligence.

This is what my idea was that I sent to the sommelier. He was great enough to accept my challenge.

Guests (including Sommelier and myself) - 13

Super hard to choose! I can name like 5 people we had to exclude just quick off the top of my head. We had friends bring 2 extra card tables to add to our extended dining table. We literally had to clear out the living room so we could all fit! But it was fun.

Courses to be served - 8

Concept - We know how to pair wine with good french foods, Italian, Spanish or even BBQ but what about the ethnic foods we end up eating all the rest of the time and we still want our wine!? So each course was to consist of 3 meals from each of the following cultures:

Persian, Mexican, Quebecois, Indian, Chinese.

Add in appetizers, dessert and cheeses (I know cheese is typical, but it's just SOOO good how could I resist?!)

All this equals 8 courses.

The menu:

1. Amuse-bouche -

Potato blue cheese potage (FRI)

Prosciutto pear and goat cheese mixed with walnuts tied with chives (SAT)

Beet Salad w celery and apples (FRI)

2. Iranien -

Kotlet w fried yellow and red mini tomatoes - make (THURS)

Aloo esfenaj- make (THURS)

Gheyme- make (THURS)

avec du riz basmati au safran (SAT)

3. Chinese-

Spring roll, générale tao, Sweet and sour chicken w sticky rice (PURCHASE)

4. Indian - tandoori chicken Frozen bbq day of

Poulet au beurre, small samosa (PURCHASE)

5. Mexican -

mole (THURS)

corn and beans w quesadilla

cut tortillas (THURS)

roasted bell pepper soup topped with toasted corn tortillas (FRI)

6. Quebecois -

poutine- in mini trays (SAT)

paté chinois - in mini foil trays (THURS)

fry mushrooms (FRI)

Cretonnade de canard on baguette (PURCHASE)

7. Cheese - w baguette (PURCHASE)

cheese 1

cheese 2

cheese 3

8. Dessert -

Verrine of chocolate mousse with Grand Marnier- (FRI)

Chocolate raspberry truffle (FRI)

Strawberry cardamom upside down cake (FRI)

The Sommelier decided to choose 1 wine per course and discuss the flavours accordingly. YAY!

By Party minus 2 weeks I was panicking. So I began mapping out my party on pages based on food categories.

This was great.

By Party minus 1 week, I had to plan my daily goals. The party was Saturday, so I labelled the day I had to have things done by.

The anxiety grows as does the excitement. My phone call the the poor sommelier, Sébastien, increased and he was a ROCK. Thank goodness because I become a crazed, ungrounded freak! … in a nice way… ok not in a nice way. It's not that pretty!

I was also lucky enough to have my father-in-law visiting us from Italy. He was able to play with my daughter while I concentrated on cooking and the preparations. Of course my husband was fantastic, listening to me plan every night, something different and calming me down :) Thanks Mon Amour!

My thank you package to Sébastien