Birthday Dinner

10-Nov-2005

Just about two weeks ago I had a few friends over to celebrate my birthday. The hard part of this dinner was not being able to invite everyone I would have liked to have there. I wanted to keep the group on the small side so that we’d all fit at the table. And, because I was planning a multi-course meal, it would have been out of control if the number of guests was too large. However, everyone had been invited to the celebration at Daniel’s so I really wasn’t leaving anyone out altogether.

I have always wanted to do a multi-course dinner but had refrained since I actually try to attend my own parties, not just serve at them! :-) But I came up with a perfect plan for this one. First, nearly all of the meal was made in advance and just needed to be plated as we moved through the courses. Second, I asked each of the guests to assist me with a specific task – this gave me both the chance to spend a little time with each of them and made the serving that much faster and more efficient. And, contrary to my usual way of doing things, I’d actually made everything in the past, except for the cake, so there would be no surprises in how things actually turned out!

Next year is a big milestone year for me and I want to hit that milestone running, so this year was my "kick-off". I plan to rev up the adventure level and do things I’ve always wanted to do but just hadn’t quite gotten around to doing. That was one of the reasons for choosing this particular format.

Here was the menu:

Brenda’s Forty Niner

aka

First Stop on the Road to Fifty

Gougére and Mixed Nuts

Martinis

—–

Oysters on the Half-Shell with Champagne Mignonette

Buckwheat Blini, Crème Fraiche & Caviar

Osetra, White Sturgeon (American), Ikura

Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Brut – NV

—- Lemon Vodka Sorbet —-

Chestnut Soup with Cognac Cream

Jazzed up Waldorf Salad

Nobilo Icon Sauvignon Blanc – 2004

Venison Medallions with Shiitake Port Sauce

Oven-Roasted Asparagus

Gnocchi with Roquefort Cream

Apex Columbia Valley Merlot – 1995

—- Poire Williams Sorbet —-

Selection of Cheese

L’Orange

Hedges Red Mountain Port (Fortified) – NV

Coffee or Tea

I’ll post more about the party next week. In the meantime, here are a couple more photos.

2 Comments

Sylvie permalink

11-Nov-2005 7:00 pm

Lovely birthday spread. How will you outdo this next year?
Culinary permalink

14-Nov-2005 6:45 am

:-) Hi Sylvie!Good question! I actually think there\’s a good chance I\’ll be out of town next year. If I\’m in town, it\’ll probably be a big bash where I invite everyone I know – the fare will be quite different then… ~ B