It's nice when you plan a party, do all that work, and next day you consider it a success. Both my husband and I love to throw (and attend!) parties and I feel that over the years we've developed a very casual, easy-does-it style. My decorations are always simple and my food is always easy and, for the most part, do ahead. Just this weekend we had a dinner for 14, including some of the women from my knitting group and their spouses.
When planning a party, big or small, I like a theme to get me started on my decor and menu. This could be a color, or a country's traditional cuisine, something growing in my garden, or even a disaster! Once I was planning a party that happened to fall on the same night as the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. I recreated as best I could the last meal served in first class the night before the disaster. We must take our inspirations where they come!
On the Thursday before the Saturday night party I sat outside with a stack of cookbooks hoping for inspiration. One of the first cookbooks I thumbed through was Ojai's Table, my current favorite. I found this quote below the recipe for an olive oil cake I'd been wanting to make: "Sun, stone, drought, silence and solitude: these are the five ingredients that according to Italian folk traditions, create the ideal habitat for the olive tree." I looked upat one of our own olive treesand I had to agree--she was looking magnificent even with our year's long drought. She's thriving; no, she's flourishing.
When planning a party, big or small, I like a theme to get me started on my decor and menu. This could be a color, or a country's traditional cuisine, something growing in my garden, or even a disaster! Once I was planning a party that happened to fall on the same night as the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. I recreated as best I could the last meal served in first class the night before the disaster. We must take our inspirations where they come!
On the Thursday before the Saturday night party I sat outside with a stack of cookbooks hoping for inspiration. One of the first cookbooks I thumbed through was Ojai's Table, my current favorite. I found this quote below the recipe for an olive oil cake I'd been wanting to make: "Sun, stone, drought, silence and solitude: these are the five ingredients that according to Italian folk traditions, create the ideal habitat for the olive tree." I looked upat one of our own olive treesand I had to agree--she was looking magnificent even with our year's long drought. She's thriving; no, she's flourishing.
The olive tree quote got me to thinking; I would celebrate the olive: olive branches to decorate the house and olives in as many menu items as possible. And add to that: corn, summer squash, tomatoes, oranges, lemons; all things fresh and local from my own backyard.
Menu
Honey Marinated Pork with Orange Gremolata from Ojai's Table
Ina's Vegetable Tian
Ina's Corn Salad
Sliced Tomatoes
Sliced Tomatoes
Pecan Orange Olive Oil Cake from Ojai's Table
with Lemon Curd
with Lemon Curd
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| Can you guess what flower this is? Nope, not Queen Anne's Lace. It's carrot! I let a small patch of carrots go to seed, and was rewarded with these beautiful flowers that smell like CARROT! |
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| We've enjoyed our homemade pear vodka and eau de vie de poire all summer. We have a few more pears growing in bottles again this year. eau de vie de poire |
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| My husband and his buddies like simgle malts so we always set out a few. However, it turned out that martinis were really popular at this gathering. One of our friends mixed a batch of them, and they were so popular, he had to mix a few more batches! |
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| I received this from my mother for my birthday. The Napa wine country is Giants country! |
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| My blue and white platters are enormous and work so well for a buffet. With all these platters and the food that goes on them, you can imagine it's quite a lot of work. I do all the set-up and cooking on my own, but when it comes to the serving and clean-up, I surrender! I have a rule: more than 10 guests and I hire help. I have a young woman who lives a few blocks away who will come over for the evening and help. I've developed a relationship with her over the years, she knows my style and knows her way around my kitchen. That extra expense is worth it--I get to spend time with my guests and enjoy the party, and don't have to face a mess before bed! That is the one gift I give myself as a hostess, and my husband appreciates it too. |
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| I picked little sprigs of herbs to place around the house. Very fragrant. |
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| We serve the food buffet style and everyone will come to the table with their plate and wine glass. We put salt and pepper on the tables, a few bottles of wine and a jug of water, then it's serve-yourself style. |
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| The harvest on party day. |
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| Ina's corn salad was a bit hit! This is going into my party recipe rotation! |
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| The pork loins were marinated in orange juice and honey and served with gremolata, also a huge hit. The gremolata was made with Italian parsley, mint, garlic, olive oil, plus the zests of a few lemons and oranges. I felt it was a bit too strong so I added some Parmesan cheese to mellow it out. It was a winner that is going into the party recipe rotation too. In fact, all these recipes are. This recipe, the corn salad and the dessert were all new to me. It may sound risky to do that, but I've had pretty good success. More often, like this dinner, I'll find recipes I'll want to make again and again. I really do recommend Ojai's Table. |
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| Wedge salads are back! They look beautiful on the buffet table and everyone loves them. |
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| A selection of hand knitted shawls to pass out when the sun goes down and the weather gets cool. |
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| "Sun, stone, drought, silence and solitude: these are the five ingredients that create the ideal habitat for the olive tree." |
