Life in Maine 1-7

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(More information about the Edwardian Dinner Party -- continued)

Napkins and Printed Menus

Napkins can be folded and placed several ways. Instructions can be found on etiquette sites or YouTube. It is best to place the napkin on the charger, where it can be taken readily, not under the silverware. A very elegant touch is to print a menu giving each course using a Script face. This tells the guest what is being served and the basic ingredients. The menu can then be laid on the charger either on top of the napkin or along side it. (See samples below.)

Menus and Preparation

For each dinner Tony prepares a seven-course gourmet meal consisting of appetizers (think Martha Stewart or one’s own imagination), soup, salad, fish, intermezzo (a citrus sherbet “to cleanse the palate”), entrée with starch and vegetable, and dessert. For one meal, Tony served canapés; French onion soup (chop the onions, minimal toast!); mixed greens with cranberries, walnuts, and avocado; crabcakes with three baby asparagus spears; lime sherbet; pork roast with a spiced sauce of peach, apricot, and mango; twice baked sweet potatoes with cheddar cheese; steamed broccoli; and pineapple upside-down cake.

For another dinner Tony served canapés; tomato basil soup; mixed spring greens with bits of carrot, red pepper, Vidalia onion, olives, and tomato; sautéed scallops with asparagus spears; lemon sherbet; pork fillets with a new peach, apricot, mango, and spiced sauce; steamed broccoli rabe; roasted parsnips; and raspberry chocolate bar.

Guests bring their own choices of wine. We have some wine, sparkling water, coffee, and tea. Once again, to protect the woven carpet, we do not serve red wine!

Tony is a very gifted and creative chef who learns well from the experience he has gathered along the way. The Food Network’s reality TV programs Chopped and Sweet Genius have helped a lot. If you haven’t watched them, do! They’re great.

The truth is, Tony originally did not have a lot of experience as a chef, and you need not either. What Tony does have---and what you also could discover you have---is creative curiosity, a starting-point sense of what goes well with what, what looks good on the plate (since people do eat first with their eyes), and the ability to learn quickly from mistakes. He also enjoys the experience of creating a seven-course meal! Some enjoyment is required.

The Edwardian Dinner Party on Balance

These dinners may sound like a lot to take on. The truth is, they take two days and a lot of thought and organization. We enjoy that. We shop together and are now a well-known couple with a number of friends among the staff at the local Shaw’s supermarket. The staff at Shaw’s and at Hannaford’s supermarkets have been extremely accommodating.

Needless to say, for 12 diners, including an appetizer plate and a saucer under the soup bowl, there will be 216 pieces of silverware and dishes. That seems like a lot, especially in an unrestored 1956 kitchen with no dishwasher! Seeing a table laid out so beautifully and enjoyed by so many guests, however, is well worth the time it takes to wash all that, which may not take any longer than rinsing, filling, and emptying.

These dinners have been a great success. Guests have had a wonderful time and are thrilled by the experience. Some write lovely thank-you notes, a dying custom but a delightful reward. We plan to keep giving these dinners, perhaps inviting folks back in different combinations.

As part of life in Maine, we commend these Edwardian Dinner Parties to you. Indeed, we commend them to you for any place where good food, an elegant intimate setting, and wonderful conversations among friends are valued.

On the next page are sample menus and photos from Edwardian dinner parties we have given, in case they might be useful.

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