Here's a dandy summation of our Children's Toy themed dinner from Gail. Had it amongst my notes to include on this blog and almost forgot it was there (shame on me twice over):
John started us out
with a Cootie inspired pre dinner beverage. It was flavored with and
garnished with black licorice because John informed us that the original game
in 1948 was a black colored bug. He made the cutest garnishes of cootie
bugs made from black licorice pieces with candied orange peels as the
appendages. I sincerely enjoyed receiving John Cooties.
Aimee amused us with
her bouche that represented Magic Rocks. She had a totally 70's retro
looking dish using a hollowed out chunk of cucumber as the vessel for a
pate. She had pumpkin seeds and other spear like veggies sticking out of
it to resemble the rocks as they formed stalagmites and a few pomegranate seeds
to boot.
Suzy gave us an
interactive appetizer to represent Fuzzy Face. We each received a small
ramekin filled to the rim with a smooth surface of hummus. Then we each
made our own faces using roasted garlic, roasted red pepper spread, scallion
shreds and hydrated basil seeds that looked like someone's fertilized embryos.
She also presented us with self stuffed straws of seasonings (yes, Suzy stuffed
the straws) to add to our faces and we scooped away with pita chips.
Joy made a Greek Soup
(sorry, I don't recall the name) to present Lego blocks to us. It had egg
yolks in it and a tangy flavor. She used a fancy pasta to represent the
Legos, there were croutons and veggies in the soup as well. Sorry, I'm
not doing her wonderful soup justice here, maybe someone else can fill in the
proper details.
I made an orzo and
grilled veggie side dish themed to the kaleidoscope. It had feta cheese
in it as well as pine nuts and a lemon vinaigrette.
Ben made a Vietnamese
style fish stew to represent GI Joe Fish. He used star anise, pumpkin,
mackerel and fried ginger strips as a garnish. He chose a Vietnamese
style recipe because that's where GI Joe would have been when Ben was a
Joe-less child.
Erza and Shelley made
Easy Bake oven cupcakes that were flavored with almond and had a not too sweet
salted caramel butter cream. I ate two, could have eaten more, but...
Pam finished the
evening with a Raspberry swirl, ice cream and booze concoction to
represent Spirograph. We each received a Pam original coaster designed
with Spirograph's technology.
We were all
given a treasured 70's toy as our party favor. I got the coveted
Scottie dogs, there was silly putty, a numbered tile puzzle and much, much
more!
I'm hoping others
will contribute to my basic descriptions here, but you should have a decent
idea of how wonderful the evening was. Fingers crossed, you'll be able to
write the descriptions of our next meal for the poor souls who miss out on our
delightful gathering.
Be well.
Gail
