Sunday, April 8, 2012

Chef's Tables Past: the Childhood Toy theme!


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

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