Entertaining in style
We celebrated my husband’s 50th birthday on Saturday with a magnificent party. We started with a wine and cheese spread followed by a light dinner and finished with birthday cake. Here is how I did it:
- Dishes and Glasses: I used a combination of pressed glass dishes, china, small cheese plates, and a collection of wine glasses. Nothing matched per se, but it worked well together. The pressed glass bowls and plates are from my mother’s collection, the china is mine from my great grandmother (who loved to entertain), the small cheese plates are from my collection as well as the wine glasses.
- Flowers: The camellias are from my garden and the hydrangeas are from my mother’s garden.
- Cheese: We are fortunate to have several shops in the area that carry delectable cheese. The four cheeses on the green marble slab are from The Cheese Store of Pasadena. The cheese on the small cutting board is from our local farmers market.
- Crackers and Dark Chocolate: Both of these food items came from Trader Joe’s. We had dark chocolate covered almonds, dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, dark chocolate covered cherries and dark chocolate almonds sprinkled with sea salt and turbinado sugar.
- Food: The carrots came from the local farmers market and I paired it with my hummus. The recipe will be posted tomorrow. A selection of cured meats was purchased from Trader Joe’s. The olives came from The Cheese Store and the raspberries were filled with chocolate. The raspberry recipe will be posted next week. For dinner, we ate meatballs made by a dear friend, kale salad and fresh sourdough bread. We topped off the evening with a delicious chocolate strawberry shortcake birthday cake made by a colleague.
- Wine: We had a selection of red and white wine plus Prosecco and port.
- Miscellany: Since we have a wine and cheese party twice a year, I have collected various serving pieces and other items to make it easy to pull it all together. The marble slab and cutting board are designated cheese boards for the party. The cheese knives came from Pottery Barn years ago as well as the small cheese plates. The cheese markers are a recent addition and I purchased those in Los Olivos at The General Store. I pick up napkins from Tuesday Morning or wine shops and have collected wine coasters to add to the collection. Every wine glass has a wine charm and they were purchased from Brighton and The Key of A.
My rule is that I want it to look elegant and sophisticated, but be relaxed and fun at the same time. I purchased most of the food, but had certain dishes made from scratch to make it special. The party lasted for six hours and everyone had a grand time!
*Tina