An Easter themed dinner party at my house

April 3, 2010

An Easter themed dinner party at my house

Last week, I hosted a dinner for our new friends at Hallmark Channel and I wrote about our merger on my blog dated March 29^th. My friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin, agreed to work his magic in the kitchen and came up with a fabulous spring menu. Because this dinner was scheduled during the Easter holiday, I asked my housekeeper, Laura Acuna, to bring out all of our favorite springtime decorations. With the house looking so pretty, I wanted to have my Easter celebration right here at home and I am now cooking and baking for Sunday’s festivities. I wish all of you a very happy and healthy Easter.

: Our recipe for cheese puffs – they were so good! (see the Baking Handbook)

: The unbaked cheese straws

: I took our Hallmark friends on a tour of the greenhouse.

: Palms, African bulbs, aloes, and agaves

: Everyone loved the fenced vegetable garden.

: The horses were in for the windy night and they got a lot of petting as we stopped at the stable.

: I was given a wonderful gift of Cristal champagne by one of the guests.

: We always print menus for the guests – we were fortunate that there were no dietary restrictions that night.

: The risotto with asparagus and morels – utterly scrumptious

: Coral Ann kept me company during Marc’s presentation – she showed off regally.

: Plating is an art, especially when the food is to get to the table hot and fresh.

: Marc Morrone brought Harry and Coral Ann to keep him company as he discussed his new Petkeeping show, produced by Barbara Fight – Francesca really wanted to ‘play’ with Harry.

: Long boned chops like this are known as Frenched.

: The lamb glistened – the vegetables were perfectly cooked.

: My Empress Tang is exploring all the tabletops.

: Peas in a pod – real peas, that is – spring peas, part of Chef Pierre’s menu for dinner.

: Fresh morels – these were added to a most delicious risotto. Pierre washed and washed these lovely fungi before sauteeing.

: I was excited to host my new business partners, the Hallmark Channel, at the farm for a pre-Easter dinner. I decorated the house as if it was Easter and in fact, this gave me the impetus to host Easter lunch at my house – I had been vacillating.

: My favorite arrangement was in the green room – gloriosa lilies, in pure yellow, with deep blackish purple fern stems in my old Chinese glass ginger jar.

: Yellow tulips and leather-leaf ferns looked great in the green room.

: Shaun, my gardener, brought in lots of beautiful begonias to place on pedestals – many were in full bloom.

: More golden eggs – these are blown eggs that are actually gold leafed – an easy process.

: Robin Marino – our CEO – was one of the first guests to arrive – she oohed and aahed!

: Lettuce baskets – artificial, of course – filled with more blown eggs

: Pierre was so happy and so organized that day.

: Here I am with Robin – just back from a week in Cabo – and Barbara Fight, who is producing Marc Morrone’s new animal show for Hallmark.

: Vivaldi has found the chicks – unfortunately for him, they are spun cotton antiques and of little interest.

: We keep the great decorations year to year and store them in our ‘holiday basement’ archives – believe it or not, these golden eggs are about 20 years old!

: Golden eggs in golden vases with lots of little chicks

: the drink of the night was blood orange and lemon bourbon sours- everything fresh except the Maker’s Mark of course

: Hannah Milman – crafts guru at the company – with Barb, Pierre, and Robin

: Barb and Sharkey on the kitchen floor

: Kevin Sharkey with baby Ghenghis – Kevin is in LOVE!

: This is the ‘brown room’ where we can seat up to 16 guests at the table.

: The red canaries sang all night long.

: My housekeeper, Laura Acuna, set the tables – she is a true maestro.

: The souflee dishes buttered and sugared with Demerara sugar

: Baby lamb chops browning before roasting in a very hot oven

: Pierre added butter and rosemary.

: My professional range makes cooking for twenty easy – fresh spinach from the cold house – sauteeing alongside turnips and carrots.

: Pierre made puff pastry cheese straws – they were delicious!

: Spring asparagus tips

: Peas waiting to be shelled

: Baby turnips in need of hand peeling

: Sugar snap peas trimmed and washed

: A new form of ranunculus – green – looked good in one of the many silver basket containers I placed on my dining table.

: Deep purple tulips on the table

: Pale blue grape hyacinths

: Double orange tulips – they looked a bit like ranunculus.

: The table was lovely – set with white linens from my antique collection, old silver, and vintage Wedgwood embossed dinner plates.

: The coarse sea salt was served in chick egg cups.

: Spun cotton nests, embellished with tinsel and tiny birds, sat on the table and were filled with blown out real eggs.

: Alabaster eggs were arranged in glass compotes.

: An antique beaded basket filled with straw and assorted blown and dyed eggs from years past.

: A closeup of the marbled eggs – this technique was adapted from the old Italian art of paper marbelizing.

: Another bunny with goose and ostrich eggs

: Fava beans, peas, and sugar snap peas all ready to cook

: Tweetia and purple hyacinths in old shaker white glass goblets

: Tweetia is a lovely shade of blue!

: I oftentimes prefer lots of small colorful arrangements on my table to one larger arrangement – these take fewer flowers and the combinations can be more experimental.

: More bunnies on another demilune table – shaded by lavender sweet peas from Italy.

: One table was decorated with bunnies. The stuffed toy bunny from Jamali and the porcelain bunny from the Martha Stewart Collection at Macy’s. The wonderfully fragrant pink sweet peas were arranged with some leather leaf ferns.

: Another bunny dish – great for candy – looked wonderful on a table with deep orange ranunculus.

: My lady slipper orchids – many of which I have raised using tissue culture methods – were in full bloom.

: Another orchid in bloom – we brought in the best to beautify the rooms.

: These carrots came straight from my cold house greenhouse, where they grow directly in the ground.

: Fresh herbs – chervil, rosemary, and young parsley – also from the cold house.

: Colorful chicks under a giant glass dome

: The small dining room was also set up for the editorial guests. We used a vintage green and lusterware service and my favorite cut glass goblets.