Yielding the pen: Dashing hosts

You'll want to be here Friday.

When these gentlemen



arrive here at Blushing Hostess



to begin a guest pen series



on The Sexy Hostess.

Please drop in for the Friday visits of esteemed blog pens E&E of Easy and Elegant Life , Tintin of The Trad, and ADG of Maxminimus.

A Birthday Dinner

Yesterday was my Mother's (29th) birthday, which we were thrilled she could observe with us while we are still at the beach. For a while, she was a Labor Day baby, but now that it seems Labor Day is being moved back each year to coincide eventually with Thanksgiving, her dinner party can no longer be expected to fall on a three day weekend.

When we were children, Mom's birthday were especially wonderful: Beautifully decorated tropical lagoons and hibiscus abounded and we were always thrilled by what new party accoutrement had been located to add to the end of summer celebration for her birthday.

We are a little more staid today, not only because I am making dinner but also because I am exhausted. This blog is generally written between the hours of nine and eleven at night and four and half past six in the morning. Little nibbles of sleep in the meantime are peppered with the wanderings of a two-year old and the occasional wakings of a six-month old which are pleasant sleep deprivors, but deprivors nonetheless and I am, to say they very least, a little mentally-breathless nearly all the time lately. So bear with me, because I am unable, both physically and mentally to Colin Cowie (now he is a verb) the dining room at the moment.

With that in mind, her menu:

Cold beetroot soup with hot potato
2006 Mt. Difficulty, Roaring Meg Pinot Noir

Artichoke Stuffed Leg of Lamb with Garlic & Wine Sauce
Red Bliss Potatoes with Mint Pesto

Apple Cranberry Chutney
Vienna Rolls
2003 Fattoria La Valentina Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Spelt

Green salad with lemon vinaigrette

Chocolate Cracked Earth Cake
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin

Coffee

(These recipes will be posted shortly on Blushing Hostess Cooks, do kindly stand by.)

When I tell you that I wrestled with a butterflied leg of lamb at the crack of dawn this morning, I really mean it. I resorted to handing the mallet to my husband and allowing him to do the honors of flattening the beast rather brutally. In the future, I will seek a butcher who will do this task as it was just far more vigorous a task than I am interested in, though the final product is worth all the banging about, dropping of mallets on my toes, and colorful muttering. It was far too early to be drinking, and would have been perfectly undignified but would certainly have eased some of the pain, both mental and actual, involved in this particular menu.


Cold beetroot soup with hot potato, a colorful and deeply rich soup adapted from Paris' Rose Bakery Cookbook.


In any event, this menu, compiled from various sources including the timeless recipes of one of my favorite steakhouses, Delmonico's of New Orleans, was lovely for the incredibly hot summer day we had and took, all told, solid chunks of three days to execute in this order:

Friday:
Roast off the beets for the borscht
Steam the artichokes for the stuffing
Make the lamb stock for the garlic wine sauce

Make the chicken stock for the soup from the Zuni recipe I have long treasured (a double recipe, half of which I freeze for future use)

Saturday:
Prepare the stuffing
Prepare the soup
Prepare the mint pesto

Sunday:
Prepare the stuffed leg of lamb
Cook and blanch off the potatoes and haricort vert
Prepare the garlic wine sauce
Bake the cake


Delmonico's artichoke stuffed leg of lamb with mint pesto and roasted red bliss potatoes and garlic-red wine gravy. This dish was part of three days prep and worth that time and then some. It was magic; from my hands or any other it is an delicious and enchanting roast from an alluring steakhouse era.

I pride myself on both the quality of the ingredients and my truth-in-menu suggestions to you: This food is going to take you a while, you will go to some trouble not only with the lamb, but also with the stocks (this quality cannot buy on a shelf) and the sauce (which needs to be babied. But a mother is a very precious thing to have as is a father. And as you know, Josh and I both lost our Father's very early in their lives and we are left to lavish upon our gorgeous Mothers.


Chocolate baked earth, as perfect and simple a recipe as I have ever worked with, on the platter used for now-four generations of birthday cakes, before it was dressed for its show.

However, if you are blessed enough to still have a Dad about the place, you might consider going to some lengths to demonstrate care in return for all he gave you. I can tell you, if my fine Father were still here to dine with my new children, I would certainly have turned the best part of a week inside-out to be sure he knew how very glad we are to celebrate with him too.

To Mothers, then, yes? Mine, yours, theirs...

Hostess style: All that Glitters

Twinkling party considerations for the Hostess.

Paolo Costagli Collection, Bergdorf Goodman


H. Stern, Bergdorf Goodman


Henry Dunay, Bergdorf Goodman


They are pricey little trinkets but take creative license and find suitable knock-offs of this magnificence. This is inspirational, maybe aspirational, but not dicta.

Wishing you dazzling sparkle this season.

Did I wake you?

Photo credit: The Window Coverup

A Princess in Camelot

Before JFK married Jackie there were rumors that he and Grace Kelly had a crush on one another. Jackie strode in and that chapter closed. But Letitia Baldridge remembers fondly that Jackie, and her beautiful sister Lee ran into Grace in New York City while John and Jackie were dating and John was in the hospital recovering from back surgery. Jackie and Lee convinced then-Grace Kelly to pretend to be a nurse and go into JFK's room. Even in an agonizing state of pain, he knew the stunningly attractive actress the moment she entered the room.

The rest is tragic history.

But one day, before all that and after everyone had arrived in their places, they saw one another again. This time, they were no longer Jack Kennedy, Jackie Bouvier, and Grace Kelly. But Mr. President, Mrs. Kennedy, and Princess Grace of Monaco and they were joined by The Prince of Monaco (Rainier) at the White House, instead of a hall in a hospital. A significantly more formal event, a luncheon meeting, occurred on May 24, 1961.

The seating plan as prepared by White House calligrapher, Sanford Fox.

They dined well, as you expect. Rene Verdon's menu was, like them all, painfully exquisite and perfect for the springtime.

Menu
White House Luncheon for Price Rainier and Princess Grace
May 24, 1961

Soft Shell Crab Amandine
Puligny-Montrachet 1958

Spring Lamb a la Broche aux Primeurs
Chateau Corton Grancey 1955

Salade Mimosa
Dom Perignon 1952

Strawberries Romanoff

Petite Four Secs

Demi-tasses

The soft shell crab dish was straight forward: Breaded and coated again with slivered almonds. Interestingly, the lamb dish was skewered and then broiled and served with a medley of spring vegetables. Salade Mimosa, in this case, was a green salad tossed with hard cooked egg and dressed lightly with olive oil and wine vinegar. Finally, Strawberries Romanoff is berries in Grand Marnier syrup over and under a pastry cream consisting of equal parts whipped cream and vanilla ice cream and topped with candied violets.

Every time I look at these photos, and my kids, I wish I could stop time.



All credits: In the Kennedy Style, Letita Baldridge (1998, Doubleday)

The Hostess Answers Last Week's Challenge: Wedding Vendor Attire

I enjoyed reading the comments on last week's post on event vendor etiquette:

A recent Blushing letter from a member of the clergy reads in part

Thinking back on the episode of the wedding photographer in shorts and flip-flops, he did have some sense of protocol because we had a conversation before the ceremony about when, where, and what the appropriate times were for taking pictures during the ceremony. Tapping into that sense of protocol might lead me to say something like, "Do you need a room where you can change clothes before the ceremony begins?" Now of course that wouldn't have been the case but it might be a reminder that what's appropriate for a wedding includes more than taking pictures with flash during the ceremony.

Perhaps what I could use from you, or your blog readers, or anyone with a sense of style as well as a sense of humor and persuasion would be gentle reminders that can be brought up in a conversation either pre- or post-ceremony that might lead one to think twice about what they are going wear to a wedding or funeral the next time around. Having a couple suggestions up my sleeve would probably serve me a lot better than succumbing to the temptation of pointing at hairy white knees and saying, "What the hell?!" Or worse.

Mark

Events are a business like any other, and wedding vendors are a service industry. Do not be afraid to be crystal clear on your requirements and manage expectations thoroughly from the first wedding meeting, if not withe the photographers, then with the event planner. Make a list of everything you want to discuss and include, "The photographer/ florist/ caterer/ whathaveyou needs to be neatly dressed in ________ and clean shaven. If they are not, they will be sent home to change and my payment prorated accordingly." Make sure this is written into the contract and initialed by both parties before any money changes hands. While you hope you would not have to say that, I had a wedding photographer who turned up looking fine for the church and then fell apart into a rumpled sweaty mess as the reception progressed. Be clear that will not be acceptable either.

Whether in a corporate environment, in my home, or an event, I believe it is important to draw employees of any kind a clear box in which they succeed and excel up front, rather than expect them to guess or sort out your expectations over time. While good sense should prevail in matters of attire, not all have the same points of reference to the term "well dressed." Allow yourself to be defined by perfect clarity and when there is a failure, understand that you or your planner are where the buck stops and you bear responsibility in the issue in many cases so be patient and resourceful in finding a hasty solution.

If after all your efforts you are not rewarded with vendors in a coat and tie, it will help you to consider the situation up front and how you will handle it. I know brides who would have sent the photographer home. I was not in this camp when it came down to it: I did not want to waste those precious few hours arguing about the unsuitability of the photographers latter-evening clothing. He was fine in the church which is what really mattered to me, and life and weddings are just too short, but that is only one opinion.

Etiquette Challenge Workshop: The Picky Eater

Imagine you are a vegetarian or vegan and/or have a non-allergy originating food objection and have been invited to a dinner party in the home of a casual friend: Do you tell the host or hostess of your dining preferences?

If you are the host and receive that feedback, what would your response be?

Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts.

Chic hostess: Kate Spade Keswick Jewelry

I would like to add something here but I am super busy keying my order hoping Preppy Princess has not caused a stampede already.

bloomingdales.com

Dominick Dunne don't go

I was not ready, Sir.

1925-2009 and far, far too short. Rest in peace.

Eve's table

Eve's table was the most difficult one I never really set.

You remember that the meal a la Eve is served without utensils and it would have been in the Garden of Eden as I mentioned here and here.

Setting a table, I discovered, is a hard habit to break. I found myself going into the dish stacks several times while reading my own menu and finally stopping myself: She would not have had consomme bowls or chop plates. She would never have considered a bowl. Paradise, in my estimation is a place without complications including the 153 items made in my sterling pattern. I lingered over that for a moment and honestly, got a little annoyed with old Eve. That was not the first time, truth be told: Were it not for that stupid apple I would not be writing to you from my perch among the dish stacks, among other indignities I suffer around the clock thanks to that dolt, if the story is to be believed. Paradise did not require clothes, it hardly would have stood for bread plates because, let's face it: He did not suffer nonsense gladly, did He?



Sometimes art annoys me too. All the paintings of that Garden, but who knows what the creator's vision of paradise really was? I am telling you this: It was fantastic, bigger than you and I could ever imagine. It would burn our eyes with magnificence. This fruit grove and garden we talk about are only placeholders; our post-Eden references problematically complicated by subsequent biblical translations into languages which do not literally have the words to help us to understand with complete accuracy what the devil was going on there. So, this whole thing was kind of a disappointment when it came down to it because the only things one can set a table with here, east of Eden, is just stuff.



Soldiering on anyway because I was already committed: Eve and Adam had land, plants, animals, and sky. Therefore, dirt, leaves, animal skins, and all the fruits of our mortal understanding. She might have draped the table with palm, I like to think she did because it is relevent to The Book in another important way. She collected an armful of verdant ferns, some teak twigs, and some colorful fruits. She would have had shells: Both sea and coconut in which to serve.

As the story goes, there was this apple. He had promised them death if they ate fruit from that one apple tree. But He so loved them - these foolhardy apple nibblers and squanderers of Paradise - and they were his most perfect creation, that He could not bring Himself to go through with killing them for consuming the apple. They broke His heart and were banished from Paradise for eternity, cherubim to stand guard at the gates of Paradise for all time, never to allow us passage back again. We were doomed to suffer the indignities of mortals (which He was still just determining at that point and continues to refine as I write today) because of this one senseless act.



In grade school when they taught this and in undergrad when it was (though I did not know it at the time) my great luck to study this with Dominican theologians, this story irritated me more each and every time I returned to it. One of the Friars caught that look on my face one day in my junior year of college and said, "What is bothering you?" This is so infuriating, I said. "Now you understand." He said, and smirked as he walked away.

That was, give or take, fifteen years from the first time I was told the tale. Eve, she was brand new, as was her race. She had no pain memory, no knowledge of anything but paradise, no parents to review the don't-touch-the-hot-pot lesson with her fifty-six times.

I let her off the hook when I was twenty. But if I have to set her table again, she can use a plate like the rest of us broken perfectlings.

For more mortal tables, visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Pattern spotlight: Arabesque Hibiscus, J. Chew

New at Gumps and just lovely: Arabesque Hibiscus by J. Chew. Good to see a bit of modern pattern and hip color in this fine old art, no?

What if...

you found this in the garden of a good friend? Boyfriend, girlfriend? An old flame?





Thomas Hobbs, author of The Jewel Box Garden found this while walking through the garden of an old friend.

Photo credit: David McDonald in The Jewel Box Garden by Thomas Hobbs (Timber Press, 2004).

___________________________________________________________________
Today at Blushing Cooks: Melon, Lime, Ginger Salad (Rose Bakery)

Thank you Little Augury

I get star struck a lot here at Blushing Hostess. Especially when amazingly talented and well-respected bloggers drop in to Blushing Hostess and leave a comment. Little Augury is one of those bloggers: Thoughtful, creative, talented, and singular. Little Augury is a reader herein and became a pal of mine through email.

One day I received the package you see here: You really know when a person has carefully read your work and understands your subject, voice, and perspective when they send you a gift like this.

The Epicuriean Collector, by Patrick Dunne (2002, Southern Accents) is a masterful work on the traditions and antiquities of the culinary world. It is thick with captivating, curious photos and lingers in your thoughts with its descriptions of long-ago cultured table sets and services.



Now I can rest assured that ProBlogger is incorrect when they say people only look at the pictures on every post.

Many thanks, Little Augury. Long may you entertain in great health, and with joy and laughter at every place setting.

Monday host style: Ben Silver

He does look a little like he just jumped out of Ned Divine, I admit. But I love the mix of textures and solids here. Ben Silver, Charleston.

And another note for the gentlemen: G. Bruce Boyer, formerly of GQ and Esquire, and author of Elegance and Eminently Suitable, whom I hold in highest menswear knowledge esteem, is writing for Ben Silver's site. You can find his important voice here. Yet another elegant reason to check out Ben regularly.

Monday hostess style: Ruffle (and fringe) your feathers

This does not happen every year, trust me, I would know (oh, has this genre been to some bad places with me - helpless - on the merchandising caravan). But this is a year of magnificent coats and jackets. So, let's begin...

Milly



DVF

And I am just throwing this in, completely gratuitous and outside the styling above, but I love it for my horse-country Westchester fall season with my high Jackson boots or my Jimmy Choo Hunters (oh, come on, as if I could resist those, that was like boot catnip for me).



Marc by Mark Jacobs

bloomingdales.com and net-a-porter.com

Banner chic week at Rue La La: Sferra, Nantucket, Vera Bradley

The 1891 by Sferra private sale on the above and like items begins now. This week will also include Nantucket resort packages and Vera Bradley, so be sure to check your email for their updates just in time for the last breath of summer. Shop and register here.

Chic hostess: Elaine Turner private sale at ideeli

The private sale on Elaine Turner shoes etc. begins at 12 noon, sign up for the ideeli private sale here. And be quick on the trigger, she is popular.

Did I wake you?

More things to love about morning: Black. White. Grey. Chinchilla.

Going native

A glorious guest bath grotto in Allende, New Mexico.



I would want touches of the fall which maintained a rustic but luxurious feeling for them come next month...





Products: Gianna Rose Atelier.

Just a thought. It is almost upon us.

Etiquette Challenge Workshop: Gentle Reminders to Dress Appropriately

A recent Blushing letter from a member of the clergy reads in part:

Thinking back on the episode of the wedding photographer in shorts and flip-flops, he did have some sense of protocol because we had a conversation before the ceremony about when, where, and what the appropriate times were for taking pictures during the ceremony. Tapping into that sense of protocol might lead me to say something like, "Do you need a room where you can change clothes before the ceremony begins?" Now of course that wouldn't have been the case but it might be a reminder that what's appropriate for a wedding includes more than taking pictures with flash during the ceremony.

Perhaps what I could use from you, or your blog readers, or anyone with a sense of style as well as a sense of humor and persuasion would be gentle reminders that can be brought up in a conversation either pre- or post-ceremony that might lead one to think twice about what they are going wear to a wedding or funeral the next time around. Having a couple suggestions up my sleeve would probably serve me a lot better than succumbing to the temptation of pointing at hairy white knees and saying, "What the hell?!" Or worse.

Mark

Well, beloved Readers? What might you say?

Reminder: Send your Blushing Etiquette Challenge Workshop questions for future weeks to catherine@blushinghostess.com. All queries are welcome!

Eve's crudite table

(Penned from somewhere east of Eden).

The concept of Eve and the Garden of Eden is a popular one for bible study and controversy. But it was also a thought-provoking concept for myself, a hostess in the modern age to consider what one might serve if Eve, or the Garden of Eden, were the inspiration for a meal.

In my Tuesday post on this topic, smart strokes were taken by Mary Dawson's hostess in her meal: Tiny lamb chops, meat patties, and tarts. The meal was cooked but required no utensils (as Eve surely had none) and considerately for the guests was devoid of messy foods as well.

It occurred to me initially that for our raw diet friends, one of whom was my boss, the meal a l'Eve would be a perfect entertaining concept. Challenging for we cooked food eaters maybe, but pleasantly so.

Eve, I will bet, was not a girl of fussiness. This meal occurred before paradise became just a garden of mortal temptations and failings. Back in the day in Eden, perfection was in everything just as it was and no one worried about the dress code at dinner.



I thought about how she might have greeted Adam on Friday night. First of all, she is nude because that is the way they did things there. You can make of that what you will, and so will I right now in my head... okay, that's enough, this is a family show.

They were still getting used to things: This new-life mortal thing, some pent up aggressions about his rib and her identity as it relates to feminism, figuring out how this world thing fits in with their existence in the Garden and trying to keep away from that infernal tree right there, in the middle of absolutely everything in paradise. You and I know that it is situated right there because that is the nature of temptation. But the earth parents are new and naive to say the least; Not one thing has ever gone wrong. There is a lot of learning left to do, roughly millions of years worth.



So, no apples. No fruit from that single tree. Or you die. You can do anything else: Admire your feet all day while hanging upside down from the pecan tree and braiding your turtles ears like Eloise if you want to: Just no fruit from that fabulous tree, capish (right, sometimes in my dreams, God is from Canarcie, what can I say?)?

But everything else is good and good for you, so eat anything you want. Clear?

And there is not going to be any babysitting or coddling you, my most perfect creations, you are brilliant. You have your instructions, heed this warning: Stay away from the tree. Or die. Seriously, you will die. Not joking. Not funny. Die.



You're on your own, he said. And he went off. While He was away, they must have had a meal or two. Maybe she stood over a tree stump in the Garden the way I do in the kitchen when Josh gets home, having a glass of wine, talking to my partner. Listening. Maybe she put out something to keep body and soul together while they exchanged the day's memories of Eden. Maybe it was crudite served in mother of pearl bowls and grass baskets.

Remember now that this time, when they might share the fruits of the Garden, is precious. And they are perfect. I have every reason to believe she cherished those moments and fruits of the Creators hand.

Maybe she reached into the corners of Eden just before he arrived for baby carrots and zucchini, some mushrooms from under a tree, vibrant Bibb lettuce from the patch behind the apricot and plum grove, and scallions and onions so sweet when pulled from the new earth that Adam could bite into them like fruits. Radishes, because she is also mother to the French as well as all of us, as the story goes. Butter, from those cows which did not smell, because this is Eden. And grey sea salt created on the first day when the sea was made and God saw that it was good. Maybe they dipped curled edges of lettuce into butter as well as beautiful, rustic, Easter egg radishes (foreshadowing things to come later in the good book). Just maybe.



I thought about this concept and developed some ideas for both the omnivore and raw diet mortals who might be treated to a meal a l'Eve. These are my thoughts.

Menu

Crudite
Sherried consumme
Spicy Bloody Mary shrimp cocktail
Trio of hard cooked eggs (deviled, lemon butter anchovy, and caper Mediterranean)
Lobster rolls with fresh summer vegetable Bibb lettuce wraps with zesty dressing
Petit four assortment

Nut tray


Raw Menu

Crudite
Gazpacho
Whole Berry Cup
Miniture Heirloom tomato cup salads
Fresh summer vegetable Bibb lettuce wraps with zesty dressing
Raw cheese tray
Raw yogurt, fig, and pistachio served with Tupelo honey


What do you think?

For more great food thoughts visit Designs by Gollum.

The Beautifully Organized Hostess: Brocade pattern storage

I never thought I would lust after magazine storage. I still cannot believe I just typed that sentence.

containerstore.com

Hostess Style: Hanami orchids

How beautiful are these resin-coated necklaces from Hanami, as featured in Vogue? Chic hostesses everywhere can afford to have one for every occasion at an average of $49. each.












They would be fabulous with the legions of solid shade dresses with plunging necklines on deck for fall.



Herve Leger



DVF



Milly

apparel: bloomindales.com