the Grinch Party, Part II: MENU
Let's get to my favorite part of any party, the menu. There were a few things to keep in mind when planning dinner. First, we live in a small apartment with no dining room table and no overabundance of seating. So we needed food that, worst-case scenario, could be eaten while standing. Second, most of our guests were law students, and it's their first week of finals. Since they'd be stopping by for little more than a quick break, we could not serve anything too fancy or time-consuming to eat. Finally, the food had to be somewhat tied to our theme of the Grinch.
So for dinner, we had: “Roast Beast” Sandwiches (roast beef, blue cheese spread, arugula and butter on 9-grain bread), “Who Pudding” (corn pudding, from Angie's recipe repertoire), Mixed Greens (with pear vinaigrette, pears and toasted hazelnuts), and Hot Apple Cider.
This was as easy to prepare as it was to eat. I made the blue cheese spread and pear vinaigrette the day before the party. I also toasted the hazelnuts and washed all my greens in advance.
An hour before party time, I threw the corn pudding in the oven, assembled sandwiches and wrapped them in parchment, and combined my salad ingredients. Easy.
For dessert, guests chose from: Birthday cake (white cake with white chocolate frosting), Chocolate ice cream, Chocolate chip cookies, Ginger chocolate chunk cookies, Candies (chocolates, M&M’s and candy canes), and Clementines. Two desserts for every savory item—my mom would be proud.
While dessert is kind of my forte, I was a worried about making a three-tiered cake, this being my first try. It came out great (except for my writing on the top, which was horrendous), and I came out of the experience with some tips: First, it is much easier to assemble and frost cake layers when they are cold. I made mine a week in advance, froze them, then set them out an hour before I frosted. Second, all is not lost if your layers are not uniform and perfect. I used disposable aluminum cake pans that screwed my layers up—thin on one side and fat on the other. To fix such a problem, while the layers are still frozen, stack them to compensate for one another—thin side of one layer under thick side of the other, etc. Then when you unwrap the frozen layers and stack them with frosting in between, keep them lined up the same way. If you're lucky, the finished cake will look perfectly straight, and even a slice of it won't give away the layers' flaws.
Wow, I could go on and on about food. But that's plenty of blogging for one day. Check out the final Grinch-party installment tomorrow. This is getting fun.
12.15.2009
Reader Comments (13)
The party is adorable! Thanks for blogging, Sarah. You are welcome anytime!
My husband just graduated from medical school last spring, and your party reminds me of all the many parties we enjoyed in student housing! We have attended some pretty spectacular parties in tiny spaces! Your food looks beautiful!
All of the food looks delicious and works so well with the theme. I love the little food tents with the grinch. It looks like you didn't miss a single detail.
I am quite impressed with the 3-tiered cake. It looks yum and pretty.
ps-is the cookbook you linked it good? I would love details.
How did you get your parchment paper wrapped so nicely around your sandwich? Do you buy parchment sandwich bags or use tape? Looks AWESOME! I think I'm going to use this idea for playgroup on Thursday. Thanks!
How fun!! I'm going to have to serve up some roast beast sandwiches, which would just kill my side of the family (with kindness, that is: we're big on The Grinch!)
The invites and decorations were just great. I can't wait to see what's next!
Kristin--Thanks. I've enjoyed this. Congrats on baby #3. He's cute.
Catherine--"Baked" is a cookbook full of fantastic desserts. It was written by two guys from Brooklyn who opened a little bakery there. And it has received all kinds of accolades from Jacques Torres (the chocolatier), Martha Stewart, Oprah, etc. Everything I've made from it has been delicious.
Lisa--I used plain old parchment and no tape. I cut the paper into maybe 8 inch strips, laid the sandwich in the middle with the top hanging slightly above the paper, folded the sides over the sandwich, and then folded up the bottom. It was't terribly tight, but when I stacked the sandwiches next to each other, it didn't matter.
I want some of that cake.
Wow! That cake looks amazing!! Love the way you've tied everything into your theme including the food. Love the labels for each dish.
LOVE the "roast beast" sandwiches wrapped in parchment...
they looked delish!
and though they were a "casual" eatery - you jazzed them up and took them to the next level with parchment...LOVE it!
love your party theme and how you pulled all of the elements together.
Buy Viagra
It doesn't matter where you are, it's all about good food! I don't care anything about your apartment. I am just interested in this kind of food. I would like to learn more about all those ingredients related... I am not a follower but I could do it as well as you did.
Wow that looks delicious, It really looks nice seriously but well I went to buy generic viagra because I prefer to eat with this because I'm kind of addicted.