What A Downton Party

What a dinner, what a party!!!

I cooked or was working with the table settings all day long it seemed, so many little details. I wore out the Downton Abbey dinner websites. Which way did the knives face, where were items placed, on and on. I had probably 5 pages open just of Downton sites for recipes and photos for reference. But what a difference a laptop makes.

Friends arrived, the last of them a little after 7pm; oops, now we had to institute the “no talking, just eat” policy. Except that we wanted some photos before dinner, before our hats would be askew, layers of aprons off, that sort of thing.

Everyone was in period clothing, one was in something that was a maybe period clothing but we stretched and saw the connection with Downton. One friend a flapper, one as Daisy, one as a soldier, our granddaughter as maybe Sybil, the rest of us in period dress.

As for the meal, well food was really good, if I must say so myself. Recipes were based on the ones from “Mrs. Beeton” or from the Titanic Menus. Best of all everything was gluten free even my piece of the Treacle Tart. Unfortunately, foods were rich, laden with creams, except for the Wine Jelly full of wine.

Our friends did talk way too much; it was hard to rein them into the dining room. They were having way too much fun! And alas we did run out of time to finish up the last 2 courses before Downton. We ate our dessert; the Treacle Tart, which by the way was wonderful, while we watched Downton and then had the cheese after the show.

So I wanted to post the menu with the wines which we paired for each course:

1. Appetizer: by Aletha, wine is Sherry.
2. Soup: Potato Leek Soup; wine Hungry Hollow 2010 Gewürztraminer
3. Poached Salmon with a Mousseline Sauce; (As served on the last meal from Titanic 1^st Class menu, April 14, 1912); wine- Baletto Winery Pinot Gris
4. Roasted Chicken au Jus; wine- Iron Horse 2011 Russian River Pinot Noir
5. Wine Jelly- this is made with an entire bottle of Zinfandel wine.
6. Roasted Beef with Potatoes and Green Beans; wine – Beaulieu Vineyard (BV) 1995 Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
7. Salad: Asparagus with a Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing
8. Desserts: Treacle Tart as per Season 3, Episode 1 and Rice Pudding; wine- Iron Horse Classic Vintage Brut 2006 Champagne & Iron Horse Brut “X” 2007 Champagne
9. Cheese: Various Cheese selections; Pimms

We did not serve large portions so people were pleasantly full I believe, but I for one did not eat any cheese. By then I’d had smelled enough food and eaten enough for one day.

Making the Wine Jelly

Daisy

Dinner is served

During dinner we did receive a telegram, via a text message from my good friend John who we’d invited. The telegram read “ss titanic struck iceberg and sunk STOP 1549 souls perished STOP sir John lost at sea STOP his  last words were ‘darn now I won’t inherit Downton Abbey STOP’”. So alas our friend John was unable to join the party.