OkToblerfest 2018!

Talk about a joyful family gathering! With my only brother and my only niece and nephew in Northern California 3,000 miles away, it can get pretty lonely for me living so far from my immediate family. That makes getting together with nearby cousins especially significant to me.

I am so lucky to have two sets of Tobler cousins and their families within an hour of my home in Baltimore County, Maryland. Several years ago in celebration of that proximity, I organized an October get-together for all of us living in Maryland. Phil, the husband of my 2nd cousin, Claudia, christened my gathering "OkToblerfest", and an annual tradition was born. Here is a recap of this year's festivities, which were held on Saturday, October 13th.

I sent my hand-made invitations out
a month in advance

I took off from work the day before my party, so eager was I to be able to relax and enjoy the event instead of cramming every last item on my long to-do list into a single hectic day. I didn't want to be exhausted by the time my guests arrived. Preparations for the event actually began a month ago, when I created homemade invitations, slipped them into envelopes fastened with sealing wax and mailed them off to all the cousins whom I thought might be able to attend. As I planned my menu, I  discussed with those who had RSVP'd what dishes each would like to contribute. A game plan was established.

There wasn't a shred left of this five-
pound beef brisket at meal's end

This year I decided to braise a large beef brisket. I'd found a fabulous recipe the year before and was eager to try it out on my relatives. It would also be significantly more simple to make than the rouladen I prepared for OkToblerfest last year, which was delicious but very labor intensive to put together.

For sides I tapped my best friend, Kari, who eagerly endorsed two recipes she'd tried from MyFitnessPal.com: Cauliflower au gratin and roasted Brussels sprouts with sweet potatoes in a balsamic vinegar reduction. Both sounded wonderful and neither were heavily caloric.

Blue cheese-ricotta dip was perfect for
dipping with red and green apple slices

My cousin Christine offered to bring her wonderful homemade spaetzle (egg noodles hand made by pressing flavored dough through the holes of a colander) and rotkohl (shredded red cabbage and apples braised with brown sugar and clove). My 2nd cousin Claudia said she would bring broccoli rabe and a green salad with pecans and feta. That left me to decide on appetizers and dessert.

For an appetizer I chose a blue cheese-ricotta dip with sliced red and green apples to round out the assortment of dolmas, curried cauliflower florets and pickled Cipollini onions I frequently serve to guests. I decided to repeat last year's Anjou-champagne punch for the adults and hot spiced cider for the kids because both had been so popular in the past.

Chopping everything ahead of time was
a huge stress reliever for me

With the menu set, I turned my attention to preparation. Every evening after work in the week leading up to the party, I sliced and diced and chopped and minced, until my fridge looked like the prepared foods section of a supermarket. I sliced oranges, lemons and limes for the punch, halved Brussels sprouts, diced sweet potatoes, cut two heads of cauliflower into florets, chopped onions and pecans, sliced apples into wedges, and bagged everything up.

Anjou-champagne punch is decorated
with multicolored citrus slices

I always serve my favorite trio of
curried cauliflower, pickled Cipollini
onions and dolmas from Wegman's

I simmered the intensely aromatic cinnamon syrup for the pear-champagne punch, and then made a balsamic reduction for the Brussels sprouts. I peeled 40 granny smith apples and soaked them in water treated with lemon juice and a little salt to preserve their color. After 24 hours in the lemon water bath, I drained the apples and piled them high in a large bowl. On the day of the party they looked as fresh and green as the day I peeled them.

I created a pretty menu to print out on heavy paper stock for my guests. I printed place cards and carved slits in mini-pumpkins for place-card holders. I laid in a supply of graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars so the five children in attendance could roast s'mores at my bonfire after dinner. I ordered dessert -- an extra long pumpkin roll cake which I asked Wegman's Supermarket to adorn with the Tobler family name in red icing on the side.

The day before the party I set my sights on setting up the venue. My 1862 farmhouse is plenty big for me, but I would be hard-pressed to fit 12 people into my small dining room, so I always feed my OkToblerfest guests outside on my lawn.  Though it threatened to rain the morning of my party as a cold front arrived, by afternoon the skies were expected to clear. I just had to hope the weatherman was right about the timing. The cold front would cause temperatures to dip into the 40s on the day of my party -- perfect for an autumn celebration!

This 16-foot table is actually
an old ping-pong table and a
patio table shoved together 

With the help of my longtime companion, Jesse, and a young coworker of his, Victor, we set up two shade structures and wove rope lights through their framework to create soft ambient light by which to dine. From the middle of each tent we hung infrared heaters, and beneath the structures we set up a long banquet table constructed by shoving together an old wooden ping-pong table and my glass-topped patio table. With this configuration I can seat 16 people comfortably; more if necessary.

My potting bench became a makeshift bar

On the patio I transformed my old wooden garden bench into a makeshift bar by covering it with festive orange tablecovering and setting up the punch bowl, an old coffee maker repurposed as a reservoir for hot spiced cider, and metal tubs for beer, water and soda.  On a side table I set up a "carving station"; not for meat or jack-o-lanterns, but so the kids could carve ghoulish faces into dozens of peeled, granny smith apples, which could, in turn be taken home to dry out in a slow oven until the apples shrivel into hideous wrinkled expressions. And in the center of my patio I set up a small round table for appetizers. Once everything was arranged, I covered it all with tarps for the night, and it was a good thing I did. At about 2:30 in the morning the rain came, drenching anything left unprotected.

On this table I set up a carving station
for the children to create apple heads

On the day of the party, the rain was forecast to continue until noon. That was okay. I planned to spend the entire morning in the kitchen. I prepared a spicy rub for the meat, nestled the brisket into a baking dish layered with a tomato-brown sugar sauce, covered it all with tinfoil and tied it tightly with string. I tossed the Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes with olive oil, garlic powder, cumin, salt and allspice and spread them out on a roasting sheet. I steamed the cauliflower and whisked up a beurre blanc with sharp cheddar in which the cruciferous plant would later bake. I whirled blue cheese crumbles in a food processor with creamy ricotta, stirred in chives snipped from my garden and scraped the dip into a hollowed-out gourd doing double duty as a serving bowl, around which I arranged sliced red and green apples. I warmed cider on the stove with cinnamon sticks, lemon peel and orange slices pierced with cloves.

Peeled blood oranges, navel oranges
and tangerines with celery "stems"
made a seasonal snack that the
kids gobbled up

Once the sun came out and my dishes went into the oven, I dressed my dinner table and chairs outside, which is always a source of great joy for me. On went three plain brown bedsheets, providing a unified "tablecloth" pallet on which to build my tablescape. While Jesse filled tiki torches with lamp oil around my two acres and stacked firewood for the bonfire and my patio chiminea, I arranged twelve settings at the massive table, scattered the surface with walnuts and gourds, bittersweet and chrysanthemums, and arranged glassware, silverware and plates. On the back of each chair I tied burlap bows, each through which I stuck a cluster of colorful faux fall flowers.

Each family received a printed menu
to take home

With the decorating complete, I ascended to my dressing room. Although the temperature outside was plummeting, I knew I would need only leggings and a lightweight top until after dinner. I chose black 90 Degree leggings by Reflex and a simple black top from the Travelers Collection at Chico's.  I replaced my tennis shoes with knee-high flat boots by Pink & Pepper, donned an adorable necklace given to me years ago by my 2nd cousin Claudia, and dashed back downstairs to the kitchen, this time donning an apron to protect my outfit.

The children carved apples with faces
that will contort upon drying in the oven

Carving to-be shrunken apple heads
is an annual tradition at my house

My family members arrived just after 5:00 p.m. By this time the temperature had already dipped into the 40s! The chilly air had its advantages, allowing me to set out the appetizers, punch and other beverages ahead of time without fear of melted ice or molestation by flies or bees. The cold vanquished every mosquito and the crisp air really made it feel like fall, which came very late to my area this year.  My 1st, 2nd and 3rd cousins arrived warmly dressed, knowing as they do that we always eat outside. The five children, ranging in age from 9 to 16, immediately began to kick a soccer ball around the yard, eventually settling down to carve apple heads with some of the grownups.

My cousin, Heidi, right, came all the way from Oregon
to attend my party!

I was especially excited to catch up with this year's guest of honor, my cousin, Heidi, who flew all the way from Oregon to spend the weekend with her daughter, Claudia, in order to attend my gathering. Together the twelve of us present at the party represented the heirs of three of the five Tobler brothers who raised their families -- on the east coast (Christine's father, John), the west coast (my father, Alfred) and in our native Switzerland (Heidi's father and Claudia's grandfather, Oscar). Along with spouses and children, we made a lively and diverse group whose well-traveled children chatted away in English, Swiss-German and Hungarian throughout the evening.

The intricate embroidery on these Tobler
family heirlooms was all hand-done

With apple heads carved and the chiminea fired up, we sat down to dinner under the heated canopy on my lawn. We all knew that Heidi's father, my Uncle Oscar, and Christine's father, my Uncle John, had owned a garment business in Switzerland which employed community women to hand-embroider beautiful, intricate designs on clothing and fashion accessories. When embroidery went into mass-production in the 1960s, the family business folded. Before the building was sold off, Heidi was invited by her father to go through the inventory and select whatever she liked among the unsold goods. Now, some fifty years later, Heidi stood up to make an announcement at my dinner table. In the weeks leading up to my party, Heidi had gone through the dozens of delicate, hand-embroidered handkerchiefs she'd kept for decades and selected a collection of the most beautiful samples for the women at my party. She had artfully composed each packet of hankies into carefully curated arrangements, fastened them to cardboard backings and tied them with delicate pink ribbon. Now the neat bundles sat at each woman's place setting, and a Tobler chocolate bar sat at each man's. Heidi told us how emotional it was for her to go through the collection of long tucked-away embroidered goods. I gazed in wonder at the gorgeous examples of the (mostly) lost art of embroidery done by hand before me. The moment was very touching for all of us.

With toasts given and handkerchiefs duly acknowledged, we dug into our meal with gusto. I am happy to report that my flavorful roast was falling-apart tender. The meat was gobbled up so fast that it didn't even have time to get cold in the chill air. Wine, water and sparkling cider were poured. All of us ate heartily. I made coffee and sliced the pumpkin roll, which was also devoured post haste. Jesse lit the bonfire in my northern meadow. We all grabbed lap blankets from a large basket and made our way to the chairs surrounding the firepit.

Warm blankets helped keep the chill at bay as we sat around
the bonfire after dinner and shared stories of ghosts
and family lore.

I had previously asked my cousins to have their children find and rehearse ghost stories for telling around the fire, as they are all old enough now to take over storytelling duty from the adults. While each child relayed a scary tale, the others toasted marshmallows to make s'mores from the fixings I had gathered in baskets on a side table near the fire. My cousin Heidi regaled us with tales of supernatural abilities in some of our family members, which spurred other stories of eerie and unexplainable events in our lives.

I don't know how the children
found room in their tummies
for s'mores, but they did!

There is something absolutely mesmerizing about gathering around a roaring fire on a cold night, snuggled under blankets, listening to stories both real and imagined, as the crackling of flames and sounds of laughter waft through the air. Indeed, in the acre just to my north, my neighbors had also lit a fire in their backyard. From where I sat I could see the flickering in the distance and just make out the shadow of my neighbor as he tended his flames.  It was an ethereal experience to see someone else's campfire off in the darkness, as if I was camped at a mountain retreat instead of in my suburban backyard. It created for me a comforting aura of a time long past, as well as a sense of shared community made all the more intimate by the ambiance of loving family around me. The fact that we were all toasty under our blankets with our bellies full and the fire to warm our feet didn't hurt, either.

It was very late when my cousins finally said they needed to get their children home to bed, at least an hour's drive away for each family. Apparently I wasn't the only one who hated to break the magical spell of intimacy and laughter we were all sharing out there in the cold and dark. What a wonderful evening it was in every way!
Cheers,
Lynell