A Bit of Blarney, Lots of Charm

And so it was that exactly four weeks to the day after my elegant Valentine soiree, I hosted an equally festive St. Patrick's Day dinner. True, I did the same thing last year and the year before that, but who's counting? Hosting friends and family for dinner to mark a joyful holiday is a pastime I heartily enjoy, even if the work involved does leave me a little worn out afterward.

I love sending real invitations
in the mail!

So before my Valentine dinner in February had even taken place, I fashioned custom invitations for my St. Patrick's Day party, fastened the envelopes with sealing wax and mailed them out to a different set of guests. Once my Valentine's Day dinner was "in the bag", I got to work preparing for my St. Patrick's day feast, set to take place on March 16.

Simmering the ingredients for my cold
and flu elixir made the whole house
smell good

My initial order of business for the St. Patrick's Day dinner was to prepare small gifts for my guests. First was to make another batch of my special cold and flu remedy, a magical potion, courtesy of Miss Wondersmith, that I was introduced to in the pages of Enchanted Living magazine. This time I already had the herbs on hand: dried horehound, mullein, elderberries and star anise, and I knew to be a tad more restrained when adding the horehound, as its bitter potency can easily overwhelm the tincture's sweet elderberry juice, bourbon and honey. I gently set intentions of wellness and good spirits over each ingredient as I tumbled it into the pot simmering on my stove. Once thickened, the addition of edible gold luster dust lent a subtle shimmer, and then into pretty bottles my elixir went, their cork tops decorated with white tulle and sparkling pieces of green geode I procured from eBay.

These roasted pumpkin seeds are
always a hit. Can't eat just one!

I labeled tiny paper boxes and filled them with toasted pumpkin seeds, the last of a large batch I'd roasted over the winter, and thought about what kind of place-card holders I should make for this fete. In past years I've baked tiny white pumpkins retrieved from my root cellar where they'd sat in cold hibernation since Thanksgiving, hollowed them out and filled them with unctuously caramelized grape chutney. Alas, except for a few frigid days, the winter months were so mild in the mid-Atlantic this season that all of my mini pumpkins had long since been relegated to the compost bin!

Each "swag bag" got toasted
seeds, homemade cold remedy,
Tobler chocolates and a menu
to commemorate the evening

I considered carving slits for place cards into shiny green apples, but that didn't seem quite festive enough. Still, I purchased a hoard of Granny Smiths anyway, just in case a better idea did not spring to mind. Then, as I perused the aisles of my local crafts store one day, I spotted them: golden-hued buckets made of tin in a perfect size. The look of the finished garnish leapt into my mind in that instant: my place-card holders would be mythical "pots of gold", filled with chocolate coins, Lindt truffles, butter mints and other goodies, and onto which each diner's name would be fastened with curled ribbon.

I love giving my guests something to
take home to remember their
evening by

To ensure that my guests would remember to take their "pots o' gold" home with them at the end of the evening, I purchased a green paper gift bag for each family. Into my "swag bags" went the magic cold and flu remedy, along with dosing instructions folded into petite origami flowers, the roasted pumpkin seeds, and my St. Patrick's day menu printed on heavy parchment, rolled up and fastened with a pretty flower hair clip.

The next activity on my to-do list was to order flowers from my go-to florist, Marty Hennigan, who always provides me with the most beautiful blooms for whatever occasion I happen to be celebrating. Once the flowers were ordered, I set to work each night over the week leading up to my party slicing, dicing and bagging all the ingredients I would need for the big day: blood oranges, lemons, tangerines and limes for a festive champagne punch infused with cinnamon syrup, cognac, triple sec and pear liqueur; halved baby carrots in a riot of colors which would be bathed in a lovely sauce; quartered beets and onions to infuse my beef brisket with color and flavor; diagonally cut green and white asparagus spears which would be treated to a topping of lemon and cheese; chopped green cabbage to be dressed in a variety of flavored vinegars; and peeled spuds for what would eventually become a decadent dish of mashed potatoes whisked with savory whipped cream, butter and shredded Parmesan. I melted Irish butter into a shamrock-shaped cookie-cutter mold, chilled it for a few days, then turned the stiffened spread out onto a butter dish and gently pressed a real three-leafed shamrock onto the surface.

I was so happy with how my
centerpiece turned out!

Taking off from work the day before my party, I picked up my flower order first thing. A novel idea for a centerpiece had popped into my head and I couldn't wait to try it out. As with dinners of yore, I planned to arrange chartreuse spider chrysanthemums, green and white carnations, and sprigs of baby's breath in a crystal trifle bowl. In past years, that had been the extent of my centerpiece. But this year I wanted to create something a little more over the top. Rooting around in my costume closet, I happened upon a top hat left over from a long ago New Year's Eve celebration. The hat was quite sturdy and covered with sparkling gold sequins. It would meld perfectly with this year's emerging "pot of gold" theme. I held my breath as I checked to see if the trifle bowl would fit snugly inside the overturned hat. Success! I wanted to arrange gold coins around the upturned brim, but how to keep the coins from falling into the hat? Pea gravel was the answer, which I keep on hand to create  drainage layers in my flower boxes each spring. I filled the hat cavity around the trifle bowl with gravel and scattered the coins on top. Voila. I was quite pleased with the result!

A beautiful tablescape sets the tone
for the entire meal

My final task on the eve of my gala was to corn the beef. While I don't subscribe to the traditional ten-day brining ritual for true corned beef, I do assemble a heady rub of ground bay leaves, cinnamon, coriander, salt, pepper, sugar, nutmeg and clove, which I then blend with fresh garlic, cider vinegar and whole grain Dijon mustard. Once the seven-pound brisket was fully covered in this aromatic emulsion, I stashed the meat in the fridge and took myself happily to bed.

Faux sheepskins from IKEA and spring
flower sprays from Frontgate adorned
each guest's chair

On the day of my party I set the table early, loving as I do the process of creating a memorable tablescape for my guests. Across my white tablecloth I carefully spread a linen runner covered in delicate green embroidery, a treasure I found at a market stall in Budapest in 2017. On went my grandmother's gold china, a variety of stemware I'd been collecting over forty years, and my gold flatware, a cherished gift from my mother in 1980.

Four kinds of vinegar, three kinds of
mustard and two kinds of horseradish
added to the flavors of the evening

The seven chairs were dressed with sparkly wired ribbon tied into large bows at the back, over which were draped colorful cascades of faux spring flowers. As I scattered gold "coins" and faceted crystal "jewels" amid the place settings, my longtime and very creative companion, Jesse Turner, handily folded starched cloth napkins into distinctive-looking shamrocks. And what to do with those Granny Smith apples? A beloved neighbor had gifted me with a carving tool long ago, meant to hollow out fruit in which a small candle could then be inserted. Trying the gadget for the first time, I discovered it worked perfectly to create a cavity in the apples just the right size for a votive.

My oven was working hard!

Once I had set out decanters filled with flavored vinegars for the cabbage: champagne, red wine, cider and balsamic, and small bowls of whole grain Dijon mustard, yellow mustard, brown mustard, and red-beet and plain horseradish for the corned beef, I got to work assembling and cooking all the dishes I would be serving at dinner. The beef and the carrots were treated to a bath of orange juice and beer, covered with tinfoil and parchment tied with string, and tucked neatly into my lower oven. The potatoes were mashed, topped with shredded Parmesan and shoved under my broiler to achieve a perfectly browned crust. The asparagus was parboiled and sprinkled with lemon juice and still more Parmesan. I chopped red pears and blood oranges and tossed them with shredded Gruyere, sugared almond slivers and spring greens for a delightful salad dressed with blood orange juice and honey vinegar.

Chocolate puddings "planted" with
sprigs of fresh mint were served
for dessert

Individual chocolate-mint potted puddings I'd made from scratch were now topped with ground chocolate cookies to resemble "dirt" and "planted" with sprigs of fresh mint. I assembled the Champagne punch for the adults and set out a pitcher of bright green, apple-flavored Gatorade for the teens. I arranged curried cauliflower florets, dainty grape-leaf-wrapped dolmas and pickled Cipollini onions as appetizers. I plated tubular slices of mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto and pepperoni to round out the hors d'oeuvres.

As I ascended to my dressing room to don my party attire, I still hadn't quite settled on what to wear. I knew I would pick black leggings from 90-degree by Reflex and fringed, crystal-studded Roper cowboy boots because both are so comfortable, but what to wear for a blouse? I eventually settled on a beaded kelly-green tunic by JM Collections from Macy's that I've had since I hosted my very first St. Patrick's day dinner many years ago. I topped my curls, expertly crafted by stylist Leanna Leuschner at her new salon, Hairway to Heaven, with a jaunty green fascinator, covered my FitBit with a green rhinestone bangle, and poked vintage shamrock earrings into my earlobes that had once belonged to my grandmother.

From left: me, Phil, Justin, Claudia,
Anya and Riehen. Jesse took the picture

When my guests arrived at 7:00 p.m., I was ready! Justin Wright, vice president of Lion's Wood Banquet Furniture, for whom Jesse works as a furniture designer, arrived solo, as his lovely wife Melanie had to send her regrets. My second cousin, Claudia Tobler, and her husband, Phil Walsh, and their two teens, Riehen and Anya, arrived less than a minute later. Coats were taken, punch served and introductions made as we gobbled up appetizers and engaged in cheerful conversation. Eventually, I returned to the kitchen to carve the meat and put the finishing touches on dinner. It was time.

Of course my front porch
mascot, Spike, was
dressed for the occasion

I called my guests to dinner, delighting in the exclamations of wonder and enchantment as they saw my dining room table for the first time. We poured wine and more green punch and passed plates of asparagus, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, corned beef, salad and Irish soda bread. As the fire in my woodstove crackled behind us, I queried my dinner guests with St. Patrick's Day trivia questions that I had prepared in advance. Claudia, the easy winner, took home a small gift bag containing St. Patrick's Day-themed earrings and a bracelet. Justin, a clear runner-up, received a small bag containing a tiny green flashlight and a multi-tool.  We ate... and talked... and laughed... and ate... and ate some more.

When it seemed no one could hold another morsel of food, I made coffee and brought in the potted puddings. More oohs! and aahs! -- music to my ears. Justin, who says he never eats dessert, finished every last bite of his pudding. I was pleased that everyone managed to find room for the final course.

Everything turned out well at
my party. I was very pleased

We chatted until well after 11:00 p.m., as haunting Celtic tunes played softly in the background. My fireplace exuded cozy warmth, thanks largely to Riehen's continued attentiveness to the flames. Conversation flowed in its best "blarney" form. Eventually, my guests bid their adieus and made their ways home, donning overcoats and clutching swag bags filled with their place-card "pots o' gold" and other goodies.

I turned to the kitchen, scraping plates and loading the dishwasher while Jesse cleared and undressed the table for me. As I put away the accoutrements of the evening and cleaned everything up, I was overwhelmed by a sense of tranquility and satisfaction. I managed to pull off another merry party without a major glitch.  My guests had truly relaxed and enjoyed themselves.

My sense of accomplishment was underscored when I received a lovely thank-you card in the mail a few days later. My cousin Claudia described my dinner party as "exquisite" and "memorable", and said her family enjoyed every moment. Kind words of praise, indeed.
Cheers,
Lynell

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all" ~ Julia Child