MVM Harvest Festival and Potluck
We threw our annual Harvest festival potluck dinner over the weekend. As long as I have owned this house, I have had a potluck dinner every fall and invited friends and family from hither and yon to join us. A lot of my friends are far flung, so it is always a crap shoot who will show up. Every year the party is new and different.
I generally cook a couple of entrees, at least one turkey, provide beverages and hoers devourers. I let guests bring whatever they like. I figure, if they bring their favorite dish, there will be at least one thing they like. I once read in some etique column or book about the ghastly trend that was sweeping the nation, potluck dinners... It said hosts who threw these potluck dinners were just being lazy and making their guests provide the meal. I felt a little funny about it for a while, like maybe Emily Post wasn't going to come to my next dinner. But I got over it.
For us, throwing the party means prepping at least 48 hours in advance and cleaning up about 24 hours afterwards. Planning and shopping for the party starts things off. I try to do the shopping in one trip and usually spend about $200 on groceries, etc. I like to cook a turkey, an easy, inexpensive entree that looks good on the table. Sometimes I do two. I brine the turkey at least 24 hours in advance. I also like to make some bread and pizza dough a day ahead so they can rise over night. This year we also served a pork shoulder roast that we brined for 6 days in advance of the party. The day of the party is mostly baking. This year we managed to use three ovens. We now have a range with a separate bread oven that gives extra flexibility. In addition to the meat, bread and Stromboli, we also needed to roast vegetables, stuffing and pies. And we cooked some incidentals on the stove like potatoes, etc.
There is always a fair amount of vegetables that come from our own garden. We also use our own eggs, ham from my brother's pigs and now milk and cheese from our goats. I won't say that we have made a big push on it, but we seem to be in keeping with the whole localvore movement. The thing we seem to import the most is guests.
I think this years dinner was one of the most sedate for me. In the past I rarely actually get to sit down and eat because I am so busy getting things on the table, greeting guests, addressing minor emergencies, etc. This year, I delegated a lot at actually dinner time and was able to sit down myself. It was a pleasant change, probably something I will repeat.
We had guests arrive with pies, entrees, side dishes and even homemade ice cream (Maker, it was made during dinner). We had an extension on the dinning room table, an extra table in the dinning room and still needed a table in the kitchen and the billiards room. It wasn't a giant turnout, but certainly respectable.
One of the reasons I like the potluck model is it automatically grows with attendance. I have never had a party run short on food. As attendance rises, so does the arrival of food. But if we have a lightly attended party, I haven't broken the bank on the groceries. And this year, like any other, proves that attendance and attendees will be different every year.
After dinner, many of the guests take their leave. But generally, we have at least a few stay over night (one year there were twenty five over night guests). For those hearty few, there is a tradition of lighting a bonfire in the backfield and reveling into the wee hours. It was a warm fall night this weekend, and the fire was hardly needed. But we burned one anyway and stayed up too late.
In the morning, I like to say nobody can leave until all the deserts are gone. I don't really enforce it, but there is a lot of pie eaten for breakfast. It's always a leasurly affair in the morning, coffee on the porch with pie and maybe some eggs and bacon. There is also generally a little help getting the house back in order. Most of the dishes are done the night before, but there are always more made in the morning and a few we didn't find. A good vacuuming and taking out all those table clothes.
There is always a rush of anticipation leading up to the party. I send out invitations, but I rarely get rsvps back. People always ask who is coming, I say I'll let them know the day after the party. Just before the party, there is often an anxiety that no one will show. There are always surprises, someone who we never thought would make it will, and someone who was a forgone conclusion to attend won't. But I have always enjoyed having the party. It is a chance to show off what we have done at the house in the past year, a chance to sit in the same room with good friends that don't know each other yet. And with some, it may be the only excuse that gets us to see far flung friends we have lost touch with. Even if Emily Post won't come, I think potlucks are a great tradition and a warm way to spend time with friends.
I generally cook a couple of entrees, at least one turkey, provide beverages and hoers devourers. I let guests bring whatever they like. I figure, if they bring their favorite dish, there will be at least one thing they like. I once read in some etique column or book about the ghastly trend that was sweeping the nation, potluck dinners... It said hosts who threw these potluck dinners were just being lazy and making their guests provide the meal. I felt a little funny about it for a while, like maybe Emily Post wasn't going to come to my next dinner. But I got over it.
For us, throwing the party means prepping at least 48 hours in advance and cleaning up about 24 hours afterwards. Planning and shopping for the party starts things off. I try to do the shopping in one trip and usually spend about $200 on groceries, etc. I like to cook a turkey, an easy, inexpensive entree that looks good on the table. Sometimes I do two. I brine the turkey at least 24 hours in advance. I also like to make some bread and pizza dough a day ahead so they can rise over night. This year we also served a pork shoulder roast that we brined for 6 days in advance of the party. The day of the party is mostly baking. This year we managed to use three ovens. We now have a range with a separate bread oven that gives extra flexibility. In addition to the meat, bread and Stromboli, we also needed to roast vegetables, stuffing and pies. And we cooked some incidentals on the stove like potatoes, etc.
There is always a fair amount of vegetables that come from our own garden. We also use our own eggs, ham from my brother's pigs and now milk and cheese from our goats. I won't say that we have made a big push on it, but we seem to be in keeping with the whole localvore movement. The thing we seem to import the most is guests.
I think this years dinner was one of the most sedate for me. In the past I rarely actually get to sit down and eat because I am so busy getting things on the table, greeting guests, addressing minor emergencies, etc. This year, I delegated a lot at actually dinner time and was able to sit down myself. It was a pleasant change, probably something I will repeat.
We had guests arrive with pies, entrees, side dishes and even homemade ice cream (Maker, it was made during dinner). We had an extension on the dinning room table, an extra table in the dinning room and still needed a table in the kitchen and the billiards room. It wasn't a giant turnout, but certainly respectable.
One of the reasons I like the potluck model is it automatically grows with attendance. I have never had a party run short on food. As attendance rises, so does the arrival of food. But if we have a lightly attended party, I haven't broken the bank on the groceries. And this year, like any other, proves that attendance and attendees will be different every year.
After dinner, many of the guests take their leave. But generally, we have at least a few stay over night (one year there were twenty five over night guests). For those hearty few, there is a tradition of lighting a bonfire in the backfield and reveling into the wee hours. It was a warm fall night this weekend, and the fire was hardly needed. But we burned one anyway and stayed up too late.
In the morning, I like to say nobody can leave until all the deserts are gone. I don't really enforce it, but there is a lot of pie eaten for breakfast. It's always a leasurly affair in the morning, coffee on the porch with pie and maybe some eggs and bacon. There is also generally a little help getting the house back in order. Most of the dishes are done the night before, but there are always more made in the morning and a few we didn't find. A good vacuuming and taking out all those table clothes.
There is always a rush of anticipation leading up to the party. I send out invitations, but I rarely get rsvps back. People always ask who is coming, I say I'll let them know the day after the party. Just before the party, there is often an anxiety that no one will show. There are always surprises, someone who we never thought would make it will, and someone who was a forgone conclusion to attend won't. But I have always enjoyed having the party. It is a chance to show off what we have done at the house in the past year, a chance to sit in the same room with good friends that don't know each other yet. And with some, it may be the only excuse that gets us to see far flung friends we have lost touch with. Even if Emily Post won't come, I think potlucks are a great tradition and a warm way to spend time with friends.
Labels: Harvest Festival
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