Jane's Surprise 65th Birthday Party

I've been negligent in my blogging over the last few days as I was preparing dinner for 20 people!

Luckily with lots of help from Abigail, Jane's daughter, whose brain child the party was and whose generosity made it possible.

And what a night it was! Lots of fun and food was had by all.

Right now I'm too exhausted to give you all the recipes, but here's what we ate, some of the recipes are already here , but tomorrow I promise to post the rest.

White organic local Popcorn
with truffle butter

Roasted Almonds,
salt and fresh thyme

Smoked Trout Deviled Eggs

A Cheese course from Saxelby
Ascutney, Bi-Partisan and Kunik
Served with homemade whole wheat bread (made from local stone ground wheat)
House made crackers with sea salt sesame and flax seeds
Sour cherry compote
Rhubarb Pickles
Pickled Ramps
Fresh local Strawberries from Berried Treasures


Poached, wild caught Alaskan King Salmon on a bed of fennel, with a fresh herb, tartar sauce and an alternative ginger maple glaze (on the side)

Beets salad red and golden beets with pecans in a cumin and lemon vinaigrette

Potato salad homemade mayo with red spring onion, capers and parsley

The last of the local Asparagus with old fashioned hard boiled egg sauce

Almond meringue, fresh strawberry, lemon curd and whipped cream layer cake

Speaking of lemon curd there is some left over - how good would that be on toast?

This was a truly memorable dinner. Abigail hired the lovely Kameron to help with bartending, general food and clean up help; Jimmy flew in from London and brought with him 2 bottles of Dom Perignon for toasting the birthday girl. In addition there was Orzada - Jane's new favorite red from Chile odejellvineyards.cl and two whites, La Cala, a Sardinian wine made from Vermentino grapes, and a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire valley produced by Fournier.

OK it's sunny out and I've not seen the world beyond my kitchen in two days so I'm out of here to go enjoy the day and I guess, given it's gay pride, be gay!