A Life Through Food Dinner Party
Last night I hosted a life through food dinner party. My good friend Ashley is off to the Cook Islands much to our selfish dismay, but happy celebrations for her new adventure.
Ashley (AKA Chilli) is an awesome person, she is strong, yet feminine, fun, smart, a go getter, generous, sweet, fit, courageous and brave. She takes some warming up to get to know her but once you do she is a friend for life. I designed a menu that celebrated her as a person as well as her life journey.
This is Chilli's life through food:
We started with a delicious chilli baby signature cocktail that we designed to capture her personality. This cocktail was a hit, the kafir lime infused tequila married well with the pomegranate juice, chilli liquor and x making this a sweet, spicy and slightly exotic starter. This accompanied a bowl of moorish chipotle roasted chickpeas. Salty and spicy with a gentle flicker of sweet. Yum! Can I have a bowl of these everyday?
We then moved on to her country of origin, New Zealand. Having never been to NZ, I wanted to capture what we see so often advertised about this wonderfully beautiful country. Beautiful green rolling hills, crisp fresh air and an overwhelming sense of space and tranquility. Fig and walnut bread was lightly roasted, topped with fresh pears, rocket, salted kiwi fruit, creamy blue cheese and dotted with caramelised walnuts. This was paired with an apple martini style drink we named AppleFeilds; crisp, fresh tangy and all to easy to drink.
Next stop was japan a country Chilli recently traveled to was served as japanese corn cakes with wasabi chicken. A delightful starter; crisp salted corn, a delicate pickled ginger and cucumber crunch with a perfect wasabi hit at the end. This was matched with a cherry blossom cocktail; a perfect blend of, sake, choya plum wine, a unique absolute plum vodka and macerated plums. Sweet, juicy succulent and delicious it should be available on tap.
We moved on to chilli's favourite country France with a French onion soup with gruyere croutons, a Heston Blumenthal recipe. This soup can be described as robust, strong, with amazing complexity yet with only a few ingredients. This was served in little enchanting tea cups.
Next up Australia vs New Zealand. Australia has been home to chilli for the past three years. this dish married the two countries together with lamb BBQ ribs, sticky and sweet with a hint of spice. the ribs were a powerhouse of flavour. Having been cooked on low for four hours in a malted beer steam bath, they were also tender literally falling off the bone. The ribs were served with a fresh slaw and sweet potato wedges. The cocktail to match was a sweet tea bourbon cocktail. In this fusion of flavours orange, met mint, who invited tea around to play with bourbon, this resulted in a party in our mouths and washed the ribs down a treat.
The piste de la resistance on the food journey was Creme brûlée served with an espresso martini icecream shot. Sweet, creamy with that hint of burnt sugar equals heaven. Next to the strong and seductive espresso martini equals wow.
Chilli loved her journey of life through food. I can't wait to add to it when she is back in Sydney. No doubt with a whole new list of countries to add to the menu. If you would like you, or your loved ones life mapped through food.
Get in contact with me as I love to create life through food.
Much love Chantal
