st. patrick's day dinner party

the low down...soon, i will get better at posting these tid bits as i am doing them, leading up to the holidays and parties i throw them on, so you too can share in the culinary crafting adventure i set sail upon.  hop aboard matey!  squack...hop aboard matey (totally done in a parrot accent, much like the one from Aladin).  for now, here this is for next year's reference for you to go ahead and take magic back along side us! 

little recap on St. Patrick's Day....we decided to take magic back!!!  the actual story of st. patrick and his day is totally lame and sad... but, like many "holidays" it has come to the americas through hemispheres and time, passed like a silly secret through ears and culture until it has become completely unrecognizable to it's origin. YAY! so good, in this case. this is the day my family celebrates magic! rainbows, leprechauns, and pots of gold. adventure seeking, charms, spells, and going green. crafting, food and friends.   long live the druids, the shamrockers and magic homies like yourselves!

decor:

• rainbow paper chains:  i used 6 pieces of paper, each a different color, bought from Micheals in a massive pack that seemed rediculously priced to me at the time, but i have gotten so much millage out of, it is insane. anyhoozles, i have a paper cutter that made cutting strips super easy and very fast.  use scissors if you don't have a nifty paper cutter. i also have a nifty 5 year old that helped me glue stick the chains together. it was so fast and they were the perfect pop of rainbow pizazzling i was hoping for.
• tissue tassels:  k, with these i get all into my re-using fetish.  i always save the tissue paper that i get with gifts i receive.  you should see me on christmas morning. umm, big time dork.  it's like, the only time i get super mega ocd. "wait babe! do not put the tissue in with the recycling!!!" for these you take the tissue paper, cut it in half, then cut those in half again, making 4 rectangles.  most people use a whole sheet to make one or two longer tassels, but, i think they are cutter smaller and you get more out of less material this way.  soon, i will be making my own vids, but for now, youtube how to make tissue tassels.  yup, youtube baby.
• "get lucky" letters:  green paper, gold paint or modge podge, gold glitter and washi tape. nuf said.
• gold nuggets:  i live on the Sunshine Coast, BC, and the beaches here have smooth rounded pebbles that i pillage for so many uses.  most small rocks will do the trick.  i was kind of thinking they'd look like coins, but, you could even use gravel and they would look more like gold nuggets.  take them outside, throw some newspaper down and spray paint them gold.  i used them in the center piece on our table as well.
• whatever gold, leprechan "ish" you can find at thrift stores and laying around your house.
• ladybugs:  i used the tiniest pebbles i found on the beach to make red glittery ladybugs.   maybe it's and american thing, a few of my canadian homies had zero idea of what i was talking about when i explained that it was "good luck" when a ladybug landed on you.  hello! i got the idea when i saw a package of shamrock sugar cookies at Whole Foods in Vancouver.  each package had a little ladybug sugar cookie in it. i just thought it was the cutest touch evz. so, on with MY ladybug adventure....painted the pebbles red one side at a time (had to wait till they dried).  then used modge podge spray adhesive, you could use any type of glue though (even a glue stick would work), and then sprinkled with Martha Stewart's carnelian red glitter.  i covet those glitters...hey martha...feel free to send me one of your zillion colour glitter packages...i will come up with nine hundred thousand clever uses for them. cough cough...hint hint...back to ladybugs.  ehem.  after that, sprayed them with Modge Podge sealer and used a black sharpie to draw little polka dots and faces on them lik, 4 seconds before people arrived.  phewf.  
• shamrocks:  picked some shamrocks up at my local flower shop. used these on the table, one near the cheese plate and one in the bathroom.  i know, approaching big time dork levels as we move on here. i haven't even got to the food.  whoa.
• a leprechan:  shut up. yes you do have or can find something that'll pass! think...your kids toy chest. surely you can use one of your sons green power rangers and dress him up with a mini gold thimble...fill it up with nerds that you spray paint gold.  holy shit.  i am so doing that next year.  teddy bear, cabbage patch doll, life size Michael Jackson cardboard cut out. go big or go home.  you need a little green buddy.  that's the end of it!  don't make me pull over the car.

rainbow ice cubes....umm, yeah. took me days to finish these icy gems...freezing each layer separately and such.  found natural food colouring that was extremely spendy and not as poppin as i'd hoped, at whole foods.  but deeeam! i had fun drinking my irish whiskey with one of these babies floating in it.  the kids were suuuper excited about them.  i found enormous silicon ice cube moulds somewhere... forget where, but am in love with them. i have seen them on amazon if you wanna go that route. 

menu:  

• cheese plate:  all kinds of cheeses that had green touches, bartlet pears, green apple chips, pistachio this, basil that, sage something or other...you get my drift. yu-um.
• caprese stacks:  beefsteak tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, mint leaves, and homemade basil pistachio pesto on a bed of arugula.
• mini cabbage:  okay, so obvz these are brussel sprouts with applewood smoked bacon from our friends farm in Powel River, but...you know...irish theme...cabbage. nuf said.
• potatoes:  obvz had to have a potato dish.  these are fennel chicken broth baked mandolin potatoes.  3 ingredients (besides salt and pepper) and are sooo good. i will post the recipe ...calm down.
• venison rack:  marinated in a lemon parsley caper chimichurri and lightly seared on the bbq and baked off to perfection.  salivating just thinking about it.  served with chimi on the side.  
• dessert: mini pavlovas with kiwi and blueberries tossed in a mint, lime simple syrup and topped with matcha whip cream and lime zest.  holy f*$k it was good.  plus, i totally cheated on the sugar in the simple syrup and used half sugar and half Zero, a natural sweetener with a super low glycemic index. yup, getting nerdy over here.  it was magnificent and fresh with now sugar crash afterwards.  recipe to follow.

i really wish i had amazing pictures of the table pre-aftermath...but...nope.  was totally in the zone. the magic zone.  fueled by magic, guiness and irish whiskey and solid gold friends and family. loved this evening.  only 3 couples and a houseful of kids.  that's how we do.