Monday, January 24, 2011

From One Of Our Guests:

Where were we last night?

Spirited away to an isle of warmth and sensuality, welcomed by playful alchemists conjuring  exquisite food and drink, surrounded by company lively and sweet, and beauty of every kind -- smooth stones and delicate machinery, handmade tables, guitars, mandolins, words of wisdom tucked into coral printed linen, twigs with their buds swelling just a little in the candlelight, in clay vessels satisfying in the hand.  

It would have seemed an enchantment, but this morning there was a little box printed with a gold sun, two perfect chocolates nestled inside, an elegant proof that we were....... wherever we were.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Our First Dinner

the chai shop's open!

Retrospective

We had a wild ride creating our first dinner... re-vamping our cozy home to fit 16 extra people.  We were delighted that all along our friends- new & old that would be coming- were already present at our scene, evidenced in our tiny Bellow-wear clay cups & napkins silk-screened by Moho Designs. We served a ragu-like lamb stew from Leahey Farm in Lee, and escarole with roasted hazelnuts & currants.  For desert we served peaches we froze in the summer with rum & cardamom cream.  We were also excited to have some locally made wine from the Ellings.  We learned what worked well for us and what didn't in this test run, and have some ideas to make our dinners more participatory in the future- for our guests in the serving process, and for us actually eating dinner with them.  Our next dinner will also be at our home, on February 18th.  We are now accepting reservations!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

January Inspirations

We are busy making furniture and fantasizing about what to serve at our upcoming dinner this friday the 21st, and are happy to say the night is booked full!   We had the pleasure of taking a brief trip to NYC and had an inspiring and quite decadent feast at ma peche, momofuku's newest restaurant- a veryvery modern french-vietnamese endeavor.  We highly reccomend: http://www.momofuku.com/ma-peche/.  Check back with us soon to see photos from our dinner....take care!