Dinner in the Orchard
Each year we look forward to hosting our Dinner in the Orchard. It’s a charitable event for our church’s music program and seats are sold at the church auction. Many guests come year after year for a delightful evening of fine food, wine and friendship. We try and mix up the theme and this year, we decided to focus on the wine selection. So in preparation, we spent an afternoon with our dear friend, Jenna, who is the owner of a very hip wine bar/store in Phoenix called Central Wine.
Always looking for an excuse to have friends over, we purchased a few bottles of the wine favorites and then had our friends vote on which foods pared best with the wines. So with the wines selected and the menu finalized (thanks again to my favorite caterer, Julie Greder), we began the decorating and preparations.
After years of painstakingly stringing lights and paper lanterns through the trees (with my dedicated friend, Connie), my husband, Scott built a removable structure where he hangs the overhead lights in a stable and safe way. This year we tried something different-we suspended small glass vials and filled them with roses, which gave the appearance that the flowers were floating over the table.
The party begins on our front terrace with hors d’oeuvres, Prosecco and music. The terrace is large enough for 30-40 people but small enough to feel intimate.
Before sunset, we moved to the orchard for the sit down dinner. This is the first year we had our guests pre-select their entree, so they were given a specific colored ribbon to tie to their chair so the servers would deliver the proper selection.
Our good friends, Don and Leslie are so knowledgeable about wines, and Don agreed to be our sommelier for the evening. He did a fabulous job educating us on the different wine pairings between courses. From the crisp, bubbly Prosecco to the spicy Syrah, Don led us through the details of each wine and instructed our palettes to capture all the wine’s nuances.
It was such a fun, lovely evening, with old friends, new friends, great food, fabulous wine and lots of laughter….and we raised some money too!!!!
~~Dinner in the Orchard Menu~~
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Bacon wrapped stuffed dates with bleu cheese
Seared scallop with artichoke puree
Brie with caramelized apples on walnut toast
Botter Prosecco
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Arugula with lemon olive oil and Parmesan
Chateau Graville Graves Blanc
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Choice of Entree
Roasted Chardonnay Salmon with currant risotto and spring vegetables
Filet Mignon with caramelized onion, balsamic glaze, Yukon mash and asparagus
Domaine Faury Saint Joseph Syrah 2013
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Trio of Desserts
Mini Lemon tart, Chocolate flourless cake, Pecan Bar
Miss Eva’s Beehives
Chateau Rieussec Sauterne 2010