Southern Hemisphere Wine Pairing – Final Countdown
It is the week leading up to the Southern Hemisphere Wine Pairing event and I’m at the final stage of party planning. All the make-ahead and freeze work is done. Short bursts of power cooking these last couple weeks. Followed by my least favorite part, all the clean-up. I’ve been told I’m a kitchen tornado when in the thralls of cooking.
Planned Procrastination
No cooking today, just ongoing cleaning. But I’d rather focus on other things. I’m obviously procrastinating by writing, but top of mind is the final planning. I’m a planner by nature. I have several spreadsheets listing out all my party planning details. Seriously, I have an excel document with about 8 tabs of lists.
Menu Overview – a break down of each course, element and # servings to prep.
Prep Time – each element’s make-ahead timing: weeks, a couple days, or day of.
Ingredient list – you should know what this is.
Food Check List –to confirm all make-ahead parts are needed and I pack all the food.
Supplies – consumable items like plates, utensils, parchment paper (see Resources page for links to what I use often)
Equipment – instruments needed (either I need to bring or is at the host house) Mostly my knives, whisks and things I like to bring.
Party Day Time Table – very important. It is a break down of exactly what needs to be prepped and put together when in about 15 min increments.
Purchases – my receipt tracking. I’m donating my time, but not the ingredients and supplies. So I carefully keep track of what I purchase for this event.
A Few Minutes More
Welp, I learned today that the official start for our Southern Hemisphere Wine Pairing Party is 4pm, not 5pm. Supposedly this was something I should have known. Easy enough, I just shift everything ahead an hour on my planning schedule. Nothing like getting up at the crack of dawn to grill some prawns.
Plating Plans
Another key document I use during the wine pairing party is my dish sketches. This is to help guide plating These are not art sketches, they are more like diagrams. However, I do want people to recognize what I’m drawing. I did take art classes long ago, so I can manage it to resemble food. Plus, I write notes for each plating element, because even a well-drawn cashew piece may not be obvious to others.
This is why we check our supplies first hand. I discovered that the dessert plates are square, not rectangular like before. Not a big deal and I am not redrawing the sketches.
House Call
I made a quick trip over to the host house with my mom. We schlepped over some supplies and wine. Did a quick check on the grill outside for the steak dish. Futzed with it to be sure I know how it works, plus noticed it does need quite a bit of cleaning. So mapping in some extra time and supplies to care for it.
It’s been such rainy weather this May. I may be grilling in the rain. But, I’ve committed to grilling the steaks. You do what you must. Plus, I’m from the PNW and grew up blue-tarp camping. Outdoor cooking in the rain is practically a right of passage.
Next up will be the make-not-too-far-ahead dishes, will happen the 2 days leading up the party. So, I need to really clean out my fridge to make sure there’s room for the party food. Alas, more cleaning.
More Party Planning Posts