Georgian Feast

To celebrate the introduction to my 26th year of life, I hosted a Georgian dinner party for several of my friends on Saturday night. I baked like there was no tomorrow all Friday and Saturday, prepping for the evening ahead. I swapped around the furniture in my living room and dining room so that I could set the table up with an extra oval top piece with room for the nine of us to dine. I set the table up with candles and roses, napkins, cutlery and crockery along with a paper fan at each setting for if the evening became a little too warm. We sat down to dinner at 6.30 for our first course of dinner rolls, sausage mignons, salmon tartlets, garlic prawn toasts, asparagus, potato mash and pumpkin soup. The main course followed with a selection of baked ham, roast turkey, macaroni, peas, honeyed carrots, and cauliflower au gratin. We had a short break before dessert by playing an historical version of celebrity heads (everyone was a famous dead person). Dessert followed with angel cake, chocolate mousse cakes, strawberries, blueberries and Camembert and crackers. By the end we were all thoroughly stuffed. There was much toasting of champagne, and apple cider, and we rounded our evening off with a cup of chocolate mint tea.

It was a fabulous evening. Everyone dressed up for the occasion which was really lovely to see. I didn't take many shots on my camera as I was so busy in the kitchen getting everything ready, but the camera was passed around a few times for other to take photos for me. As for my sewing of costumes, I put together an outfit for my brother - a white linen shirt, a blue / white brocade vest and blue knee breeches. I learnt him the grey cravat that I had made for our father some time ago. I was very pleased with how his ensemble came together as it is always a challenge for me dressing him (he is actually larger than the largest size on all the mens patterns). I also put together a new outfit for myself as well. I used the yellow and pink stripe silk that I bought last year in Adelaide at Eastern Silk to make an open robe and I polonaised it up at the back with a couple of fabric covered buttons. I somehow managed to scrimp the entire ensemble out of 3 metres of the fabric. The sleeves are a little tight, but that should be fixed by the next time I wear it (as long as I get back into exercise mode). The only other change that I would like to make is to add some eyelets down the front so that I can lace the gown up instead of pinning it. I also used a multitude of the yellow muslin that I had bought for a regency dress to make a full skirt for underneath. Add my wig, some flowers and a few feathers and I was all done for the evening. I was just extremely pleased to get my costume done in time.