St. Patrick's Day Soirée

St. Patrick's Day is this Sunday, folks! Today's post describes a festive holiday menu and table setting, with plenty of green and gold. This soirée was an event I put together last year, and it turned out smashingly!

The Table

As I mentioned, lots of green and gold for this holiday. I just love the decadent layered look of the bowl, plate, and charger. The fan-fold for the napkin is one of my favorite techniques. Of course it has to be disassembled when you pour the wine, but it looks nice for a few minutes anyway. :)

The Menu

Hors D'oeuvre

I got the idea for a "cheese flight" from Godiva truffle flights, a small selection of 7 decadent truffles. Applying this same idea to cheese helps prevent overindulging on the appetizers (something that's way too easy to do when there's a entire platter of cheese available). Making a cheese flight is really simple. On a small plate, arrange 3 different cheese samples, a couple pieces of sausage, and apple slices in a sunburst fashion. Sprinkle a tiny amount of dried cranberries and walnuts in the center of the sunburst. Easy as that!

Settlement Gold is a favorite local wine from the Cedar Creek Winery in Cedarburg, WI. A sweet and refreshing grape wine with crisp apple notes, it makes a pleasing start to this menu.

Entrée

Last March was my first time baking Irish Soda Bread. Myself, family and friends alike were amazed by the wonderful flavor of this simple bread, especially when paired with the squash soup. (the same Ginger Butternut Squash soup from my Recipe Review: Fall Edition. I titled it "Pot of Gold" to fit the St. Patty's theme!)

Dessert

The dessert was a rich icebox pie of homemade minty green custard and chocolate puddings, swirled together to create a marbleized pattern. The trick is to do this while the puddings are still warm and semi-liquid. Can't allow them to cool or set too much, otherwise swirling will be difficult. A strong Irish coffee pairs really well with this chocolatey dessert. And the coffee looks so festive with a dollop of green-colored whipping cream!

If you'd like to make this occasion into dinner and a show, I have a few movie recommendations:

• Pot of Gold with Jimmy Stewart. It has great music!

• The Quiet Man starring Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne (He didn't only do westerns!)

Do you have any St. Patty's Day traditions? I'd love to hear in the comments. :)

'Til next time,

Eva