Mystery Guest...

In the "Stranger things have happened" folder in my filing cabinet is a collection of events, occasions, and opportunities that I keep to remind me of things that have happened in my life that I find intriguing.  This week I added to that.  I was invited by one of my lovely customers to be a "Mystery Guest" at a dinner party.  The first thing that I noted was that someone thought I was interesting enough to be a Mystery Guest at all!  And then was the dinner party itself, which was beautiful, thoughtful, orchestrated, and mannered.  I LOVED it!​

THE CONCEPT
This is a group of ladies who meet for one of these dinners every six weeks or so, or more precisely, when a new edition of DISH MAGAZINE is published. It started with all the recipes having to be made from the newest release, but has become a wee bit less constrained over time, but for the most part, this still holds true.  There are five women who rotate through being responsible for different courses, at this dinner, we were one man (lady) down as she was attending the birth of her grandchild... and fair enough too!  The Host, who holds the dinner party in her home when it's her turn, is responsible for making the Main Course, and, am I not sure WHEN this became a thing, she is also responsible for inviting a Mystery Guest that none of the other ladies are likely to know...  That's where I come in!  But more on that later.

THE TABLE
The Table was set with full attention to detail, correct glasses for each wine, which was paired exquisitely with each course. Silverware (yes SILVERware) for each course laid out on three sides of the plates, the only alteration was made when it was discovered that the Entree was a soup, and we hastily changed the salad fork and knife to a soup spoon. Candles - check, Floral centrepiece, check, crystal water jug, check. 

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THE KITCHEN
I love kitchens.  I am at my happiest there, cooking, serving, baking and making.  That is also where I feel the safest, as I am not a confident person, and groups upset my precariously balanced equilibrium, I have used my kitchen to hide in. Keeping my hands busy at something I know I am good at makes me feel competent.  There was no hiding in this kitchen, it was not my space, and these ladies have done this before, and they worked their magic while I watched from a stool at the bench top, I sipped on a lovely Riesling while they got caught up on each other's lives and events.  They included me and gave me  background to events so I didn't feel I was an outsider, and I felt I had been their friend for years - as I got to know about their recent trips, family birthdays, and births, and upcoming occasions. They put me at ease quickly, or maybe it was the Riesling, either way, it was a comfortable interaction. Kitchens are great places. 

THE MENU
The only person who knew what the entire dinner menu was going to be, was the person who was responsible for the Wine. They then took the menu, and the suggestions from DISH Magazine in to their local wine store to make sure the correct wine was chosen. She nailed it - it was delicious.  

First Course
I could have eaten a few bowls of this delicious soup, and I WILL make it for myself at some point - so good!  With a small disclaimer from the maker that the chillies were REALLY hot, and an admonition to use LOTS of coriander - this was served up and savoured... I really do wonder what happened to the leftovers. We sprinkled peanuts, dropped chillies from a height that would impress Jamie Oliver and layered on the coriander and ooooed and aaahhhhhed.  It was THAT delicious! We chatted as this was having it's finishing touches done (the fish and prawns added just before dishing up so that whole thing was hot and fresh) while sipping on a low alcohol (shhhh you'd NEVER know it - it was so good) Reisling - we carried that wine through the soup course but also enjoyed iced lemon water.  

Second course was JUST as delightful as the first - and if I hadn't already been won over by this time, the Roaring Meg Pinot Gris would have been the clincher!  It is one of my favourite wines and went absolutely brilliantly with the caramel and five spice pork belly - which was everything you wanted it to be, sticky, tasty, full or flavour and our Hostess served it with fragrant rice and lashings of more fresh coriander as well as a snow pea and mint salad and for those who wanted even more, there was an apple and sweet kumara vegetable treat as well.  The apple of course, a lovely accompaniment to pork of every kind! Oh. My. Goodness. How does one ask for seconds in a situation like this?  So good!   

THE CONVERSATION
​Don't worry, I haven't forgotten dessert, but just like at the table, one needs a pause, a clearing, if you will, a savouring of the savoury and so we lingered, cleared up from the main and turned to more conversation.  And yes, this is probably where I was meant to shine - we talked about the Boutique, my family, our plans, our hopes for the business, my philosophy, my products - not in a staged way that made me feel like I was giving a "talk".  They were genuinely interested, and asked all sorts of questions!  These are women who are invested in their communities, and also INVEST IN their communities.  These ladies, with their various backgrounds and own personal stories know very well what it's like to work hard, they all have, and do, and it was a pleasure to discover that they really do CARE, about so many things. They really were representative of so many of the ladies who come into the Boutique - they WANT quality, the WANT to support local industry, they DO advocate for Boutique Retail in New Zealand.  We talked as well of our thoughts on the government, veganism, seasonal produce shopping, grandchildren, children, movies that made us laugh, and made us cry. (Despicable Me 3 falls into the second category by the way...) We spoke of the economy, the America's Cup, swimming in Bermuda and skiing in Queenstown. Life. We talked about life. Oh, and by the way - you'll notice the images are all screen shots. That's because my cell phone didn't make an appearance - not once, the only thing on my lap during the time there was a linen napkin.  We face timed! Literally, it was beautiful. 

Dessert was a fabulous combination of flavours. 
Oh yes...  we did!  And it was DI. VINE. Although there was some apology about how the caramel sauce wasn't perfect... and the biscuit maybe should have been crisp, this was a magic dessert, which we all managed to eat without leaving much of a trace in our bowls.  We were offered coffee or tea, but honestly, we were all still sipping on the Roaring Meg, which probably wasn't meant to be paired with gingerbread, or caramel Sauce, but you know what??  I didn't care!  ​

THE END 
So the whole evening lasted about four and a half hours. After my initial feelings of awkwardness, I got over myself and was able to really enjoy meeting these incredible ladies.  They have wonderful stories, and lives that they shared so beautifully with me, a stranger.  I actually felt really sad as I left, thinking that I wanted to get to know them better, and find out how some of the events they were talking about unfold for them! I am grateful to have had the opportunity to have a little glimpse into their lives.  I am grateful to my lovely customer who thought of me, and wanted to give me the opportunity to share my story with her friends.  What a great idea to have a dinner party where you 'do social' with manners, no funny snap chat faces, no interruption of conversation with a quick instagram post (not that I didn't want to!). It was such a treat to connect, really connect with people I had never met before.  I might just try it more often.