0 It's A Family Affair!

It was a family affair when we hosted the rehearsal dinner for our dear friend's son and his beautiful fiancé last weekend in the wine country.

While our daughter, son and son-in-law were in the kitchen cooking up dinner for 60 guests, the tables were set up around the pool with simple white tablecloths and olive green napkins.

Lanterns surrounded by grape leaves and grapes served as centerpieces.

Every guest received a mini bottle of olive oil.

This was the culmination of many hours of planning by my friend and I, and it was fun to see it all finally come together.

Before the guests arrived, I looked around at all the lovely tables and thought, this looks a lot like a wedding!  In fact it occurred to me that a family business just might be forming right before our eyes!

Meet Aaron.  He is the dessert guy.

He made peach cobbler with homemade brown sugar ice cream for dessert and served them in Mason jars.  Here he is documenting his hors d'oeuvre of strawberry, beets with cream cheese on crostini.

 Meet Ashley the caterer, and her husband, her sous chef for the day.

They sourced the food from local vendors, most of it organic and fresh from the farm.

Ashley taste testing Aaron's special salad dressing.

Even Alex joined the action, helping with the prep and clean-up.

 Later, after dinner, everyone watched as a full moon rose over the Mayacamas Mountains.

It was a magical night indeed and a beautiful wedding weekend.

We were so happy and proud to host this event

Who knows....

...this could be the beginning of a family affair!

The Menu:

Crispy Polenta cakes with wild mushrooms & fried rosemary

Crimini, Maitake, Trumpet Royale Mushrooms with Asti Rosemary

Smashed pea & ricotta on crostini with mint

Organic Ricotta with Wild Creekside Mint

Selection of Local artisan cheeses

Humbolt Fog Goat, Sonoma Dry Jack Reserve, & Point Reyes Raw Bleu

Olive medley

Selection of Italian and Spanish Olives

  

Heirloom tomato caprese

Soda Rock Farms Tomatoes (Healdsburg) with Belfiora mozzarella (Berkeley) 

Fresh corn salad with arugula, tomato & Tomatillo, feta cheese, & avocado

Belfiore Feta (Berkeley) with Soda Rock Farms Tomatoes, Organic Arugula, Avocado, Corn, & Local Tomatillo Lime Vinaigrette

Roasted Potato & swiss chard gratin

Organic, Locally Grown Rainbow Chard Wedged Between Creamy Potatoes

Beef kebobs

Ranch Raised Natural Beef From John Ford Ranch (Willits)

Open faced braised pork sandwiches

Quality Meat from Leading Pork Producers, Hill Pork Farm

Peach cobbler

Philo, CA Farm Peaches Braised with Cinnamon Under Buttermilk Streusel and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream in Mason Jars

I'm joining Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday.