Tony Loschiavo, caterer and event coordinator
birthdayscanada
(Sep.04.07)
Alejandra K. emailed us at expert@sweetspot.ca: I'd like to know if you could give me ideas on how to celebrate a 0 ended birthday with style... I've already done the photo studio with girlfriends or the manicure get together...any other ideas?
…and our event coordinator, Tony Loschiavo, answered:
I held a dinner party for a special friend's milestone birthday with a few other close couples. Since we all loved fine wine (and didn't enjoy the immense mark-ups at some restaurants) we opted to dine at my house. The only question was, "What do we do about service?"
- Create a "Role Reversal" themed dinner, where the men are personally responsible for the entire evening. This includes serving the wine and meal, and of course, cleaning up. The guest of honor and the rest of the ladies can enjoy their evening (no arm-chair chefs!).
- Have each gentleman responsible for a course: hor d'oeuvres, appetizer, entree and dessert. For those sommeliers-in-training, have them pair their course with an appropriate wine selection, while describing both the food and wine to the rest of the party. This will make for an entertaining evening since there will be a party in both the kitchen and dining room. The men will have to educate themselves beforehand about their dish and work together to create a delicious and interesting culinary experience for the women (plus I am told men look cute in aprons!)
- The one aspect of a home dinner party that always signals the end of the evening is the dreaded clean up. Don’t want the evening to end early, but don’t want dirty dishes, pots, pans, glassware etc. to be visible? Place all of the dirty dishes in the garage or a separate room. This way, you can deal with them in the morning, and continue to celebrate a very important day in the life of a friend.
And to get them started, here’s a cocktail Idea:
Create a Canadian version of the Bellini as a pre-dinner cocktail by combining the following:
- Vineland Estates fresh peach juice (peaches are in season)
- Peach Schnapps
- Pillitteri Sparkling Dry Riesling
- Peach slice to garnish
Tony Loschiavo is the owner and founder of L-Eat Catering, a catering and event coordination company in Toronto. In addition, Tony is a trained chef, certified sommelier and owns and operates Ristorante Paese. Please visit www.leatcatering.com or call (416) 631-9226 for more information.