A Generous Host + Good Friends + Good Venue = A Great Party

Every once in a while some generous individual decides to throw aparty for his or her friends, nothing too unusual about this you might think. But when your host decides to take over the whole hotel for a weekend and treat his friends to what is, in effect, a giant house party - that is pretty unusual. No small undertaking and I was very pleased to be entrusted to arrange a special birthday weekend for a very trusting Gliffaes guest. Planning started over a year ago to ensure that he could have every available room for his chosen date.

With every room booked by the host it means he is free to do as he wishes; play music, dance to a band, play games, watch a film - its up to him. The brief for this weekend was to make it relaxed and informal and for people to take their time over a couple of long slow dinners. To talk, to eat to listen to their music and to drink.

Friday night is always difficult with people having to leave work and rush to get ready for the weekend away. So we did not want to fix a time for dinner but  set up a buffet to run for a couple of hours. Chicken and vegetable curry was the order and the plates were licked clean, this was all washed down with a cask of real ale from the Breconshire Brewery. As the evening was fine almost everyone ate outside.





On Saturday evening the plan was to keep the same level of informality but up the food stakes a little. We kicked off with champagne and canapes and then tucked into a buffet consisting of ;









•    Roast leg of Welsh Lamb – carved in front of the guest by the chef. (served warm)
•    Thickly cut rare Rib of Roast Welsh Beef, Homemade Piccalilli.  (served cold)
•    Roast Sea Trout with Fennel & Lemon. (served warm)
•    Grilled Vegetable Brochette.  (served warm)
•    Herb Couscous. (served warm)
•    Warm New Potatoes.
•    Peppers stuffed with Pine Nuts, Spinach & Welsh Cheese.
•    Organic Green Salad
•    Carrot, Orange and Sesame Salad.
•    Summer Bean & Mint Salad
•    Homemade Bread

Puddings:

•    Strawberries with Elderflower Sabayon
•    Chocolate Roulade
•    Lemon Posset with a Tuille Biscuit 

Once again this was done outside but this time with a few rounds of , "Happy Birthday" thrown in for good measure. All in all a very happy weekend and one we enjoyed hosting as much as the guests seemed to enjoy their party. If you have a big occasion in mind and want some ideas on how to celebrate it - please do get in touch.