Volcanos, Earthquakes and other Tremors

 This time last week I was feeling very smug; the hotel was fully booked for this weekend with a group of Texans off to wedding near by. We were laying on a lavish dinner for 60  on Friday night, the night before the wedding, for the brides family, and  with all the Texans out at the wedding on Saturday night I had arranged a Chilean Wine Dinner for locals to keep our restaurant busy for Saturday night. So far so good but I certainly had not factored in a volcano! The Americans could not fly, the wedding postponed  and I was left with a hotel to fill in five days.


Thanks to the power of email ( a good lesson about maintaining a sound customer data base) I was able to re-fill the empty hotel for the weekend and we still had to pull off the Chilean Wine Dinner on the Saturday night. Head Chef, Karl Cheetham working with Michael Cox of Wines of Chile put together a great dinner, with each course accompanied by a different wine. All the wines came from Great Western Wine in Bath. Thirty people came for the  Dinner and £360 was raised for the Chilean Earthquake Appeal. The menu and wines were as follows:

Canapes served with either a glass of Elki Pedro Jimenez or Leyda Sauvignon Blanc Garuma Vineyard

Aspargus with Hollandaise - 2008 Leyda Sauvignon Gris
***
Paupiette of Cornish Sole with Salmon & Chive Mousseline - 2006 Leyda Lot 5 Chardonnay
***
Loin of Wild Fallow Deer, Boulangere Potatoes, Savoy Cabbage & Juniper Sauce - 2006 Falernia Carmenere Reserva
***
Saffron Poached Pear with Vanilla Parfait or Welsh Cheeses & walnut Bread - 2008 Leyda Pinot Noir - Las Brisas.

Some of the wines are on our list and I want to serve the Pedro Jimenez by the glass as it will make for a lovely light summer drink.

So in the end we pulled something out of the ash(es)!