Hi there!
Kate here, your trusty Create Dinners founder / event planner and photographer. Sometimes blogger, sometimes oyster shucker.
I’m not sure if there’s ever been a more anticipated dinner than this one.
If you all have been following along, I tested postive for COVID at the end of August — literally the day we were originally supposed to have Dinner No. 15. I’m SO grateful I went with my gut and got tested, but as you can imagine, there was a lot of rescheduling that had to take place quickly. Women had driven to RI from NY, flown from LA, and were planning on staying at our home… to say that everyone was gracious and flexible is an understatement. Somehow we all figured it out and by popular vote, we decided to push the dinner back to November 13th.
So it happened! Our Dinner No. 15 theme was FORAGER. I wanted this event to feel like a hybrid of sea and forest, focusing on natural elements. It’s always a surprise to see how the mood board and ideas translate in real life, and in this case, I could not have envisioned a more perfect fall East Coast dinner. Between the cozy barn, rain storm, whiskey cocktails, hats, and unbelievably delicious food, it almost felt like a dream. Let’s get into the details shall we?
Everyone arrived at various times per usual, helping set up and contributing in various ways. I’ve said it a hundred times on here and I’ll say it again… these numbered dinners are truly collaborative. Every single attendee brings something different to help pull this event off, making each one unique in its own way. The chef and the stylists arrived first.
Our Chef, Fernanda Tapia, hails from Chile and has opened her own restaurants, competed on Chopped (and won!) on national television, and wowed everyone with her fall inspired menu.
We kicked things off with a seasonal cheeseboard featuring an apple pear jam, various cheeses from a local shop called The Cheese Corner, and sprinkled in different types of crackers, castelvetrano olives, fried fruits, and grapes. Then we got into the main courses. The menu: sweet potato queso with grilled sourdough, smoked salmon dolma. kale & apple salad, and roasted beets. For dessert, we had shortbread and chocolate chip cookies from Nana’s Bakery and Pizzeria in Mystic, CT.
Kylie Vallario (my future sister-in-law!) was our sous chef for the evening, helping Fern in a makeshift kitchen in the barn. We’ve all got to hand them major props for more or less cooking by the flashlights from their cell phones. In addition to assisting with the meal, Kylie wood burned signage that we placed around the barn. The Create Dinners logo and our “Whiskey Woman” cocktail sign that I’ll speak more about down below.
While Fern was cooking, the stylists and I started assembling the tablescape.
Emily Bradley, who runs Soluca, supplied the stunning blue plates from Myrth in Boston, La Soufflerie cocktail glasses, a vintage Longchamp oyster platter, and other various serveware. Kirsten Gottbrecht supplied various candle holders and serveware and shot some of the dreamiest, moodiest images you’ll ever lay eyes on mixed in these photo carousels.
It would be a massive oversite to not give styling credits to one more person — our amazing host and florist for the evening, Ashley Jarzombek, who also runs Anther, the best home goods store in all of Rhode Island. She let us come take over her incredible barn for the night on just under 100 acres of farmland bliss, and we could talk about how beautiful the florals were for days. She included foraged branches and chicken of the wood mushrooms from her farm in the arrangements. Her dog Sully was the Create Dinners mascot for the night.
Next up is Taylor Perkins who is going to be a new mama soon, works in RI as an interior designer, and ironically led us in a cocktail making activity that she couldn’t partake in.
She was originally going to host Dinner No. 15 when we were doing it back in August but due to rain and changing weather, we decided an indoor location was a safer bet. With our date pivot, Taylor generously took over the cocktail activity that another attendee was originally going to be leading. Just try and tell me these women aren’t flexible! Along with the cocktail making materials, she brought the sweetest take home favors handmade and designed by her mother-in-law Barbara Bangser — custom black eyed susan needle point kits so everyone could make their creation. They’re perfect.
Nikki Luther is a powerhouse corporate woman by day working at Hasbro and leaned into her creative side and made us linen no-sew napkins embroidered with perfect little off-white shells. It’s the smallest details that really get me at these events.
Our Whiskey Woman cocktail was unbelievably delicious, made with Oak & Eden Whiskey. They’re based out of Texas and was started by one of my very good childhood friends, Brad Neathery. We somehow failed to capture a good image (if you look really closely at the table in some of the dinner images, you can spot it… like instead of Where’s Waldo, it’s Where’s Whiskey Woman) of the completed cocktail — I guess they were so good that we drank them before we could remember to document. Imagine a beautiful purpley-red hue from the muddled berries, topped with fresh mint leaves. It was just sweet enough.
It wouldn’t have been a complete coastal dinner without some foraged shells from the sea.
Molly Shapiro journeyed up from NYC and supplied treasures from the ocean that we tucked into various areas down the table and in surrounding areas. They were such a nice touch without screaming, “we are 10 minutes from the water!” Bianca Paredes is a local who is a certified doula and runs Ever Breeze Farm with her partner in Westerly, RI. Her contribution was gifting every attendee with a half dozen farm fresh eggs to take home with them. I had some the next morning for breakfast and they were delightful.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably wondering where the AMAZING hats came from that all the ladies are wearing in these photos.
They’re made by Will & Bear, founded by Lauren (Loz) Williams and are intended to be worn “on the road” or as we’d say, foraging. They were such a rad accessory and so fun to see how everyone’s style and personality came through in their hat selection. Lots went for the Andy in Cream, but the Austin in Brown, Rider in Bone, and Stevie in Sand were hits too. The hats also made for the coolest name place holders at the table we’ve ever had. When we all took our seats for dinner, the instructions were, “find your hat!”
Dinner No. 15 in the barn was awe-inspiring and uplifting. During dinner we went around the table answering conversation questions and sharing bits and pieces of our lives and souls with one another. I don’t think this is scientifically proven, but I like to believe that taper candles, good wine (we drank my favorite orange wine from Spain — Lirondo Verdejo) and the sound of rain and soft music allow people to go a little deeper with each other than they would in the broad daylight.
If you’d like to join us at Dinner No. 16 in NYC on January 8 at Blank Studio NYC, we’re now taking applications HERE. Hope to see you around the table!