the "Epic" Titanic Dinner

Let the madness begin! My family and I will be hosting dinner on Saturday April 7th 2012, to commemorate the 100th year anniversary of the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic. Dinner will be a Service à La Russe of 13 courses. Chef Blanc-de-Blanc will be the chef for the evening. Immediately following the meal will be an Absinthe After-Party. This may include some or all of the following activities: gambling, poetry readings, dancing, visits by green fairies.

Yes it's true, my family and I have lost our minds! In reality I've been thinking about doing an "Epic" Titanic dinner for years and the excuse a 100th year anniversary affords is too good to pass up! After much thought and debate, and after getting the whole-hearted support of my family, I decided to host a dinner at my home rather than coordinate something at a restaurant, especially once I found out there would be a costumed Titanic Dinner at Dress U. It wasn’t an easy decision, as I knew there would be consequences, but more than simply wanting an excuse to dress-up in a 1912 frock (which we’ll now have in June) I've been gripped by the challenge of recreating the extravagance and stylishness of the era that created RMS Titanic. It's a silly insane thing to do but my Dad and I are both keen to do it (there is NO way I'd attempt it on my own!). We simply want to look back and say just once we did it.

The Good News & the Bad
So the good news is the food will be fabulous (if I do say so myself), bad news is space is very limited in my dining room. I can only seat 10-12 at the table which makes me sad as I want to invite everyone I know! Please forgive me if you haven't received an invitation for this event... I truly wish everyone could be included but alas the restrictions of my dining room and oven! *sad panda* I've been very flattered by how many of my out of state friends are willing to travel for this but also it meant my table filled up faster than I thought it would - opps!

Yes I said 13 courses. We are mixing documented Titanic dishes with other food from the period. We decided that rather than being too literal with the Titanic theme that we wanted an evening that reflected the period she sailed in. Following the dinner is the "Absinthe" after-party – so everyone can get out of their restrictive corsets and the "staff" can party too! I can't decide which part of the day I'm looking forward to most!

Needless to say over the past few months there has been lots of research, recipe testing, wine tasting, planning meetings and shopping as my family and I have prepped for the most complicated dinner any of us have ever done. I will be posting all the details of our party prep and foodie adventures here on my newly updated Mlle Hostess Blog. I’ve also created a mllehostess feed if you would rather follow my party planning adventures through LJ.

And because planning an elaborate dinner party isn't enough to be going on with there will be lots of 1912 costuming going on too - for me, Mom, Dad and the rest of the "staff". The costuming content will stay here, although there may be some cross-posting with the staff attire. Oy I really am insane!

robe à la Française resources

Link parking as I embark on my first robe à la Française...

Katherine (blog) - chocolate Française
Kendra - peach Française
Kendra - black Française
Before The Automobile - cream Française
Maggie - gold Française


I feel like I am missing someone. Any good online robe à la Française resource recommendations?

my not sewing day

Well my Française sewing day today did not go as planned. After spending the morning cleaning, organizing and researching myself to a point where I could work on my petit panier I realized that I had neither the ribbon (duh that is what I needed from Walmart!) nor the hoop boning I needed. So I ordered the boning. *sigh*

Then I organized and researched myself to a point where I could start work on my Française (I don't need the pannier to start on the back pleats) when I realized that I hadn’t washed the lining fabric I bought right before Christmas. It's in the wash now. *sigh*

I suppose I could switch tacks and work on my Titanic evening dress toile but I had kind of promised myself that I won't work on it until the Française was well underway. See it's the Titanic I really want to work on (now that I have FINALLY decided what to do) but the Française that I need to wear on Feb 4th. That’s right a robe à la Française in a month. Yeah.

And now I have a headache that I think wants to be a migraine. So I think I'll just give up and play Angry Birds. Maybe if I'm feeling better later I'll stay up and ring in the New Year being productive. Or not.