Honey of a Dinner

For the last few years, I have offered a Honey of a Dinner at our fall bee club auction.  The promise is that the person who wins it can invite up to six people total to come to my house for a dinner in which honey is an ingredient in each of the courses.

In 2013 my friend Gina won the dinner, but we haven't fulfilled it previously because my kitchen was under renovation for a number of months.  Finally on Friday night we had the 2013 Honey of a Dinner (a year late!)

I set the table with my good china and it all looked really lovely:

The honey comb trivets in the center of the table were a gift from my friend and fellow beekeeper, Julia, in honor of my new kitchen.  The bee napkin rings came from my brother Barry.

First we had a delicious cocktail called the Bees Knees made with Hendricks Gin and lavender infused honey syrup (like simple syrup only with honey).   I forgot to take a photo of our drink.  With that we had an appetizer of a sunflower seed encrusted goat cheese log, served with raspberries and mint and drizzled with honey.

Then we had a soup:  Pumpkin Soup with honey and cloves.

The main dish was a pork loin marinated in a honey marinade and served with gremolata and a Canadian buttermilk honey yeast roll (sorry, the only photo is not in focus - maybe it was the bees knees or the wine!):

We had the salad after the entree, European style.  The salad was a Honey Roasted Pear salad with verjus dressing and bleu cheese.  

Then we had a dessert of homemade profiteroles with honey lavender ice cream (also I made the ice cream).

It was such a fun dinner party.  Now to get ready for the 2014 Honey of a Dinner!

Honey of a Dinner on Saturday night

On Saturday, my daughter Sarah and I enjoyed the company of six people for dinner in which all the menu items included honey as an ingredient (well, almost all).  We had a great time.  Ernie, the man who purchased the dinner at the bee auction last September, brought his wife, his son, his daughter-in-law and her parents to the dinner.

The first course was flat breads made with Mahon cheese and drizzled with honey and thyme:

photo by Stan Williams

We served them on a honey bee tray that Sarah's mother-in-law had given me.

The second course was a spring pea soup with cream.  It had about a teaspoon of honey in it.

For the entree we had roasted cornish game hens with honey, thyme and lemon.  On the plate also were the two items that included no honey - a wild rice pilaf and asparagus ribbons (way too much trouble - note to self: Don't make these again!) 

We also had Canadian Buttermilk Honey rolls - no photo again.  We were busy in the kitchen - no time for cameras!

The asparagus was pretty but a lot of trouble:

Then, European style we had a simple butter lettuce salad with bleu cheese and a honey champagne vinaigrette dressing, but none of us remembered to take a photo!

For dessert we had profiteroles with honey lavender ice cream.  I made the ice cream earlier in the week and made the profiteroles the day of the dinner.  I've made the profiteroles before for Sarah's birthday.

This one was taken after the first profiterole on the plate had already been eaten!

Stan, one of the guests, took the profiterole photo, the photo of the dinner plate with the hen, rice, and asparagus, and the photo of the flatbreads.  Thank you for sharing it with me, Stan.  Stan also brought wine to go with every dish.

I had fun cooking everything; Sarah was a fabulous helper and expediter for the meal; and the company was lots of fun.  I'll offer it as an auction item again in September this year.