POM DINNER PARTY Decorating With Pomegranates

I had pretty high expectations last night for My Pom Dinner Party... In every way, they were met or exceeded.  I had the time of my life.  I started cooking at 6 AM, and the last dish was finished about 7 PM.  Slicing, dicing, whisking and stirring, baking and sauteeing... What a day!


Best of all, on-line friendships became in-person friendships.


Sharmin from WHAT YOU'RE MISSING KC and Chris from BLOG WELL DONE came to help me out as my party guests.  It turned into a great evening of talking food, food prep, dining experiences and favorite KC foodie stories.  There were several other local foodies that maybe possibly could have come, but busy schedules prevented it.  Karma, I think we were the perfect mix.

As to the food, you will be hearing this phrase quite a bit in the next couple of days, but my approach was, "The Secrets in the Sauce".  I served a 7 course dinner party.  For each course, I made a different sauce.  A Sweet Grenadine sauce, a Savory Garlic Sauce, a thick Molasses sauce, a Balsomic/Pom Reduction, a Fiery HOT Chipotle sauce, and a wonderful Chocolate Pom Sauce.  My theory is that most blog readers are above average cooks.  They are not as much looking for recipes, as they are looking for inspiration.  Once you have a sauce, the kitchen is your oyster with the pearls you can find inside.  


But the food is going to be tomorrow's post.  Today, I want to show you how Jackie (and a tiny bit me) set the mood for our Pom Dinner Party.


For all the bloggers that were selected to host a party, Pom Wonderful sent out TWO cases of real fresh Pom Wonderful Pomegranates, as well as enough juice to cook a meal (I love freebies).  We had plenty of Pomegranates to decorate our house for the party.


But first thing, Jackie channeled her inner Martha and came up with this idea...

Our driveway and stairs leading up to the door were lined with Pomegranate silhouetted luminary bags.  So easy, just get red bags (what a great time to shop, these were in the Halloween section of Michael's craft store, 24 red bags for 60 cents (80% off)), fill an inch with kitty litter for weight so they don't blow away and set a candle in the middle.  The Pomegranate silhouette is just a circle cut out of black construction paper.  The top was cut out free hand, a little glue and you have a themed entry to the party!

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Next, we knew we wanted to decorate our fireplace and mantle...


And to carry the luminary theme, candles, candles, everywhere!!!

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Next, we have a side table in our living room, Once Jackie's inner Martha took over, no surface should be left uncovered...

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But wait, we aren't done with the living room yet... This is our liquor cabinet, an old antique ice box (a gift from Jackie's antique dealer father)...

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All in all, our living room was a pomegranate wonderland!

I am always happy to have company.  On very, very rare occasions, Jackie will even let me sit on our white furniture.

Actually, this was to be a wonderful place for that first welcome drink of a pomegranate champaign drink.  Perfect to set the mood and to get to know our new friends.

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But, the all important dinner table has yet to be shown...

We went with a fall color scheme, reds and beige.  I wanted to use all my plates, and crystal, so we decided to bring in 2 8 foot utility tables and make a large square.  Plenty of room for the six of us.

The centerpiece was actually a long table runner of fall leaves, more candles and pomegranates resting in paper lace inside flowerpots.  The flowerpot theme was extended when we served dinner rolls in mini pots.

We even used the packing crates that the pomegranates were shipped to us in.

And finally, we used red square plates as chargers, with the diner plate, salad plate and soup bowl set on top.

The soup bowls held yet more pomegranates (while we were provided plenty, we finally ran out with this touch... but, use them all we did!).

The table setting was wonderful to set the mood.  As to the practicalities, once the guests were seated, the square red chargers stayed on the table, and the dinner and salad plates as well as the bowls and the accent pomegranates in them were set on the counter, ready to be loaded as each course was served... 

But that's a tale for tomorrow.

And speaking of tails...

Even my cat Chang got a little pomegranate colored decoration, as one of the beads from the fake leaves fell off and stuck to her nose.

The indignity of it all...

But the house (and the cat) looked ... POM WONDERFUL!