France-y Pants: A Themed Party

France-y Pants: Overview

Since our trip to France, SMS and I have wanted to throw a party featuring some of our favorite things from the trip. I sent off the invites about a month ago for our party called…France-y Pants! I love this name and I came up with it myself! No LLM help for me, just my own punniness!

Initially, I was hoping for a smallish dinner party, but the event kind of morphed a bit. One, we don’t really have a formal dining set-up and two, people kept inviting people. Which is one parts flattering, one parts infuriating. But it’s a little tough to invite part of a group of friends. Plus, how do you get to know the people you don’t know as well? You hang out with them more! So, the party grew a bit and honestly, it was an absolute delight and a good time was had by all.

Food

SMS and I really love French cuisine. For the party, I thought a scaleable delicious dish would be perfect and so…Beef Bourguignon it was! I found a small Instagram account that had a copy of Bistro Jeanty‘s version. It seemed legit and the result was exceptional, so I think it’s the real deal. There were two vegetarians in the group so the Smitten Kitchen mushroom Bourguignon was an excellent veg version, which several meat eaters dipped into to supplement their dish since I forgot to add the mushrooms (and pearl onions and bacon bits) at the end. See, I had gone to an estate sale which threw off my party prep timeline so the last 30 minutes were pretty harried. Therefore, I forgot to “add back” the mushrooms, bacon, and pearl onions. I didn’t realize this until the end of the party when we were cleaning up and SMS asked about the seemingly random-item tupperwares in the fridge. For about 10 seconds, I was SO mad at myself! But, I got over it. What’s done is done and honestly, it was freaking delicious as it was. I did add the ingredients to the leftovers and now, two days into eating BB leftovers, I would definitely recommend mushrooms, decrease the pearl onions (there are chopped onions already in the dish that cook throughout), and neutral-to-yes on adding back the bacon. Also, I would add more carrots. And for those at home keeping score, I 1.5x’d the recipe and we have a lot of leftovers.

I served the Bourguignons over mashed potatoes, which was an excellent choice. Not that I had an egg noodles ready-to-go, but I think mashed potatoes are the way to go.

For the pre-dinner snacks, we had champagne (see below) and assorted French cheeses. This was definitely a hit!

For dessert, I made a pear-fig preserves tart that was totally delicious. It looked very fancy with layered pear slices, but I have no pictures. The crust baked into a sort of cookie crust, rather than a flakey pastry crust and it really worked for this recipe. I also made chocolate mousse from The Gourmet Cookbook and it was excellent. About 1/4 of the egg/cream mixture turned into soft scrambled eggs during one of the first steps, but I’m pretty sure that’s why it’s recommended to strain the custart mixture. I definitely messed up, but it was salvageable and the end result was absolutely delicious.

Drinks

When I was in Reims, I took the Veuve Clicquot tour, which was absolutely spectacular. I know it’s not particularly France-y to like VC and trust me, I like the smaller, more prestigious producers just as much as the next person but for a wine tourism experience? The Veuve Clicquot tour slaps. As SMS says, I’m total sucker for a story so when I was told there’s a special yellow label from the Crayères vineyard with a special etched bottle that they don’t export but you are free to buy in their store and ship?!? This was the genesis of the France-y pants party! I bought a magnum (and a few bottles for gifts) and shipped it home for an e-x-o-r-b-i-t-a-n-t- fee. Jeepers creepers, I am a total sucker. BTW, it is near-impossible for an individual to ship alcohol (old French rules based on how the industry developed over centuries) so you either have to ship with third-party commercial shippers or put it in your suitcase. When I was in Reims, I still had 2 more weeks of travel so I decided to ship. Again, because I am a sucker.

We also did a vertical tasting from the wine we shipped from Grangey. This was not as delicious as I remembered, but was still a lot of fun to try. And in case you were wondering, SMS said, “This is exactly how I remember it tasting.” Oh well. It was our third winery of the day and, again, I’m a sucker for a story, a winery dog, and a nice owner. So, that’s how we ended up with this wine!

We had also bought a few Burgundys from our local K&L since that’s the area SMS and I like the best, even though we didn’t actually visit there. We had a wine from Santenay and Beaune. The former was very fruity and super easy drinking, while the latter had a bit more tannic structure. I liked them better than the Right Bank reds (Je suis desolée!).

For the tasting, I bought tasters and boards from Tossware, which are a bit expensive but I had a nice discount code. I’ve also washed them and I think they will be re-used for at least another party or two. Unless they feel to clutter-y, which at that point, I’ll chuck them in the bin.

Amis!

We had such a nice group show up. I had messed up the date and had to change, which resulted in the party being in the middle of people’s dry Januarys (boo!). So, one guy stayed away to avoid temptation while another guy turned his dry January into a damp January. Most of our friends are from our apartment complex, but one of my longest Bay Area friends was able to make it with her daughter, while her husband and son were in Tahoe skiing over the long weekend. Another couple had to miss since they had tickets to Glowfari over the same time. Lame from the adult party side of things but their kids really liked it so score one for their family memories!

It was really a delightful time and way too long since SMS and I had thrown a party. We won’t wait as long again! In fact, we had France-y Pants, part deux today outside to get rid of some extra wine and cheese. A few neighbors stopped for a very low-key gathering, which was the perfect way to end a long three-day weekend!