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Filtering by Category: HOSPITALITY
There are a million and two engagements happening in Charleston this Holiday season, per usual. Were you invited to all of them? No, probably not (full disclosure: neither were we) but perhaps could be in future seasons if you heed this advice.
It's not Rocket Science. Just say "Thank You!" in the most memorable way possible: a handwritten note, in specific detail, on your favorite stationary.
Time for Math class at the Academy, Put away your calculators -- this one is easy. What do you get when you add one part water with one part sugar over heat? The answer...delicious drinks!
The secret to so many great cocktails is Simple Syrup. No need to buy this in a bottle. All you have to do is count to two: equal parts sugar and water, boiled for a minute, and then stored in your refrigerator for up to a month. What could possibly be easier?
James Bond may not have preferred ice in his cocktail, but at the Academy, it's paramount. The old adage is true: "You can never have enough glasses, nor enough ice." But why not serve your drinks over ice worth remembering? With just a few 7" water balloons (and tin foil to stabilize them in your freezer), you can impress your guests with idiosyncratic spheres that will keep cocktails colder, longer. Nobody wants a watered-down drink, ever.
Here's why our freezer is filled with balloons:
May we suggest serving Party Ice with a tipple of Old Weller, or better yet, an Old-Fashioned made with it. Cheers!
Believe it or not, Thanksgiving -- even Christmas -- is right around the corner. Whether you have two pieces of silver, or two thousand, the Holidays present the perfect opportunity to put it to use. (If you aren't using your silver at all, the Dean says time to sell!)
Simplify your life. Go ahead and check polishing off your list with this quick, easy trick utilizing aluminum foil. It doesn't need to take all day, or even an hour. Your silver will be shiny as new in minutes, less time even than takes to down a glass of wine. Why not?
Full Disclosure: There is a rumor floating around on the Internet that silver will tarnish faster using this method. We say, who cares? We're just trying to make it through New Years without passing out from sheer exhaustion. In the name of brilliant advanced planning, short cuts are A-OK with the Academy.
The Bloody Mary is a sweet, spicy, savory cocktail for taking with on the road and sipping when the sun is still high in the sky. While this is undoubtedly the best recipe, there are a million and two ways to customize with garnishes: dilly beans, a celery stalk, skewered olives, pickled okra, even candied bacon if you're feeling frisky. This is traditionally a brunch beverage -- our motto is no bloodies after 2PM, but the bottom line is it's your life & you can do what you please.
Whether going for a picnic or tailgating for the big game, show up with a tank of these + a bottle of vodka and you will undoubtedly be named MVP.
Drayton Hall Lecture Series at Society Hall; Carter Hudgins: Preserving the Past, Preparing the Future: Celebrating Ten Years of Wood Family Fellows at Drayton Hall. [Full schedule here.]
The Charleston Academy loves house museums. We are endlessly curious about every nook and cranny of these behemoth beauties from the 18 and 19th Century -- how they were designed, who lived in them, daily schedules -- but mostly we want to figure out if there is anything they did that we should be doing in our own households right now.
On September 17th at Society Hall, Carter Hudgins, acting director of Drayton Hall (America’s first Palladian house, now a house museum), held the audience at Society Hall in rapt attention as he wove historical facts, personalities, stories, photos past and present and described the Wood Family Fellowship’s impact on Drayton Hall, ending with an emotional punch.
Among the lessons learned:
John Drayton is something like an 18th century version of Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery. Based on Drayton Hall’s architecture and other material culture such as the Edwards watercolors, it is clear that Drayton is well-educated and must have spent time in the UK. However, Drayton Hall doesn’t have any hard written evidence of his travels or education.
The impact of a family foundation run correctly for ten years spreads far and wide. The Wood Family used a tragedy -- Tony Wood's brother's death as a young college graduate working as a restoration apprentice at Drayton Hall in 1980 and the death fourteen years later of his parents -- to establish a fellowship in the family name ten years ago. This position breathed new life and knowledge into Drayton Hall, and gave nine young scholars a career path.
Our messy basements are nothing! One fellow, Sarah Stroud, organized over one million artifacts stored in zip lock containers since the 1970’s according to excavation context, i.e. in both horizontal and vertical manners. Think of the entire site with an imaginary grid of 5-foot squares superimposed on landscape. Sarah worked to identify which squares the artifacts came from as well as from layer of soil in the ground. Thankfully the artifacts were labeled with these details in the 1970s and 1980s. Now they are being cataloged to learn about what happened across site at various times. Less than 2% of entire site has been excavated, yet more than one million artifacts have been recovered.
Find measuring drapes or hanging paintings difficult? Trish Smith, another Wood Family Foundation fellow, puts us to shame. With the help of Natalie Woodward, Trish meticulously measured every inch of Drayton Hall to develop AutoCAD drawings. Then she took these drawings forward to complete 3D renderings, so the early interiors, paint colors, furniture, lighting is another aspect of the house museum experience.
Before the Society Hall event, the Academy hosted a small reception to honor Carter Hudgins and Tony Wood. The party was only one hour long, but it was the first reception in a night of many.
Our advice on staging a 4:30PM cocktail party for 25:
Choose one specialty cocktail and only two, at most three, hor’s doervers. NO MORE.
Make the guest of honor’s favorite drink. NO reason to set up a full bar; guests don’t need to make decisions. And FYI, even at that hour, folks in Charleston will drink a cocktail.
If there are many parties in one night, insist on yours being first. Yours will be the most memorable -- too much drinking at the other parties makes later memories blurry ☺ -- plus your workload is easier. Nobody wants much to eat much at 4:30.
On the Bar:
A pitcher of Manhattans
Perrier & white wine
Bowls of pistachios, Parmesan crisps & chips and guacamole.
A Pitcher of Manhattans
Serves 12
3 cups rye whiskey
1 ½ cups sweet vermouth
1 teaspoon Angostura bitters
ICE (Pro. Tip: You can never have enough ice at a party.)
Brandied cherries
Combine whiskey, vermouth and bitters in a pitcher. Stir and store in refrigerator until guests arrive. Put large ice cubes in silver cups or crystal coupes, pour in cocktail and garnish with cherry.
It's Friday, and it's time for a POP QUIZ!!! Pencils out...eyes on your own paper...
Relax, kids. This one is not for credit. All we want to know is: how do you set the table for a dinner party? Ever wonder if you are doing it correctly? Let the Dean show you how it's done, three different ways.
At the Academy, we live and die by our many useful mottos. One is, Beware of recipes that require you to buy more equipment! With this in mind, we established our Essential Dinners series, in order to teach students to utilize the standard workhorses already sitting in their home kitchens.
Starting with the trusty Stock Pot and a saucepan, improve your repertoire of one-dish dinner party standouts, and get a leg up on the busy work week with freezer-friendly family meals. Let the Dean show you how to make stock, soup, stew, and gumbo so you too can make four dinners, for dozens, in just one morning -- enough food for tonight, tomorrow, and next week's dinner party.
The Academy lunchroom will be positively overflowing, so stay for lunch! Join the Dean at her table, where she will reveal her simple secrets for making each recipe stand out, and the trick to cooking multiple recipes at the same time. Go home with new recipes you will feel confident executing on your own at home, plus kitchen wisdom, entertaining tips, new friends, and all the leftovers you can carry...
After a single Academy class, the only question is: what can't you accomplish?
OK, OK, 4 ingredients if you count salt.
Sorry to drill it home but Labor Day weekend has arrived (yes, it officially starts Friday AM, class dismissed!) and Summer is packing her bags while Fall cha cha's in the back door.
But it's still hot as Hades in Charleston, and the rain seems like it might wash us all to sea. Your life raft: a few friends/neighbors, a sassy hat, and a pitcher of margaritas you can make faster than you can say, "Siri, find me a Mariachi Band." Sassy hat optional. Mariachi band...strongly encouraged.
It only takes FIVE minutes and THREE ingredients (plus salt) to make ONE pitcher of margaritas.
Give that old Summer feeling a proper farewell.
XOXO, the Deans
P.S. Pro. Tip #1:
P.P.S. Pro. Tip #2: Do not drink the pitcher all by yourself. One margarita usually does the trick, but two could have you feeling ten feet tall, bulletproof, and wild as a hornet's nest. That's what happened to a friend of ours one time, anyway...
The solstice may be fleeting, but September has arrived & the Academy is in session! Time for a new season of classes, starting with our quintessential Essential Dinners series. If you anticipate finding yourself surrounded by hungry friends/partners/kids/co-workers (or even all alone, just starving little old you) and fresh out of satisfying dinner plans, here's your answer.
On Wednesday mornings in late September/early October, let the Dean show you how she wields the workhorses of the kitchen -- the Stock Pot, the Roasting Pan, and the almighty Cast-Iron Skillet -- for Suppertime glory. Learn how to make everything from Gumbo to freeze-able stocks, from the Academy's prized Pork Butt in Milk to roasted root vegetables, from cheesy rice to eggplant everyone will eat. Then, enjoy lunch in the Academy dining hall while the Dean fields all of your burning kitchen- (or even non-kitchen-) related inquiries.
For more information on the Essential Dinners series, check out our calendar or purchase tickets here.
Entertaining children at home is a forgotten art. Helicopter parents over-schedule their children with soccer, art camps, swim teams; anything so as not to have a moment of down time.
Recently, one of our first grade friends and fans told us about an incident at school. She was incensed when a classmate took over her job as door monitor and had a solution to end the tyranny. She got her backpack and whacked her classmate over the head! We admire her pluck and verve but could not endorse this tactic as a life long plan and her school and parents certainly did not. When she returned home from school, her parents 'punishment' was to have her sit out the nightly TV program with her sister and to help with evening chores instead. But guess what? She loved the extra time with her parents. We were reminded anew that children don't find house work the chore we do if they can learn and be with their parents. All children might not love the added chores as much as this budding domestic goddess, but they will enjoy having added responsibility.
Dean Manigault went to her ex-husband's plantation with her daughter and a friend of hers. There was no wifi, so all attendees were forced to be 'present'. It was freezing cold so the children were tasked with keeping the fires stoked and the log piles plentiful. Dinner was provided by Dean Manigault but breakfast and lunch was the time tested "if you can reach it, you can eat it". The kids were a bit inventive when left to their own menu choices, but no one starved and the kids reveled in their new autonomy. In fact, Gigi cracked the spine of the Academy cookbook for the first time ever and created the egg strata all by herself. All the entertainments were "in house" and there was lots of downtime together. It is so much fun to get young people's perspective on the world today.
SERVES 6
1 sourdough boule sliced 3/4 inch thick
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
Thin slices of Gruyere or cheddar, enough to cover bread on bottom of pan
6 eggs
3 cups whole milk
1 pound bulk sausage, browned
1. Grease a 9-by-11 inch glass or ceramic baking dish. Spread both sides of the bread with the butter. Layer the bread in the bottom of the baking dish. Top with the cheese.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Pour over the bread, up to a 1/2 inch below the top of the baking dish. Any more liquid will bubble over when cooking. Add the sausage. Cover and refrigerate the strata overnight or for up to 2 days.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the strata until puffy and golden brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Unstructured time at home is a gift and should be treated as such. When time is over scheduled outside the home- the domestic skills are left to wither on the vine. Quiet time together in your own house is not the modern day boogyman. Quite the opposite. Revel in before your children are permanently gone and you missed your chance to get to know them and what they can do!
One reason people don't entertain is that they are worried about how their guests will behave. People are right to worry. Every once in a blue moon a guest will act out of line. It is extremely rare, but explosive when it happens. The Deans have seen people throw napkins, insult one another, get too drunk, and even get up and storm out the door. As searing as the moment is at the time, it can electrify the party and unite the guests against a common cause.
As always, it is not what happens but how it is handled that matters. As captain of the event, you must maintain your composure and lead your ship-ful of guests to calmer waters. When your attendees see you rising above the occasion, they realize that they can, too. They will form their own opinion about what happened. Sometimes bad behavior is a one off and can be excused. Other times the person is a reprobate and needs to be expunged from your life.
Dean Pollak gives Southern Charm star, Cameran Eubanks, a lesson on how to host a pre-party with your besties before a Charleston Fashion Week event.
Richard Avedon said style is based on repetition, not duplication. All you need are a few signature recipes and drinks - and own them. No need to reinvent the wheel every time you entertain. Guests will look forward to your specialty.
Instructions as per the Deans:
The Many Benefits of Hosting a Pre-Party Cocktail Hour:
1 1/2 cups tequila
1 cup citrus juice (mixture of freshly squeezed lime, orange, lemon & tangerine juices)
3/4 cup (or more) soda water
Ice cubes
1. Combine all the ingredients in a pitcher and stir.
2. Pour into cocktail glasses and serve over ice.
1 cup olives with pits (use assorted colors)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 strip orange peel
1 chili
1 teaspoon fennel or Herbs de Province
1. Heat small sauté pan over medium heat for a minute; add olive oil, and then remaining ingredients.
2. Cook over low heat, stirring, for a few minutes until olives are warm. Turn off heat and pour olives in a small bowl.
3. Place a smaller bowl, or cup, near the olive bowl for the pits.
A wedding is not the time to look ungenerous. Examine your budget and be realistic about what you can provide. Three hundred people in black tie requires unlimited champagne and hor d'ouevres, a three course seated dinner and an extravagant band, not a DJ, and probably some sort of surprise entertainment, as well. If you can't afford this, or don't wish to entertain in this fashion, you are by no means alone. Few people can and will have this kind of wedding. So, don't ask your guests to get in black tie unless you are going to provide a black tie entertainment.
The first of many wedding dresses & husbands for Elizabeth Taylor
Eleven thirty weddings are popular in England, why not here? This unusual time will set your wedding apart. You can choose to have a sit down luncheon from 12 to 40 people or a buffet for 200. Four thirty used to be the most popular call time for a wedding. When Dean Manigault got married her mother hit the mat when Dean Manigault wanted to start the ceremony at six o'clock. Maris asserted that 4:30 was the chicest of all times and was not to be moved from this point. Eleven thirty, four thirty, noon, whatever time you choose, just be sure the entertainment you provide is as lavish as your budget allows. The Deans have been to barbecue and beer receptions that were way more fun than the time Dean Manigault flew to Capetown and was presented with a bill at the end of the rehearsal dinner!! The single most shocking event of her long life!
Dress No.2
If your budget solution is to have a cash bar for your wedding then you have not come up with a suitable solution. The Deans were never more shocked than when they heard about this trend. You don't have to invite everyone you went to school with or ever met. Less guests can frequently mean more fun. Especially if none have to reach for their wallets!
Everybody we know is totally exhausted right now. Even the Deans can’t figure out why this is, even though we are the two most tired we know. We are exhausted just propping open the Academy doors.
With this level of energy we can’t imagine there are too many dinner parties being thrown. Here’s what the Deans are currently advocating: Tea Time! Tea can be served at any hour, everyone likes it, tea time provides a soothing ritual and tea's preparation is accessible to all. Boil water and dunk a tea bag, or steep a pot and open a tin of short bread.
The Charleston Tea Plantation, home of American Classic Tea
A ritualized tea time started going out of favor in Britain right after the Great War and now the sun sets on the British Empire. Coincidence? We think not.
MAKES 20 generous canapes
One 17.6-ounce package pumpernickel bread (we prefer Mestemacher Natural with whole rye kernels)
8 ounces creme fraiche
8 ounces smoked Atlantic salmon, sliced thin
1 lemon
2 tablespoons capers
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Cut the bread into triangles. Smear creme fraiche on each slice and pile high with the salmon. Drizzle with the juice from the lemon and top with the capers. Capers will roll off and serve double duty as decor and garnish.
2. Sprinkle with the pepper.
Dean Pollak went to China this weekend. Well, not really, but as close as a person can get to Shanghai without leaving mainland US. She was an attendee at a Chinese banquet in New York’s Chinatown at the Golden Unicorn Restaurant.
Dean Pollak was stunned at the differences, and yet soothed by the similarities, of a large gathering of a totally different culture.
Let’s start with the most salient differences.
There was no bar at all. Each table had a bottle of red and white wine, bottles of Coke and a pot of tea. Only the tea and soda were opened during...not the cocktail hour. The Deans will call the hour and a half before the food was served the "meet and greet." From 5:30pm to 7:00pm guests mingled with one another without alcohol, and here the Dean’s have been preaching all along the bar must be the first thing people see. Evidently not. In this case a bar was not necessary.
Husbands and wives were seated next to each other. A total departure from what the Deans espouse.
No elaborate floral centerpiece, the food was the star. The center of the table was alternately platters of food or stacked with the just used dishes.
The Chinese New Year puts our Thanksgiving to shame. The courses, all twelve of them, had multiple components, each different colors and textures, so that the banquet was not just twelve different dishes, but came closer to fifty.
The overarching similarity is the sense of family and conviviality that a multi generational party hosted by a nonagenarian patriarch provides.
Just like many parties we’ve been to ‘here’ there was a dance floor and a live band, and people really got up and danced. Getting your boogie on was a necessary bit of salubrious movement to help make room for the next course.
Dean Pollak thoroughly enjoyed her trip to the Far East, and was honored to be invited. Dean Manigault was not able to enjoy her Saturday night just thinking of the Chinese New Year's Feast she was missing.
The hour between a wedding ceremony and the beginning of the reception has bloated and become gassy. The time was once used to get from church to reception hall and bridal photos were taken in 15 minutes. The in-between time has expanded to an hour just as the wedding industry has grown to 51 billion dollars. This hour is filler, a non-event, leaving guests wandering around with nothing to do, no plan, entertainment...waiting for something to happen. The hour is not going to be trimmed...today, hundreds of photos are taken. So naturally, the Deans have suggestions.
The timeless Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco
Wedding guests need to be entertained, wined and dined, and not left to themselves while the bride gets all the attention. We suggest getting some sort of entertainment guests can enjoy while they wait for the party to start. A comedian has a warm up act and so does a rock concert. Every big event needs a sexy lead in to get people in the mood. Guests leave the ceremony in good spirits and you want to build on this vibe.
Wedding planners don't address this black hole of time because they assume that if the bride and her family are not going to participate in this entertainment, then they will not want to pay for it. Bad decision! How about hiring a trio or quartet to play? No need for Isaac Perlman. This is the warm up, not the main event. Most communities have competent music students or orchestra players who would be happy for the work. Similarly, a signature cocktail created with the bride and groom in mind provides both a focal and talking point for guests. Dean Pollak had a pink cactus margarita whipped up for her daughter's at home wedding because pink is Caroline's favorite color. Not only were the drinks pink, but all the food as well - Scallops brined in beet juice, mini lobster roll etc. Quite a show stopper!
The Deans current favorite idea is to engage a slight of hand magician to mingle among the guests during this hour. A professional magician will know exactly how to entertain the guests. One less problem for the bride's mother to solve!!
One of our fans from Portlandia (she chars her own ice:-) wrote and asked us a question about wedding gifts. She wondered if we thought it was a good idea for engaged and newly married couples to disseminate a list of the gifts received to at least the mothers of the bride and groom. This list would aid the mothers in answering the age old question about whether the gift was received or not. We think this ideas is brilliant!
As brilliant as this idea, she informed us of a terrifying practice that may be trending. Guests are encouraged to leave a self addressed envelope at the wedding to facilitate the bride with her thank you note writing. Let us be clear, the Deans abhor this idea! If brides are too lazy to retain the address of the wedding participants - they had to send them a wedding invitation after all - then they don't deserve to get any gifts at all.
What the Deans would love to see resurrected is the tradition of displaying all the gifts for all to see at the wedding reception. We fear however that with the ubiquitous destination wedding that this tradition has been laid to rest.
Memorable Wedding Moments -- John & Jacqueline Kennedy
This might be one of the shortest blogs the Deans ever write because our message is so pithy. When you go out to eat with friends splitting the check does not mean splitting the check in half. It means everybody pays for what they consumed. If you think it goes unnoticed that you ordered three or four glasses of wine and a three course meal while your companion had tap water and an appetizer and yet you suggest that the check be split down the middle, let us tell you that you should not be surprised to get fewer and fewer invitations. You have just put your friend on the spot to pay for your indulgences. Unacceptable and rude!
There is one thing still ruder: when the check comes, acting as if you expect to be paid for. In these modern times, even a single woman out with a couple should wrestle the check to the ground before she lets the man pay for her. She should never assume that her meal is comped.
Perusing the Sunday New York Times Travel Section, Dean Pollak was stopped in her tracks. She has frequently espoused that a dining room table tells you exactly how many guests it wants.
The wonder of the restored dining room in the palace, Falaknuma in Hyderabad, India, is the table that seats 101 people. It is the longest dining room table in the world. Dean Pollak thinks that if she rearrange a few things it will fit nicely in her dining room. No more trimming the guest list!
The world's longest dining table - Taj Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, India
