Tips for Recreating Dinner and Dessert in the Dark
“People who love to eat are always the best people.” — Julia Child
At our inaugural experience - Dinner and Dessert in the Dark - guests learned the art of being present with delicious food and drinks, ambient music, and great conversation...all while blindfolded! If you couldn't make it, no worries! Check out our tips below for creating the experience at home. And don't forget to take a peek at the gallery.
“People who love to eat are always the best people.”
At my inaugural experience - Dinner and Dessert in the Dark - guests learned the art of being present by enjoying delicious food and drinks, ambient music, and great conversation...all while blindfolded! If you couldn't make it, no worries! Check out our tips below for creating the experience at home. And don't forget to take a peek at the gallery.
Wine, mask, and flowers by April Eileen
Blind dining tablescape by Aaron Clay
The Preliminaries
You can find effective and budget friendly blindfolds here.
Be aware of your environment. If you opt for an outdoor experience, for example, mosquito repellant and blankets or sweaters may be in order.
Minimize distractions by asking guests to arrive on time, to take bathroom breaks in advance, and to silence cell phones. If an issue does arise, it's very easy to escort a guest from the table if needed.
Be prepared to jump in and boost conversation lulls when needed. Sometimes, people can become quiet without the ability to see facial expressions, etc. Remember that attention to food is great so no need to fill every silence…just the awkward ones.
Depending on the number of guests, you can help them relax and have fun by having enough helpers to direct them to their plates and drinks, clear the table periodically, etc.
The Food
A theme is helpful in creating the menu. I served clean, plant-based food because I thought it worked very well with the idea of being more mindful and present.
Simple is good – not necessarily in terms of flavor but in terms of handling. Consider foods that are finger-friendly or easy to serve, relatively non-messy, or pre-cut such as fresh fruit, roasted chickpeas, cauliflower bites or risotto. Spaghetti or tacos might not be good options here. :-) Tastings are great too and mini desserts or tarts work very well.
Allow extra time as guests will spend more time getting food onto their silverware and into their mouths.
Ensure that you have extra napkins on hand, as guests will be using their hands to feel where the food is on their plates.
Minimize the number of glasses on the table to no more than two per guest at any given time. Also, keep glasses half-full to minimize spills and make them easier to maneuver.
When the Blindfolds Come Off
Champagne and strawberries by Aaron Clay
The Big Reveal: Remember your guests have been in the dark for some time. It’s nice to have something lovely for them to see when they remove the blindfolds. I served champagne in sugar-rimmed flutes on a tray with rose petals (thank you, Pinterest). Another option is to plate each dish and put it on the table for the guests to see (you can eat it later). Also, make sure the room is not too bright to give time for eyes to reacclimate.
Go through the menu. Of course, one option is to describe the dishes ahead of or during the dining experience, but if your guests are adventurious, I prefer to do it afterward because people are more likely to really taste the food. If they know what they're eating, they may take for granted that they also know what it tastes like.
Talk about the experience. Your guests will want to share what they tasted and how they felt. It’s such a great time to connect in a real and meaningful way.
Should you decide to take on Dinner and Dessert in the Dark at home or elsewhere, these tips should make for a super enjoyable and totally stress-free experience. Would love to know how it goes!
Love in all things,
April Eileen
Dinner and Dessert in the Dark Recap
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” — Helen Keller
As we wrap up our series on the art of being present, please enjoy photos from our inaugural experience - Dinner and Dessert in the Dark. It was a special evening and a truly great way to practice being in the here and now. If you couldn't make the event, no worries! Check out our tips for creating the experience at home.
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”
As I wrap up my series on the art of being present, please enjoy photos from my inaugural experience - Dinner and Dessert in the Dark. It was a special evening and a truly great way to practice being in the here and now. If you couldn't make the event, no worries! Check out my tips for creating the experience at home.
Love in all things,
April Eileen
Be Here Now. How? A Lesson From Lan Su
“Thy light alone like mist o’er mountains driven,
Or music by the night-wind sent
Through strings of some still instrument,
Or moonlight on a midnight stream,
Gives grace and truth to life’s unquiet dream. ”
— Percy Bysshe Shelley, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty
Lan Su Chinese Garden – a haven of peace and tranquility “designed to inspire, facilitate personal growth, and spark creativity,” according to its website – is located in the middle of the busy bustle and noisy mayhem of downtown Portland. Artisans from Suzhou in China’s Jiangsu province modeled Lan Su after their own historic Ming Dynasty gardens, which were intended to be spiritual utopias for their visitors and inhabitants. So why construct such a place downtown? It turns out the decision was very purposeful. The garden is meant to provide a bit of a break from the hustle of everyday city life, which is a concept I found interesting. While it is nice to wholly escape the perpetual grind (vacation, please?), finding calm in the midst of the storm is the order of the day for most of us.
“Thy light alone like mist o’er mountains driven,
Or music by the night-wind sent
Through strings of some still instrument,
Or moonlight on a midnight stream,
Gives grace and truth to life’s unquiet dream. ”
Lan Su Chinese Garden by Aaron Clay
Lan Su Chinese Garden – a haven of peace and tranquility “designed to inspire, facilitate personal growth, and spark creativity,” according to its website – is located in the middle of the busy bustle, noise, and mayhem of downtown Portland. Artisans from Suzhou in China’s Jiangsu province modeled Lan Su after their own historic Ming Dynasty gardens, which were intended to be spiritual utopias for their visitors and inhabitants. So why construct such a place downtown? It turns out the decision was purposeful. The garden is meant to provide a bit of a break from the hustle of everyday city life, which is a concept I found interesting. While it is nice to wholly escape the perpetual grind (vacation, please?), finding calm in the midst of the storm is the order of the day for most of us.
Chinese guzheng by Aaron Clay
Lan Su turned out to be just as described – a lovely reprieve. When I stepped inside the inner courtyard, the pandemonium of car horns and barking dogs and cabs zipping to and fro faded into the background and were replaced with the serene melody of a traditional Chinese guzheng. Flowers and plants of all kinds bloomed and shared their fragrant fortunes, and stones on the ground were perfectly arranged to create pretty little pictures. The gurgles of Lake Zither beckoned us to come and listen a bit more closely and to watch the koi fish play. I walked a little further and looked up to discover rows of beautifully decorated drip tiles. Each tile allows a single droplet of rain at a time to fall, I was told, creating a pearl-like curtain of showers (wow!). A little more wandering and I found myself in a structure – The Reflections in Clear Ripples Pavilion – named for the waves of light dancing on the exterior walls, reflections of the sun moving across the water near which the beautiful building is situated. A little further still and I stumbled upon detailed reliefs inspired by traditional stories, lines of poetry written on columns in calligraphy with delicate Chinese characters, and blooming lotus flowers swaying contentedly in the water. Around every corner was evidence of ardent dedication to beauty.
Lotus flowers by Aaron Clay
I’ve been thinking a lot about presence lately and my experience at Lan Su reminds me that beauty has a significant role to play. I was able to attend to, and rather easily, the smallest details in front of me, despite the ever-present commotion just outside the garden walls. How could I account for such acute awareness? Certainly, I was on vacation and my mind was clearer than usual. I had walked barefoot across tilted stones and my Qi was flowing more freely. There was the green tea I’d had at the teahouse. It could have been any of those things but I suspect the extraordinary beauty of those minute details had a lot to do with it too. Lesson learned.
Filling life with more of the beautiful things from which one cannot possibly turn away is as brilliant a strategy as any for staying more awake. Plus it’s proactive and requires us to exercise our abilities and power to bring our desires to life. We must look for those lovely things in which to indulge and if we can’t find them, we must necessarily create them. As I’m sure the Chinese artisans I now hold in such high esteem would attest, cultivating beauty takes time and attention, but it’s a worthwhile pursuit and important for its own sake. How much effort was required to build The Reflections in Clear Ripples Pavilion so wonderfully? How much awareness and attention to detail was necessary to name it so aptly? How many people have been enriched when they see those reflections tell their story?
Most of us are not able to maintain a steady state of Zen. It’s available but our tantrum-throwing toddlers or attitudinal teenagers, our difficult bosses or crazy schedules, the noise of constant communication and always “on” media, keep us from seeing it. But the impetus for building Lan Su Chinese Garden is inspired and while I’m not able to visit Portland on a whim, I’m reminded there are inner gardens to cultivate, places of peace in which to sit, pockets of joy to create; and it takes only a moment to visit these sacred sanctuaries. We can take a moment to perfectly plate and add a little color to our dinner. We can take a moment to put a few sprigs of lavender under our pillows. We can take a moment to grab some wildflowers and stick them in that plastic bottle we were going to throw away (how’s that for up-cycling). We can see beyond the tantrums, the attitudes, the difficulty, the craziness, the noise, and find the beautiful truth. We can give ourselves permission to slow down and fill our lives with a little more beauty, every moment of every day.
Love in all things,
April Eileen