Kit Cusick, a (obviously talented) good friend of ours, has this thing for Titanic. He did a big dinner 5 years ago at the J.J. Hill house here in St. Paul, recreating the last dinner the first class passengers had before the ship sank. We had butlers and maids and the organ played and it was amazing to do this in a house of the time (The Hill House staff was thrilled to see the house used this way). Two or three years later, he did another dinner, where this time you could choose to be a first class or a third class passenger, and have a different meal. We choose third class that time, and it was an interesting experience. We had to get a health check, to make sure we weren't carrying any diseases on board, and we were down below ground. The food was still plentiful and good, and we had the fun Irish musicians!
But this year was the 100th anniversary, so Kit decided to go all out. Queries about the event flooded in as soon as he started talking about it. Pretty soon, he was up to 100 guests. Yes, 100. He rented out the historic Stillwater Courthouse and was off and running. He planned for months. Now you have to realize Kit doesn't do this for a living - he has a full-time job, too! He works so that he can do things like this. It helps that he doesn't need much sleep - and he's got Kate. I'm not sure just when he started the cooking, but it sure wasn't on Saturday. One sauce alone cooked for 7 hours, another for 6. Ugh. I don't like cooking - you'd have to pay me a whole ton of money to take this on. But Kit hates cooking for only one or two - he prefers this!
He set up a website (http://2012titanic.com/ if you want a look). Everyone had to be in white tie attire - 1912 era preferred but not required. (By the way, if you're not familiar with the different kinds of formal - I wasn't for the longest time - white tie is as formal as it gets. It's more formal than black tie. This is what's worn when the President has the Queen of England for a state dinner.) Good thing I heard about this early on. I asked for the dress I wore to the 95th anniversary event, one that Kit had made (told you he's a man of many talents) years before for (I think) someone's prom on the condition that he got to keep it. Lucky me, it fits and I was the first of 5 or 6 to ask for it, so I got it. It's his interpretation of one of the dresses Kate Winslet wears in the movie. Joe could use his Living History Society of Minnesota formal wear, as men's just doesn't change all that much. If you're not aware of our peculiar hobby, follow the link and see how we spend a good part of our leisure time. This is how we met Kit.
So, after work that day (where I did another Titanic event for teens and tweens!), I headed to the Courthouse to change and get ready for the big event. Joe and I met there, and had a lovely time chatting with other guests outside. It was a gorgeous day. Everyone had to pick the persona of an actual first class passenger when they booked their tickets, so we spent time talking about who we were and if we survived or not. If you didn't know, that information is readily available online, for every person on board (and both of us managed to survive, if you're wondering). We headed into dinner around 7 (and the ladies got to remove their elbow length gloves). This is yet a different menu. Two guests, Mr. and Mrs. George Widener, hosted a private dinner on April 14 to honor Captain Smith's upcoming retirement. Kit recreated that menu. Here's the bill of fare, each course also with its own wine.
It took us four hours to eat this meal, and it was worth every minute. OK, I skipped the oyster on the half shell in the first course... I'd never had lobster thermidor. It was pretty darn tasty, served on the lobster shell. Someone at our table (who WILL remain nameless, especially as I don't know their name!) thought it was so good they picked up the shell and licked it... I gotta tell you, that's not proper etiquette at any time or place. The lamb was the best I've ever had and the filet melted in your mouth (that was either the 6 or 7 hour sauce). It turns out rose water tastes just the way you think a rose should taste. It was a lovely refreshing break after some heavier courses. Funny story about the quail: Kit found these online at one site for a fraction of the price of others. He ordered them, and found out why when they arrived. They weren't plucked. So there's poor Kate, plucking at least 100 of the darned things! Boy, does Kit owe her BIG time... Kit runs all this on a tight schedule - I can't imagine what the addition of plucking 100 birds did to that... Tiniest wishbones you've ever seen - less than an inch tall. Orange surprise was orange sorbet frozen in half an orange - another lovely light course. Many of the wines were lovely, too, although I'm not too fond of reds or of champagne.
Every course had its own flatware, stemware and plate - the place setting went on for ever! Obivously, not even Kit had that many dishes on hand. Joe asked for numbers. The grand total - 4200+ pieces! At least he didn't have to wash it, but scraping, rinsing and repacking was no small task. (And if you're ever stuck on what to use at a setting like this, it's actually really easy. Start on the outside and work your way in - that's it.We had an orchestra too, plus a piano, for the whole evening.
And we had lovely service. If you had an 8 person table, 8 servers came and ALL plates were placed in front of the diners at the same time. Let me tell you, it's like a well-choreographed dance to get that many plates in front of that many people in a timely manner. Of course, they were well compensated - they got the dregs left in the wine glasses and any scraps on the plates. Yes, that's right. All these people gave up most of a day to serve others just for the experience. Of course, Kit is such a generous soul that he has fiercely loyal friends who will do all kinds of things back for him. I, though, was glad all I had to do was show up in the proper clothing and eat! And eat, and eat...
If any of you are Downton Abbey fans, yes, this is what service and dining would have been like at the start of the series - although Bates would have been horrified at the female servers!
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