Spring Races- Loudoun Hunt Point to Point at Oatlands Plantation
My family from Chicago arrived this spring in time for the Loudoun Hunt Point to Point Races on April 13th. We set up a table and had a spot on the rail near the main entrance gate. We parked our car directly across from the rail spot where we set up our tent and tables, so we did not have to lug everything a long way, which was very handy. We were blessed with perfect Virginia skies and weather. Not to hot and not too cold. While the Virginians welcomed the relief from the cold winter, the Chicago crowd felt the difference even more so.
At first I thought I would say a few words and post the pretty pics, but instead I decided to share my thought process into the planning of the event. It was not thrown together overnight or in a few days. It was actually a gradual process of my noting what made the most beautiful race tables over a number of years, and filing it away in my head for the time when I would actually have a space by the rail someday. Well someday is here this year, and I was able to start gathering my horsey accents and "equipment" so to speak.
This race table was fun to plan. I scouted about for a centerpiece that would be horsey. A saddle might be a little big, and too expensive. I found some plastic toy horses and even some leather ones in an antique store, but I thought they might blow away. One day I walked by Weathered Elegance in Leesburg, Va and found the perfect bust of a horse. He was made of pottery that was glazed. Now, what to do with the horse. I could have put him on a tray, but remembering other tables I have seen, I always thought that the elevated centerpieces were the most striking. I tried out different box sizes and chose one which seemed the right proportion as a base. I took an oval table cloth and draped it over the box on top of the large white table cloth. Oh, the larger table cloth I used was ordered online specially for this event from Displays2go (see Sources). I wanted one that would go all the way to the ground. Once again I had made a mental note of the tables I admired over the years and that stood out. It looks so elegant and clean. You can also hide boxes under the table that way. The other item that seemed to make set ups exceptional was to have a tent with flower baskets hanging on each corner. You might think, "really?" But it is so simple, beautiful, and gives such a bang for the buck! It just so happened that I had a small tent that easily fit in the space. I had bought it years ago when I was doing outside harp gigs. Anyway, I assigned my mother, since she is the artist, the task of flower procurement. She came back with four beautiful yellow baskets of pansies and daffedils to make a little swag about the horses head. My sister and sister in-laws set that up fabulously.
Now for the food and dishes. I made the Gluten-Free Cloudberry Carrot Cake (recipe from this blog) on Friday. The race was on Sunday, but it kept well in the refrigerator. For drinks I had a bottle of mead and wine for the wine cooler and silver plated goblets, which I found at Black Shutter Antique Center in Leesburg, Va. I later found another set of six goblets exactly like the original six I bought to make a set of twelve at the Black Shutter Antique Center. These are handy, because at some races, they don't allow glass stemware for fear of breakage and injuring the horses. I tried to put thought into the serving dishes, because they also make a big difference to the look of the table as a whole. My mental notes from the past said bling is good. Silver bling to be exact. See the post, Joys of Silver Plate. It is not as expensive as it looks. I have had a lot of fun collecting pieces at bargain prices and cleaning them up. Shhh, the secret is these pieces are everywhere and not in high demand, so the prices are good. They look expensive, but only I know the truth - well you do now too.
On with the food. Ready for Odyssey of the Cheese? I ordered bronost (brown cheese), a Norwegian cheese, which isn't a real cheese at all technically speaking, from Willy's Scandinavian Food Store (see Sources). It is made from cooking whey until the milk sugars caramelize, and there is no maturation process. It is often called brown geitost (goat cheese), since it is usually made from goat's milk and some cow milk. It has a sweet/savory caramel like flavor. I also ordered Farmer's Cheese (Swedish Hushållsost) from Willies. I ordered this because it looked interesting. Yep, that is reason enough for me. Anyway, when I opened it, I was suddenly taken back to when I was a little girl. I know this cheese! It was a mild, semisoft light colored cheese with little tiny holes splattered about the slice. It was a little too squishy to cut it with a knife neatly. What was the best way to slice this wheel? I cut it into wedges and the memory of my grandfather popped into my head. He was telling me, as I stood next to him at the counter that I barely tall enough to look over, that the best thing to slice cheese with was this little wired cheese slicer which he had in his hand. I now have his slicer in my drawer. I pulled it out and cut a few slices. Perfect! I tasted a piece, and it was the exact cheese we had when I was a child. I did not even think about it all these years until now. Then I sliced some jarlsburg cheese as well, a Norwegian cheese that tastes like a mild Swiss cheese. Then for the center, I put a roquefort.
A giant mound of fresh strawberries were tempting on a round silver-plate tray. I made balsamic roasted asparagus which I served chilled. Then I included a platter of deviled eggs to nibble on, and another side of sweet potatoes, cut into quarters and roasted. The main course was pulled pork which we cooked outside in our Big Green Egg (see Sources), served with barbecue sauce on whole wheat potato buns. I used my Pulled Pork Recipe and the Barbecue Sauce Recipe both found on this blog. I cooked the pork in a cast iron Dutch oven on indirect heat in the Egg. The slightly smoked flavor and moistness were incomparable. It was a great day.
At first I thought I would say a few words and post the pretty pics, but instead I decided to share my thought process into the planning of the event. It was not thrown together overnight or in a few days. It was actually a gradual process of my noting what made the most beautiful race tables over a number of years, and filing it away in my head for the time when I would actually have a space by the rail someday. Well someday is here this year, and I was able to start gathering my horsey accents and "equipment" so to speak.
This race table was fun to plan. I scouted about for a centerpiece that would be horsey. A saddle might be a little big, and too expensive. I found some plastic toy horses and even some leather ones in an antique store, but I thought they might blow away. One day I walked by Weathered Elegance in Leesburg, Va and found the perfect bust of a horse. He was made of pottery that was glazed. Now, what to do with the horse. I could have put him on a tray, but remembering other tables I have seen, I always thought that the elevated centerpieces were the most striking. I tried out different box sizes and chose one which seemed the right proportion as a base. I took an oval table cloth and draped it over the box on top of the large white table cloth. Oh, the larger table cloth I used was ordered online specially for this event from Displays2go (see Sources). I wanted one that would go all the way to the ground. Once again I had made a mental note of the tables I admired over the years and that stood out. It looks so elegant and clean. You can also hide boxes under the table that way. The other item that seemed to make set ups exceptional was to have a tent with flower baskets hanging on each corner. You might think, "really?" But it is so simple, beautiful, and gives such a bang for the buck! It just so happened that I had a small tent that easily fit in the space. I had bought it years ago when I was doing outside harp gigs. Anyway, I assigned my mother, since she is the artist, the task of flower procurement. She came back with four beautiful yellow baskets of pansies and daffedils to make a little swag about the horses head. My sister and sister in-laws set that up fabulously.
Now for the food and dishes. I made the Gluten-Free Cloudberry Carrot Cake (recipe from this blog) on Friday. The race was on Sunday, but it kept well in the refrigerator. For drinks I had a bottle of mead and wine for the wine cooler and silver plated goblets, which I found at Black Shutter Antique Center in Leesburg, Va. I later found another set of six goblets exactly like the original six I bought to make a set of twelve at the Black Shutter Antique Center. These are handy, because at some races, they don't allow glass stemware for fear of breakage and injuring the horses. I tried to put thought into the serving dishes, because they also make a big difference to the look of the table as a whole. My mental notes from the past said bling is good. Silver bling to be exact. See the post, Joys of Silver Plate. It is not as expensive as it looks. I have had a lot of fun collecting pieces at bargain prices and cleaning them up. Shhh, the secret is these pieces are everywhere and not in high demand, so the prices are good. They look expensive, but only I know the truth - well you do now too.
On with the food. Ready for Odyssey of the Cheese? I ordered bronost (brown cheese), a Norwegian cheese, which isn't a real cheese at all technically speaking, from Willy's Scandinavian Food Store (see Sources). It is made from cooking whey until the milk sugars caramelize, and there is no maturation process. It is often called brown geitost (goat cheese), since it is usually made from goat's milk and some cow milk. It has a sweet/savory caramel like flavor. I also ordered Farmer's Cheese (Swedish Hushållsost) from Willies. I ordered this because it looked interesting. Yep, that is reason enough for me. Anyway, when I opened it, I was suddenly taken back to when I was a little girl. I know this cheese! It was a mild, semisoft light colored cheese with little tiny holes splattered about the slice. It was a little too squishy to cut it with a knife neatly. What was the best way to slice this wheel? I cut it into wedges and the memory of my grandfather popped into my head. He was telling me, as I stood next to him at the counter that I barely tall enough to look over, that the best thing to slice cheese with was this little wired cheese slicer which he had in his hand. I now have his slicer in my drawer. I pulled it out and cut a few slices. Perfect! I tasted a piece, and it was the exact cheese we had when I was a child. I did not even think about it all these years until now. Then I sliced some jarlsburg cheese as well, a Norwegian cheese that tastes like a mild Swiss cheese. Then for the center, I put a roquefort.
A giant mound of fresh strawberries were tempting on a round silver-plate tray. I made balsamic roasted asparagus which I served chilled. Then I included a platter of deviled eggs to nibble on, and another side of sweet potatoes, cut into quarters and roasted. The main course was pulled pork which we cooked outside in our Big Green Egg (see Sources), served with barbecue sauce on whole wheat potato buns. I used my Pulled Pork Recipe and the Barbecue Sauce Recipe both found on this blog. I cooked the pork in a cast iron Dutch oven on indirect heat in the Egg. The slightly smoked flavor and moistness were incomparable. It was a great day.
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| The Egg Master and my son being goofy |
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