Dinner Party Series: Fabulous Femmes Film Fest (Third Annual)

This week marked the Third Annual Fabulous Femmes Film Fest - an occasion I’ve written about before. The FFFF is an informal gathering of female friends who (a) like to eat and (b) like to watch Oscar-nominated films and (c) like to eat some more. Food and films are a winning combination in this Dinner Party Series. The FFFF has sinced morphed into an annual get-away - less cooking, more traveling. Whatever you choose to do, I hope you’ll try hosting an FFFF party, too - perhaps as a potluck. 

The first year I gave this party, I was so disorganized (Translation: Blitzed) to take photos. Too bad, because that first FFFF was lots and lots of fun. You’ll find other FFFFs posted in the Index under Dinner Party Series. 

Through the magic of technology, have a peek at the second Fabulous Femmes Film Fest here. That second party was a buffet. The combination of flavors and foods was delicious! (Also through the magic of technology, here’s how next year’s Fourth Annual Fabulous Film Fest rolled out, too.) After that, I stopped taking photos.

This year, I was in the mood to cook! As usual, one thing led to another, and things got wonderfully, happily out of hand. This year’s FFFF Dinner Party began as brunch, became lunch, and morphed into dinner, with two top-rated movies in separate rooms in the morning and two more in separate rooms in the afternoon. I enjoy table-scaping, so this year’s Film Fest centered around color - and plenty of it! 

My theme used a colorful table ... Click to enlarge the images.

With glints of candlelight ...

And a rooster standing guard over our brunch muffins.

There was plenty of cutlery wrapped in paper napkins ...

As well as plenty of colorful plates ...

And plenty of food! My fridge isn’t overly large, so I often rely on an electric cooler in which to stack salads and other chilled foods. The menu? I’m happy to say that most of the recipes at this party already appear on this blog. Make-aheads worked beautifully for the brunch and lunch I planned for 14 guests. There was no last-minute panic, no staying up late the night before, and no getting up at dawn. Dinner? We raided the fridge for leftovers. 

Brunch started with iced bottles of bubbly in a colorful bucket.

Be sure you have (or can borrow) plenty of freshly

washed glasses - no dusty ones, please!

A “fun” champagne bucket always comes in handy!

I like to prepare one or two “show stoppers” while keeping most other dishes ultra-easy. Suzy’s Caviar Pie wowed everyone at brunch!  

Suzy’s Caviar Pie: Tastes as good as it looks!

We enjoyed tomato and orange juices, Blender Date-and-Orange Muffins, and Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins. These muffins would make a great breakfast or brunch for an occasion such as Mother’s Day.

Lunch was a scrumptious, make-ahead Mediterranean Chicken. 

Rosalie’s Caesar Salad

I served Rosalie’s Caesar Salad made with Nicole’s Special Croutons, Avocado Jellied Salad, and Marinated Carrot Salad (Version 1).

Marinated Carrot Salad (Version 1)

I also served Nancy’s Summer Salad and a delicious Potato Salad from Costco. You don’t have to make it all! And I didn’t. Ron made a Blackberry Pie from scratch.

Nancy’s Summer Salad and Costco’s Potato Salad

I previously blogged the recipe for this great pie, quizzically named Kenneth’s Slam-Bam-Thank-You-Ma’am Blackberry Pie. Ron’s pie was the the hit of the day!

Ron rolled out the crust ...

Added the blackberries we froze last summer ...

And out popped a pie!

Ron vanished before my guests arrived, but of everything I served, the guests liked “my” Potato Salad and “my” Blackberry Pie best! When it was all over, Ron and I put our feet up to relax with ... 

Can you see it? Can you see it?

But of course! The Perfect Loutini!