White Summer Party – A ReCap

Before summer is over in my part of the world I need to at least document our white summer party. It has not been quiet as we had imagined as it was cold and rainy. When we planned out party we had the flowy beach and sophisticated look of a a rafaello commercial in mind (see header as inspired by the invite). What else. In the end we spend a lot of time and money to get our terrace all set up, bought new outdoor furniture and accessories and plants only to move the party insides. It was raining all day long. Sigh. But we decided to not cancel and just make the best off it.

That said I didn’t really have much any decorations indoor – besides white napkins. And the little buffet signs. Ok, we did get some new white cushions for the sofa. Otherwise our apartment is rather white-grayish anyways.

And unfortunately I didn’t take many pictures either and the ones I did take were of people. So you have to do with these few shots and imagine the rest.

I don’t even have a photo of my outfit or the husbands. The husband wore white suit pant and a white polo shirt. I sewed myself a white maxi skirt of an old bed cover with a sparkling silver band at the waist and wore a white tight shirt with a square neckline.

We received a multitude of little white gifts. Probably the best one: my aunt with a bottle of milk. Ha. Also I have a ton of Rafaello now – I love that stuff.

As for the food I have a good documentation for you.

What to Serve for a White Summer Party

Here is what I had on the buffet:

White Salads

• White Bean Salad – made by me, tested earlier this year during the family reunion
  I made a double patch and it was so much left. I think I served it in the wrong glass bowl and it was overlooked. Or maybe no one liked it as much as I did. I ate the leftovers for the entire following week and it was still great. So this is definitely something to prepare well in advance and it keeps if you go camping or something like that.

• Cucumber Salad with Yoghurt Dressing – made by mom when she came to help earlier that day. This salad cannot sit for long as it draws a lot of water. It was fresh and yummy and the salad that was first gone. I think we used 3 or 4 cucumbers and then just salt and pepper and yoghurt with a splash of lemon juice.
• Pasta Salad with Peas in Yoghurt Dressing – made by me
  This salad was well liked but I just made way too much. I used a kilo of pasta. I prepared it a day prior and then added more yoghurt before serving as it dried up a bit – as mentioned in the recipe. I ate this for a few days after the party but was about sick of it with the last bite. I am not sure I would do it again. If so definitely a smaller bowl and I would probably season the yoghurt dressing a bit more. Also I used Fussili pasta but I would probably opt for a Penne, Rigatoni or Elbowed Macaroni next time.
• Potato Salad – made by my mom
  This was another salad that was gone by the end of the day. Simple and traditional is sometimes the best. And my mom’s salad is the best. The husband says so. I should probably share the recipe one day here. The secret ingredient is apples.

White Savory Foods

• Mini Schnitzel – husbands only wish for the buffet
  Store bought chicken and pork ones that I popped into the oven about an hour before guests arrived. I was hesitant to do this because of oven heat in summer (but that was irrelevant due to the rain), the smell and that I would have to serve them cold. But they were the first thing to be gone on the buffet. I guess the husband was right again. I forgot to add condiments to the buffet but it worked out nonetheless.
• Baked Cauliflower – made by me inspired by this recipe
  This was all gone by the end of the night and I had a few people tell me that they never had cauliflower that actually tasted good and spicy. The secret ingredient is Sumach/Sumak. Something I didn’t know. I read it but didn’t know what it was but then on a whim looked at the Turkish supermarket and found it.
  The texture was rather mushy though. I would have liked to have it more crisp and firm. And of course due to the reddish sumac it didn’t really look white. Oh well.

• Cheese Board – arranged by my mom, bought by me
  The board included: mozzarella balls, goat cheese, gorgonzola, brie, Fenugreek cheese (a current favorite of mine), Harzer cheese. We had crackers gathered around to go with it.

White Dips

I made double batch on all dips and it was too much for all of them.

• Fetadip – made by me a day prior
  This was well received a I was asked for the recipe. I personally thought it was maybe a bit too salty (and I eat a lot of salt). My secret ingredient because I thought the original recipe was a bit bland was fresh oregano that I added. Probably two handful for the double batch.
• Yoghurt Lemon Dip – made by me a day prior
  this was very tasty and fresh and I think it would go wonderful with grilled chicken. It was eaten but I had a bit left. I would do it again but not double batch. I think in hot weather this would have been eaten more.
• Hummus – made by me a day prior
  I was surprised this wasn’t eaten as much. I could have sworn people love hummus. I had lots left and just ate it all by myself the days after the party. I also froze some for later. I will definitely do it again. It is so easy to make fresh.
• Käsedip – made by me a day prior
  This was a total fail. I think no one ate it. It was becoming runny/liquidy and not at all cheesy. I dumped the whole thing after the party. Not recommended. Will not do again.

White Cakes

• Käsekuchen mit Baiser / Cheese Cake with Meringue – made by my mom
  This is a staple from my mom. I think I never made this cake on my own. If she wants to make it fancy she add the Meringue topic. I really need to get the recipe in order to not have it lost.

• Streuselkuchen | Streusel Sheet Cake – made by my aunt
  This was such good classic cake. The smallest guest probably ate a quarter on her own. I froze the rest and unfortunately have eaten it all by now. I need to ask my aunt for the recipe.
• Carrot Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting – made by my friend N.
  This is such an amazing recipe. I have the book with the recipe here and never done it. It might be better than my go to recipe for Carrot Cake I have been making for 30 years.

White Drinks

We decided to serve to drinks when guest arrive. Both could be done with alcohol or non-alcoholic.

• White Linnen Cocktail – my choice
  This was loved. I hardly did anything else but mix this cocktail. I wish I prepared a pitcher to be honest but I had none in the house.
  I didn’t use elderflower liquor but instead homemade elderflower sirup. Thinking of it I think I am going to make me ne tonight.
• Piña Colada – husbands choice
  He loves this drink. I never done it at home. I am not a fan. It is messy and gets weird when it sits for a while. I prepared a pitcher and by the end of the night I had to force the last glas on some poor guest. We have way too much of the ingredients still around two months later. I think it just isn’t my choice of drink. It may also be that we dont have a blender and I did it with an immersion blender.

I have gathered all ideas on this Pinterest Board “White Summer Party” if you need more ideas or variations of the above mentioned recipes.

As you can see I overdid it a bit on the buffet. Next time I would cut down on the variety of recipes and just go easy. More potatoes salad and schnitzels. Only two dips.

Lots of people left the party saying next year will be better. We had not planned to make this an annual thing but it was fun and maybe we do. And then we could actually use the cool terrace – hopefully.

Have you ever thrown a white party or been to one? What white food would you server or bring? Would you have an outfit ready to go or would you need to go shopping?