Chatter 14 - A New Orleans Dinner

Mostly I write about restaurants - food, service, ambiance, wine whatever. Anyone can go to these places, order these dishes and express their opinions. Occasionally I have an experience which is more or less unrepeatable but I would still like to write about it. Sometimes it's at my home, sometimes somewhere else. (See Chatter 9- Dinner with Neil, or Chatter 12 -an Amish Dinner) Last night was one of those occasions. We were invited to dinner at the home of a New Orleans family. This was about as far away from our Amish dining experience as you could get. To start with the house , a mansion really, was packed with furniture, display cabinets of beautiful crockery,
glasses and Chinoisery
. We started in the kitchen with wine and a huge plate of anti pasta
before moving to the dining room. The table was magnificent,

with striking candelabra centre pieces the light from which was supported by a little additional electric light
. Dinner was served from platters of meats,
salads asparagus and greens from the garden. Dessert was ice cream with an orange brandy. The difference to Amish was firstly the elegance and secondly the alcohol but, in their way, each was an excellent dinner.