Harry Potter Dinner

Recently Rachael bought "The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook". This was a book she had gotten out of the library before and we had tried some of the recipes. A favorite is Hagrid's Rock Cakes. Now that Rachael owned a copy, her gears were turning and just cooking recipes was not going to satisfy her creativity.



She asked if she could cook dinner and since I was helping Megan with a project, it was a happily accepted offer. Rachael then went through the cookbook reading ingredient lists to see if we had the needed items for any of the main dishes. We happened upon Shepard's Pie and she began to cook. Megan reached an independent part of her project so Rachael and I worked together, chopping, browning, and mashing. When it went into the oven I switched back to helping Megan in the basement. I returned to the dining room to see that Rachael had set the table with the breakable dishes and decorated the table with various Harry Potter themed items. It was time to eat but we realized that beverages hadn't been poured yet. The only thing missing was butter beer. Quickly we melted some butterscotch chips and added it to ginger-ale for the wizarding world's signature drink. This lovely table setting inspired the rest of us to don Griffendor robes, quiditch jerseys and Jim put on his Hagrid jacket.

The meal was great. Everyone enjoyed the Shepard's pie and were generous with thankful comments. We agreed the consistency of the butter beer was a little odd so we will rework that recipe when we do it again. The meal was topped off with yummy triple lemon ice pops. It was a festive family dinner: a little fancy and very special. Rachael's projects sometimes need to be tempered with reality but this was a perfect balance of fun, theme, and function. It gives me the confidence to let Rachael run with her ideas more in the future. Who knows what we will be treated to next. Emma just got the "Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook", that might prove to be interesting.