Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 8, 1993 TAG: 9304080149
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BECKY HEPLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
IT'S FUN RAISING FUNDS
MAKING MONEY can be a drag, or it can be done gourmet-style, the way these musical friends do it.
If this were the era of the Medicis, a group like Blacksburg's Master Chorale would be taken under the princely wing and supported just because it makes a more livable community with its beautiful music.
But ruling families with a penchant for the arts are as scarce as government grants, so the chorale and its sister group, NRV Friends of the Roanoke Symphony, must resort to fund-raising efforts to survive, and they have.
But this isn't your average bake sale.
Dinner with Friends, started last year, proved so popular and successful that the group is offering it again this year.
The concerts cost "at least twice what we take in on ticket sales, so we have to raise money for our concerts," said Alice Payne, who heads the committee coordinating the fund-raiser. "Last year's dinners cleared $6,000. It's just a lot of fun to participate in an event like this and a great way to raise money."
This year, 10 dinner parties are planned, kicking off with a Celtic Evening on April 24 and stretching into an Oktoberfest on Oct. 3. Some are black-tie formal, others are more casual. Each party costs $50 per person, tax deductible, which gets the party-goer a gourmet meal and entertainment in an intimate, homey setting.
"Last year, every party sold out quickly, so we're advising people to make their reservations quickly," Payne said.
The Celtic Evening - hosted by Eluned Jones, Jill and Jim Bowen and Anne and Bob Cannell - was a natural, because all the hosts and hostesses hail from the British Isles.
"I always try to do a St. David's Day Party," Jones said. "St. David brought Christianity to Wales, and that's celebrated in February. This timing's a little off, but I always like to seize the opportunity to educate people about the Welsh culture."
The menu, featuring creamed leek and potato soup, several meat pies and tarts, and ending with trifle, Irish shortbread and Welsh cake, has been modified a bit.
"We thought we'd better add a fish dish, maybe salmon or mackerel, for those more interested in their figures," Jill Bowen said. "The food does tend to be heavy in carbohydrates."
The hosts will entertain 12 guests with Celtic folk songs.
The next dinner, An Elegant Evening at Smithfield, is May 1. Hosts Donna and Dan Ludwig, Marion and Bob Paterson and Alice and Tom Payne will entertain 20 guests at Smithfield Plantation, where the three women are docents.
"The recipes are not authentic, but the meal is planned to give the impression of Colonial life in 18th century Virginia," Payne said.
Diners will sample gingered carrot soup, chicken valencia with raisin stuffing and wild rice, asparagus with lemon butter, cherry pine nut salad with raspberry vinagrette and assorted desserts.
Entertainment will be the music of Mozart on harpsichord.
Eliane and Frans Van Damme and Angie and Val Saban host An Evening on the Continent on May 8. The semiformal, continental style dinner for 10 hits the high spots of Europe with Mediterranean terrine, lobster bisque and beef Moscow, topped off with Viennese chocolate almond cake, baklava and Belgian chocolate truffles. Each course will be accompanied by an appropriate European vintage.
If you like your Celtic celebrations to be more formal, join the Thoma Browns on May 22 for an Evening at Ashford Castle.
The black-tie party for eight guests includes seafood in mini-puff pastry, roast quail with cranberry Madeira sauce, asparagus and other vegetables, each course with appropriate wines. Dessert includes hazelnut meringue cake, petis fours and coffee with liqueurs.
May 29 offers a choice from both ends of the country. Norrine and Edward Spencer and Marilyn and David Hutchins will host Springtime in Stroubles Mill for 12 guests, with an emphasis on Virginia specialities such as Chesapeake shrimp, Williamsburg cream-of-peanut soup, bourbon and honey glazed ham and the best of Virginia wines.
Ann Spencer, Scott Roop, Mary Breen Sim, Carolyn and Barret Carson will host The California Winemaker's Dinner for 12. The cuisine is definitely West Coast: spinach with pine nuts in phyllo, angel hair pasta with smoked salmon and fresh garden peas, warm goat cheese and spinach salad, beef filet Polonaise and sourdough rolls, with cheesecake for dessert, all accompanied by California wines.
The June 12 party, An Evening of Gypsy Ecstasy, commemorates the Master Chorale's European tour last year when it performed in Poland, Czechoslavakia and Germany. Mandy and Craig Fields, Libby and Don Drapeau and Linda and Carl Pfeiffer will offer Bohemian favorites such as goulash, cabbage rolls and appetizers such as marinated mushrooms, sliced cucumber with dill and cream, and salmon roll on pumpernickel.
The only thing more outrageous than the desserts for this meal, a Hungarian dobos torte and chestnut cream mousse served with expresso and liqueurs, is the entertainment. Donaldo the Dazzling, King of the Pulaski gypsies, will make an appearance.
An Enchanted Summer Evening by the Pool promises "an evening of music, wine and dinner for 16 guests . . . with after-dinner dancing under the stars."
On June 19, Marilyn and Bill Christian, Susie and Chris Baldwin, Betty and Dolph Henry and Nancy and Roger Morehouse deliver this, with a dinner of lime-kissed island curried chicken on saffron rice, marinated asparagus, homemade croissants and chilled summer squash soup. Dessert is grand Marnier berry surprise and coffee.
Chris and Paul Vining host Bella Notte in Ellett Valley on Sept. 11. Twenty guests will have Italian cuisine in a casual setting. The menu includes soup, antipasto, melon and prosciutto, four different pasta dishes (capelini is salsa di Panna e Noci, paglis e Fieno alla Fiorentine, tortellini al pollo con salsa di cipolla and gnocchi in salsa de Bietole), all leading to the main course of grilled veal and fish.
Barbara and Archie Phlegar and Carol and Mark Dallman serve up the final party, Oktoberfest.
Sixteen guests will have German specialties such as marinated herring, assorted cheeses and sausages, braised stuffed beef rolls, hot potato salad and red cabbage with apples.
They can dance off the meal with music provided by Ed Schwartz and his German band. German dress is encouraged, though not required, so this is the time to dust off your knickers, get out the liederhosen and practice those polkas.
"One of the most fun things about planning this fund-raiser is coming up with the themes for the parties," Payne said. "If anyone has any good ideas for next year and would like to host one of these parties, we certainly would appreciate it."
To make reservations or for more information, call Alice Payne at 552-2108.