THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996 TAG: 9606250046
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL RUEHLMANN, SPECIAL TO FLAVOR
LENGTH: 166 lines
SUPPOSE YOU invited a bunch of people to a party, and they threw it for you.
It works like this: You ask guests to come to dinner. When they arrive, you tell them to get busy and cook it.
Then you pour yourself a drink, kick back and watch them work.
You can actually bring this off without losing your friends when you have them play ``Stir Crazy!,'' Decipher Inc.'s inventive new dinner party game.
``There's a need today for ways to entertain at home easily and casually,'' says Cindy Thornburg, 39, president of the Norfolk-based game company. ``You'd like to have people over, but after you've worked all week, the last thing you want is to spend six hours on a dinner party where everybody else has fun and you don't. You want to relax with your guests; Stir Crazy! allows you to do that.
``It turns the tables on them.''
Literally and figuratively. To prove the point, Thornburg invited me and a few other food fans to artist Vicki Bruner's house in Virginia Beach for a spontaneous round of play. Bruner designed the Stir Crazy! package and promotional materials.
In fact, Bruner and her teen-age son, Barry, gave the game its name; the working title, ``Food Fight,'' seemed less inviting.
Bruner's house is the only thing besides the grub that does not come with the game. The ``dinner party in a box'' - now available from $28 to $30 in Mexican, Chinese and Italian versions at specialty and department stores - contains a host guide, an instruction tape with ethnic music to match the cuisine, a dozen invitations, name tags, aprons, chef hats, menu cards and an ingredient list. You buy the ingredients.
Then you divide the guests into competitive teams and let them outcook each other.
Observes Terree Neal, an account sales manager from Norfolk, ``It's a great ice breaker.''
She's absolutely correct.
And you go on breaking the ice all evening. TURNING THE TABLES
``Buona sera, amici!'' greets the tape. ``You have been invited here this evening to participate in a very special dinner party - in fact, a cooking party! Before you can sit down to eat, you will divide into two teams and compete to prepare a delizosia Italian meal.''
I am elected Master Chef of the Salt Team. This is not attributable to any extraordinary experience on my part as either leader or cook. Nobody else wants to be Master Chef and wear the funny hat; so, while I am temporarily distracted by the full-size stuffed zebra in Vicki Bruner's living room, I receive the honor by acclamation.
My opposite number, Master Chef of the Pepper Team, is Catherine Leitch, 21, a writer for Port Folio magazine. Like the rest of the guests, she is hipper than I am, and younger. I have been 21 twice.
My team: Bernd Bey, 37, a linguist; Sally Reeve, 31, an interior designer; Jimmy Reeve, 31, an environmental consultant; Laurie Rogers, 35, a games consultant; and Deane Rogers, 39, a food broker.
At 6:30 p.m. I am named Master Chef. At 6:31 I begin to relinquish control. Deane the food broker has, by definition, some crucial connection with comestibles, and an organizing spirit to boot.
``We can do this!'' he notes.
But he won't put on the hat.
``In a few moments,'' predicts the voice on the tape, ``you and your team will acquire your share of the ingredients your host has provided. You will then have 90 minutes to prepare an Italian appetizer, entree and dessert using all the ingredients you have chosen. You must use at least part of every ingredient you take.''
With the help of a spinner and our wits, we divide up the goodies.
Everybody wants the pasta and tomatoes; the carrots and cauliflower become culinary Old Maids. Since presentation counts, and we are also responsible for table settings for the opposing team, Jimmy has an idea:
``We could,'' he suggests, ``carve little Italian men out of the carrots.''
But Deane is already busy dividing up responsibilities. Bernd finds himself, for the first time in his life, skinning and boning a chicken. He amuses himself during this chore by audibly positing possible causes for the bird's demise.
``Just remember,'' Jimmy reminds us, ``this is more than a game - it's our dinner!''
Deane moves without waste motion, accomplishing crucial things with basil and garlic and talking about not overdoing the breading.
Delizosia.
``It kind of ticks me off,'' confides Laurie, who is married to Deane. ``Look at him. And he never, never cooks at home.'' PROOF OF THE PUDDING
It is not the first time Decipher Inc. has set about entertaining people creatively. The company slogan: ``No more bored games!'' Decipher is responsible for 13 versions of the internationally popular ``How to Host a Murder,'' as well as an interactive VCR amusement with original footage using ``Star Trek: The Next Generation'' actors, sets and special effects.
Last year, Decipher allied with LucasFilms to produce a ``Star Wars'' card game.
The original idea for Stir Crazy! came from Cathy Rondeau Dobosz, a game inventor from Fairfield, Conn., in 1994. It took two years for Decipher to iron out all the kinks. Rondeau Dobosz, 42, received payment for the concept and will get a royalty for every dinner-party-in-a-box sold.
``I was sitting out on the patio thinking about doing a new project,'' she said from her home. ``I had just done one on singing, which adults like to do together after a few beers. And I asked myself, what do friends like to do besides sing when they get together?
``Eat.''
Back at the bistro, by 8 p.m. the allotted 90-minute cooking time is up, and the Salt Team is trading congratulatory high-fives.
Our menu:
Greasy Freezy Capresi, the appetizer. Crisp Romaine lettuce topped with fresh tomato slices, layered with provalone cheese and a touch of prosciutto, drizzled with Italian dressing (the ``greasy'') and sprinkled with freeze-dried basil (the ``freezy'').
Ricotta Garlic Bread, a bonus.
Napoli Fried Chicken, the entree. Tender chunks (thank you, Bernd) of ``slow chicken that didn't have a chance to cross the road'' (Jimmy's designation) sauteed in rosemary, thyme and garlic oil, surrounded by a ``Mediterranean medley'' (neatly taking care of the carrots and cauliflower).
Parmesan-Rosemary Potatoes, another bonus.
Fuzzy Cannoli, the dessert. Sweet pastry shells stuffed with fresh, succulent peaches in a paste of sugar, vanilla and Italian cream cheese.
Bravissimo!
Catherine's Pepper Team is no slouch, either, with Mushroom Mafia Marinato, Plentiful Perishable Penne (sausage and salami in tomato basil sauce) and Berries Bouzella (raspberries, chocolate bits and almonds topped with whipped cream).
They will lose points for over-alliterating, however, and the centerpiece they provide seems a tad uninspired: an eggplant stuffed with a candle.
Presentation, Sally reminds us, counts - and can anybody here open the bottle of chianti for the Pepper Team?
Deane (who else?).
The steamily ambrosial results, shared all around, are superb. Our oregano-enclouded company enjoys a sense of camaraderie as well as achievement. Conversation flows, on such subjects as Fabio, greyhounds and the natural superiority of the Dave Mathews Band.
Comes the point-system voting on dishes and table settings, from all participants and several browsing noncombatants:
The Salt Team wins, 49 to 36, with the Pepper Team earning the Dish the Dog Wouldn't Eat Award for its appetizer (which contained the remainder of the eggplant).
``The neatest thing about this game,'' observes Deane, basking in a limp but well-deserved postprandial torpor, ``is that you're forced to creativity; you have to produce - or risk losing.''
We have fun and eat well.
Want to do likewise?
Go out and acquire an edition of Stir Crazy!, the dinner party in a box; Bouillabaisse on Colley Avenue in Norfolk has 100 of them in the window.
One other thing:
Invite Deane. ILLUSTRATION: COLOR PHOTOS BY MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The
Virginian-Pilot
Steve Carper, left, Deane Rogers, center, and Jimmy Reeve prepare
dinner as part of a game of Stir Crazy! at the Virginia Beach home
of Vicki Bruner.
After the game is finished, Monica Jones, left, and Cathy Wright
reap the rewards.
Steve Carper and Angie Sheppard talk about the dishes they're fixing
in competition with another team of guests.
Photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Laurie Rogers, left, confers with Sally Reeve as they pass the
spinning wheel at the start of Stir Crazy! by CNB