In the Party Spirit

The Art of the Handmade Gathering

I’ve been a party animal for as long as I can remember. It started with an early flair for tea parties (real and imaginary), continued with an obsession over birthdays (literally anyone’s) and blossomed into hosting “fancy” weekly dinner parties through college. For the last 10 years, I’ve been at one to two parties a week through my craft cocktail catering company, Little Bitte.

Though I love to celebrate just about anything, I’m most moved by the parties that come together last minute and of the moment, with friends; a mix of glassware and bowls helter-skelter on the table; plates with simple yet delicious snacks piled high. That is what I call the art of the handmade party.

I recently joined creative forces with artist and ceramicist Liz Welch and chef/artist Siobhán Chavarría to toast the one-year anniversary of Liz’s Providence-based ceramics business, Anyhow Studio. It happens to be the ideal setting for a casual and colorful artsy party. Our goal was to have recipes prepped the day before so we could focus on the fun at party time.

Siobhán is the heart and brains behind the new Rhody-based food project Orchid Contraband, devoted to her passion-driven culinary experiments (think chocolate cake made with ancient grains, and imaginative cheese plates that will knock your socks off … in a good way), private chef gigs and the occasional pop-up. When preparing for a party, Siobhán leans on recipes that encourage eating with your hands and those with a balance of rich and delicate flavors. Her greatest hits include updated party staples like magenta pink beet deviled eggs, her signature olive mix with lemon zest, and a savory-sweet mix of salted nuts with slivers of dried apricot for the perfect toothsome chew.

We used Liz’s copious artful ceramics to plate the food and drinks and I added a few of our friend Pierre Bowring’s colorful handblown glasses to the table for visual texture. For drinks, I prepared two pre-mixed beverages: a delightfully smoky and herbaceous mezcal negroni called the Fireside Negroni and the Butterfly Limonata made with fresh lemonade infused with butterfly pea blossom tea (which you can find online and in tea shops) to achieve an ethereal and appealing lilac hue. Unsure whether we were preparing enough for 10 or 20 guests, we made plenty to share. Our advance work paid off and we only needed a half hour to prep on the day of, after which we were free to commune with our guests—the actual purpose of hosting a handmade gathering.

Photos taken at Anyhow Studio, Providence: Owner/artist Liz Welch hosts an assortment of ceramics classes in her community studio; visit AnyhowStudioProvidence.com for class schedules and more information.