Holiday Party Planning

It's early but there has been a lot of hum-bugging going around. Employees given the task of planning their office parties are discouraged because of the small budgets they have been handed. Management is discouraged because they wish they didn't even have to set aside funds for Christmas Parties. Employees are discouraged for any number of reasons, many times because their spouse has lost their job in the last year.

Some companies are getting a little creative and finding new ways to breathe the breath of life back into a lean office party. We have a group that is using the night of their Holiday Party to host a fundraiser. This is a great way to have fun and help out a charity at the same time.

If you have not yet booked, or even started planning your Holiday event, give us a call. We are anxious to help you get creative and have a great night celebrating the people you work with without spending so much money that you all feel guilty the next day.

A catered event at our venue, the Danforth can be more reasonable than you may expect. Our space is stunning, our food is delicious, our staff is warm and accomodating. We can take all the work out of your event, so you truly can be a guest at your own party!

We can be reached at 207-879-8755

5 Reasons to Book your Holiday Party in August

With the hot sun, humidity, summer breezes and finally getting a little bit of a tan it may be hard to concentrate thoughts on Christmas plans, but here are five great reasons to reserve now.

1) More people are booking corporate parties early to avoid the crush of activity during the last two weeks before Christmas, and dates are going to fill quickly.

2) Many venues will offer a discount for early deposits.

3) Booking early takes a big task off the planner's plate, allowing time to think about the fun things in greater detail....like food and fun!

4) Booking early captures the attention of your event planner at a time when they have more free time to focus on your party in particular.

5) Booking your party early will give allow you to also book entertainment, photographers and other vendors will they still have open dates.

We at Pomegranate Parties are truly seeing a trend this year of early interest in securing dates for both personal and corporate Holiday parties. Don't get left out in the cold by waiting too long. The Danforth Inn will provide a beautiful backdrop for your Holiday entertaining needs. All of our menus are created specifically for your guest list. Please feel free to make an appointment for a tour of the Inn to see our newly renovated spaces.

Planning a Fabulous Wedding: From the Groom's Eyes

I came across a groom's review for creating a great wedding experience while reading a few personal wedding blogs and thought it was noteworthy for a couple of reasons. Normally wedding blogs are from the woman's point of view, and rarely are the guys speaking up. I loved that a groom took the time AFTER the wedding to talk about his thoughts on planning a great wedding.
The other interesting note is that the keys to success from a man's point of view, are the exact steps to create a wonderful experience that a planner would emphasis!

This is from the Wedding of Mitch and Molly, from Mitch's eyes.

Your friends and family want to help. I felt a little weird soliciting a friend to act as our officiant, but he was honored beyond measure to play such an important role in our marriage. We got him some nice gifts for his efforts and he truly seemed to feel like we didn’t owe him anything. Same thing happened with our musicians — they were just psyched to set up somewhere and play for someone they cared about. You wouldn’t get that with professionals. Don’t be afraid to reach out and see what people might want to do for you! You may be surprised.

Get creative when hiring vendors. We couldn’t have been happier with the services all of our vendors provided (Molly will go into detail about this in a later post). And all of them charged much less than the going rate. Why? Our photographer was superb, and has plenty of experience shooting weddings, but since she’s still a college student she charged us a low rate (we asked for less postproduction work than usual). The DJ was the host at a pub trivia host I attend each week. He’s a professional with plenty of experience, but since I went to him directly and not through a company, he gave me a good deal. And despite what the terrifying, monolithic floral industry would have you believe, you really can get great flowers from an independent florist working out of her home. With minimal effort, and some networking, you can save thousands of dollars on your vendors.

Take pictures before the ceremony. This was the smartest thing we did. I know some people have a superstition about the bride and groom seeing one another before the ceremony, but that’s nonsense. By getting the pictures out of the way early, we worked out most of our nerves. More important, we had much more time to spend with our guests. We even dropped in on the cocktail hour. I’d hate to have missed all that time to be taking pictures.

Put your own stamp on it. Every wedding does most of the same things, but that doesn’t mean you have to do those things the same way you’ve seen them done before. Plan your wedding in a way that reflects your personality! We had a few surprises throughout the evening: Molly’s dad handed me a fake dowry when he was giving her away. When we were introduced at the reception, Molly and I ran around the room high-fiving people. And we had an ice cream sundae bar in place of cake. I’m not saying you should do these things specifically. But look at what opportunities you have to put your own stamp on the event. That’ll make it memorable for you and your guests.

Pay as much up front as possible. I can’t overstate how good it feels not to have any debt hanging over us as we begin our marriage. We cut costs in every way we could, and we also made sure to pay however much we could at every step of the way. We didn’t have to, in most cases, but you don’t want all those bills coming due at the same time. Nor do you want to put stuff on the credit card and have it building up interest while you’re trying to enjoy your honeymoon. This is true not just for weddings, but for every major purchase in your life. (Here I should mention that we were fortunate to have some significant financial assistance from our families, which I know isn’t always the case for people.)

Have awesome friends and family. I guess this is luck of the draw more than anything. But it sure helps!

It's Official: A Fabulous Venue for Pomegranate Parties

The grande dame of the historical Portland Maine Inn scene the Danforth Inn, located in the Olde Port district of Portland, is the most recent addition to the family of Bed and Breakfasts owned by Kimberly Swan of the Swan Agency, Bar Harbor, Maine. We are thrilled to offer Portland this beautiful venue for intimate, elegant and contemporary events.

Currently closed for renovations, we plan to open to the Public by May 15th.

An ongoing supply of updates will be available here, and also on the Danforth Inn Blog, and also via our page on Facebook entitled: Danforth Inn.

We look forward to carrying on the rich history of the Inn both as a Bed and Breakfast, and stunning backdrop for many of life's most celebratory occasions.

Maine Food Ambassador Program

I am pleased to announce that I will be starting a round of classes this week, to learn more about the Foods, Wines and Beers of the State of Maine as part of a certification program to become a Food and Wine Ambassador for the State of Maine. This is approximately a year long course with a series of rounds of classes on different topics, starting with cheeses.

The cheese classes will give participants the language to describe specific cheeses, ideas regarding how to serve and prepare cheeses, and help define Maine's niche in the wider cheese world.

As both an Innkeeper, and caterer I am looking forward to the expanded knowledge base I will receive and how it will apply to enriching both the Inns and the Event Side of our business.

"Better" than Oreo Cookies

I am a little fickle when it comes to baking. I'll work on a recipe, make it often and keep tweaking...and then suddenly forget about it and move on to something else. Quite a while ago I had been working on an oreo recipe that I was pretty happy with, but it never quite got there....then like the weather in Portland...something changed and they fell of my radar. Thanks to Smitten Kitchen they popped back into my mind while pondering how to console myself in the kitchen during our latest snow storm. Ahh...problem was too much sugar in the actual cookie. Oreos are actually not very sweet, and just a tad salty. Back to the kitchen I went and quickly whipped up a batch....and they ARE quick to make...so for all of us instant gratification people, this is sweet news! Initial reviews have been very good....one of my wonderful housekeepers here at the Inn promptly announced that they were much better than the real thing because the filling is flavorful and not so waxy...and my darling of sweets, my king of all things baked is in love, love, love with this new version. His greatest critique was just that he felt too guilty to eat the whole lot in one sitting.

Oreo cookies
Makes 25-30
For cookie:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa (don't substitute!)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt...plus a tiny pinch
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons rooms temperature unsalted butter
1 large egg,room temperature

Filling:
1/4 cup room temperature unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
For cookies:
In food processor bowl (can use mixer...but this is SO fast!) mix flour, cocoa, baking soda,
and baking powder, salt and sugar. Pulse to mix thoroughly. While pulsing, add butter, and then the egg. Continue processing till dough comes together in a mass.
On a parchment lined cookie sheet, take teaspoons of dough and roll to a ball, and then with moist hand, flatten slightly to get that oreo look as they bake. Use two sheets doubled up if you don't have air pans.
Bake for 9 minutes, and rotate halfway through. Check....don't over bake!
Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
For filling:
Place butter and sugar in mixing bowl, and whip until light. Add low speed, add sugar and vanilla gradually. Whip on high for 2-3 minutes until nice and fluffy.
Using a pastry back with a 1/2" star tip, pipe on a good sized dollop of filling on half of the cookies (flat side). You have enough filling for a rounded size teaspoon worth on each cookie to get a nice generous filling.
Top with the flat side of the the other half of disks, matching like sizes up together.

This is a cookie that benefits from a smaller size when you are preparing them for baking. Too much dough, and they don't look like their namesake