expo 67 lounge

Mid-century fashion, vintage pop culture and retro cool... from Expo 67 and beyond.

12 February 2007

TV Dinner Party

Last Saturday night, I hosted a very special dinner party. The idea was to re-create the golden days of TV Dinners, in the era of aluminum trays.

Regular Expo Lounge visitors already know how much I used to love eating TV Dinners as a child, with my mom. This made the TV Dinner Party concept just perfect for an evening with my mother and her new guy...

Deluxe TV Dinners, à la Jason...

I decided to make Martha Stewart's Perfect Fried Chicken, a recipe which I'll start 2 nights prior to a party. Along with that, I made the traditional TV Dinner mashed potatoes (full of butter and cream), but with a twist: I added sautéed leeks for flavor. And no Swanson replica would be complete without yellow corn in a luscious butter sauce.

All of this was served in rectangular aluminum trays, of course.

The soundtrack for the evening consisted of Music for TV Dinners, mixed with actual vintage TV themes: I Love Lucy, Batman, Charlie's Angels, etc.

No TV Dinner Party would be complete without watching an actual TV show. So after dinner, we sat down to The Doomsday Machine, a classic episode of the original Star Trek (which is my mom's favorite show).

Death by chocolate: Doomsday Brownies. (Note the CorningWare dish...)

For dessert, I asked my sister to bake brownies, as I recall TV dinners often including them. The concoction she came up with was decadent beyond belief: two layers of dark chocolate fudge that surrounded a hypnotic coconut macaroon center. After an indulgent second helping of this sweet cement, I settled back into my chair, in a sugary delirium.

I renamed her dessert after the show we watched: Doomsday Brownies.

Captain Kirk saves the universe from the Doomsday Machine...

images: photoshop art by author

photographs by Stephanie Stockl

Labels: , ,

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

WOW...!!! I'M FLOORED. HAT'S OFF TO THE CHEF AND THE MOST CHARMING EVENING, I'M SURE MOM WAS AS MESMERIZED AS I AM RIGHT NOW...BRAVO !! AUNTIE MOUSSE xoxoxo

4:40 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks so much Jason and P.L.for the really great dinner party. We both enjoyed it very much, and are still giggling. Your sister's brownie dessert was amazing! The food was just delicious. And of course, Star Trek was the perfect accompaniment.

Love, Mom

5:17 pm  
Blogger Jason Stockl said...

Thank you both for your comments!

It was one of my best (and most memorable) dinner parties, ever...

5:54 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The evening was most delightful!! It was surely one of the most memorable dinner parties I ever attended! ...And the brownies... ;)

6:31 pm  
Blogger stinkypaw said...

That looks soooo cool! and let's not forget yummy!!! Love those labels - quite the gifted one with PhotoShop!

2:40 pm  
Blogger Jason Stockl said...

Thanks!

Let's just say I have a very talented graphic designer in the house!

3:14 pm  
Blogger mod*mom said...

you're so creative!
why don't you do podcasts or youtube videos + then a cable tv show!
thank you so much for the lovely personalized valentine stamp kit!
i posted it on my blog.

11:13 pm  
Blogger Jason Stockl said...

Thanks, Mod*Mom!

I'm a bit camera shy, but podcasting is a possibility...

7:25 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm totally going to try the Martha recipe (or as we call her at the PuckPad®, Marfa). The hubby makes fried chicken sometimes; even though he's from the U.S. South and you'd think he'd do a good job, it's always bland.

BTW, I totally plugged your blog with an entry on mine. :)

7:07 pm  
Blogger Jeannetto said...

that mustve been great

7:53 pm  
Blogger Alexandre Patrick said...

This is an amazing party idea!

12:01 am  

Post a Comment

Home

← Older Posts

Newer Posts →