S marks the spot...

I was planning a dinner party and tried to veer away from the usual themes like Italiano, Thai cuisine, Mexican Alla Boring. So I decided to plan a three course meal where the key ingredient was "S".

That's right, every dish started with the letter "S".

First up as an appetizer we had Spanish onion Soup with Sourdough croutons. The main event was Spagetti with Salmon, Spinach and Sundried tomatoes. And to end the evening, Scones with Strawberry jam and Spray whipped cream.

Of course there were added ingredients that started with other various alphabet letters but lets not be disheartened by those minor details. You can go that extra mile and put Serviettes on the table, bring out your finest Silver wear and only serve Sauvignon Blanc all night but that's up to you.

It was a Success! It was interesting just brainstorming the possibilities. Then it got me thinking of other themes that could be unique yet palatable.

A colour theme? yes lets work with the colour orange. For entrée you could have a homemade pumpkin soup. For the main, an apricot chicken stir fry with carrots and sweet potato. Finally an orange and vanilla panna cotta. om noms!

Or maybe focus on a single product and explore its many forms. Like corn for example. you can warm up conversation over a cup of corn tea, have grilled seasoned baby corn for starters, chicken and corn risotto balls battered in cornflour for main, then corn ice-cream for dessert. ahh way to much corn in one meal. scrap that.

How about your name as the theme. Well my name's Mel, so for example I would serve something like cara-Mel flavoured marsh Mel-lows with Mel-ted chocolate aside scoops of Mel-on?

I don't know but weirdo themes are good fun and can make the dinner a lot more thoughtful than your average roast. Try it next time you organise din dins at your place.

Olives x