Music flavors dinner.
Spanish Menu Paella Caramel Flan Nonalcoholic Sangria Recipes 2N
After guests dine at Sam and Mary Alice Wann’s home they’re likely to say “Encore!” as both the food and entertainment is unique.
Four times a year the couple hold piano recital parties at their Whitefish Bay home, and once a year they have an opera party.
For the recital parties, the music-loving couple push all the furniture in their living room aside, set up chairs for up to 30 guests, and place a program on each seat showing who will be playing what music.
“A lot of our friends are professional or semi-professional pianists and they like to come to play,” Mary Alice said. “It’s nice for the rest of us to be able to play with the big guys.”
(Mary Alice plays, Sam does not.)
Mary Alice does volunteer work for area nonprofit music organizations. Sam is a cardiologist.
She said that at these parties guests play for about two hours, then everyone heads to dinner in their spacious dining room, at their kitchen table or at a small table set up in their library.
At a recent piano party they made two large pans of paella, non-alcoholic sangria with Concord grapes they grew in their yard, and individual flans. Guests typically bring food, too, which is set up in their kitchen.
The dishes they serve at these parties are often based on foods the couple tried on their travels.
“If we’ve been someplace traveling, after we come home we try to remember the spices in the food we ate and we try to replicate it,” she said.
One party after a trip to China featured steamed buns with Peking duck, and a trip to Russia produced a beet less borscht.
“It was a meat-based borscht, and we made it for a party in January when it was cold out,” Mary Alice said. “We also served soup and salad.”
After spending time in the republic of Georgia they made a spicy Georgian lamb and eggplant casserole, and a trip to Italy resulted in a pasta dish with seafood and homemade gelato.
For their opera parties they pick an opera and then select a menu based on the music.
“Our most recent party was ‘Madam Butterfly,’ ” said Sam.
“We served a veggie tempura appetizer with sake, miso soup, tempura vegetables, soba with toasted sesame seed sauce, salmon teriyaki, Japanese Purim pudding and green tea matcha cookies,” added Mary Alice.
Two years ago they had a party based on “The Magic Flute.”
“For ‘The Magic Flute’ we served food from Austria,” she said. “We had sauerbraten with red cabbage and other side dishes,” and Mary Alice made a Sachertorte.
At the opera events Mary Alice and some of their guests might play a few tunes on the piano, then they head to their rec room to watch a movie or stage version of the opera, which is followed by dinner.
But they don’t just grab any recipe and follow it to a T.
Sam said they look through a variety of recipes and then use bits and pieces of each to create their own dishes — and they always try them in advance.
The couple recently talked about entertaining and the piano party they would have later that day for 27-plus guests.
Q: What other kind of entertaining do you do?
Mary Alice: We have family gatherings and summer barbecues.
Q: Who does what when you entertain? Sam: I do what I’m told. Mary Alice: We decide on the menu and we try the dish ahead of time. Sam cooks the dishes for parties in advance as much as possible, then finishes them after our guests arrive.
Q: What do you love about entertaining?
Mary Alice: I love being with the people and getting to know them better. Most of the people who come to these parties have been coming for years.
Q: What are your favorite spices or flavorings?
Sam: It depends on the type of food we’re making.
I like Indian and Cajun spices, homemade barbecue sauce, basil, oregano and pepper. Not too much salt; it’s the evil of too many restaurant dishes.
Q: Do you remember the first time you entertained? Was it a flop or success?
Sam: We’ve been amateur cooks for many years. We celebrate the really good dishes and laugh about those dishes that didn’t work out exactly as planned. Both are successes. Mary Alice: I’ve always entertained and I have no idea when or what my first meal was or whether it was a success or not.
I do remember one dinner I planned for after a theater evening. I had just bought a new oven, which had a delayed bake timer, and before leaving for the theater, I put in stuffed green bell peppers. I set the bake time confident that when we returned there would be a perfectly cooked dinner.
The guests were seated at the table, I put on my heavy oven gloves and carried the peppers to the table. I then placed the peppers on the guest’s plates and told them to dig in. They did — to a cold, uncooked meal. I didn’t set the oven correctly and it didn’t bake the green peppers.
Q: What are the cuisines you specialize in?
Sam: We like almost all kinds of cuisines, but French is still the best. I like it because they have exquisite tasty little morsels of food.
Q: What are your signature dishes?
Sam: Crème brulee, gumbo and lamb chops.
Mary Alice: Dishes that are requested by friends sometimes are crème brulee, Indiana fried chicken, pork chops with milk gravy, and grandmother’s fudge.
Q: Buffet vs. sit-down dinners?
Sam: Both. It depends on how many guests and the menu.
Q: What food celebrity influences you most?
Sam: Julia Child because she explains why you do things.
Mary Alice: Also Julia Child because of the long involved instructions and explanations of how to cook. When I first started cooking I did her recipes exactly as printed and they always worked well. Now I read them and sometimes I make minor changes.
Q: How do you like to dress your table?
Sam: We have always used our best china and silver at the drop of a hat.
Mary Alice: I’ve inherited dinnerware and linens from grandparents and use them for every dinner, including summer outdoor dining. My father always told us to use the best that you have for everyone, every time. So I do and enjoy using it.