Every year my eldest son Andrew celebrates his birthday at the beach, amidst four generations of family campers and neighbours, old seventies caravans and colourful retro umbrellas. Whatever the chosen theme, every year his party seems to turn retro. One year it was Hawaiian – nothing more retro than an authentic Hawaiian shirt. The next year it was brown- a distinctly retro colour, especially brown Terylene trousers and Safari suits. This year we just cut to the chase and turned to the queen of Retro, Rachael, for assistance with decor and clothing, and to Maxine for culinary inspiration via her mother’s old retro cookbook.
I’m not sure why this retro obsession began but it was instigated around 19 years ago, when my daughter fell in love with old anodised soda syphons. Since then, she has expanded her collection to include all forms of anodised ware, lustre ware, ramekins, green depression glass, melamine serving platters, and more, lots more! Some of her collection lives in her beach caravan so that she doesn’t feel deprived while camping.
During the week leading up to the event, FB private messaging and texts were all a flurry with photos of the most ridiculous food. The best example was a warm salad dish of whole bananas, draped in ham, and blanketed with a Hollandaise sauce. The thought is so ghastly, this photo needs to be shared.
We decided on a sensible plan. A list of edible retro food was chosen. On the morning of the party, we acquired some more retro serving ware, since the local beach suburban op shops are awash with the stuff. Colourful retro shaped glasses were purchased at Kmart for around AU$5, a very fine investment. Clothing was distributed and the tables set. The retro cocktail of choice was the Brandy Alexander. This one drink alone changed the tone of the party fairly rapidly. They were extremely popular.
Drinkware: Cocktail glass
- vol au vents, filled with salmon or tuna bechamel
- sliced Kabana sausage
- coloured baby picked onions, gherkins and cheddar cheese pieces on toothpicks, stuck into an orange or a pineapple
- cocktail sausages ( little boys) on toothpicks and tomato sauce
- French onion dip, ( made with cream cheese and a dehydrated packet of French onion soup), served in a carved out white cottage loaf. Very popular!!
- corn relish dip, made with a packet of cream cheese mixed with a jar of corn relish
- pretzels, nuts and small dry biscuits
- cucumber sandwiches (white bread, no crusts)
- smoked oysters on white bread
- cheezels
Claudia threads up the cheese, kabana, and onion sticks.
We also prepared something a little larger for the stayers, (everyone!) served in ramekins of course. Someone forgot to bring out the Kai Si Ming, so they had to eat this retro classic stuffed into a Jaffle for days afterwards.
- Tuna Mornay.
- Kai Si Ming
- Savoury birthday cake ( recipe below)
Birthday boy, Andrew, cuts the cake with Maxine on the left and the Retro Ab Fab Lady on right.
Savoury Birthday Cake recipe, from Eve’s Retro Book.
