Sunday night was the MCMC x Methods & Madness dinner party with chef Tessa Liebman. What an amazing night! Jo's Restaurant was the perfect venue for this experimental dinner party which focused on dishes inspired by MCMC Fragrances. Scribe Winery provided us with amazing wines (seriously, people were flipping out), Ezra Baker made single origin coffee cuppings between courses, Waldemar Albrecht acted as MC, and of course Tessa made delicious food. I got to sit back and relax, meet some very cool people, and watch as course after course of food and drinks inspired by LOVE, MAINE, HUNTER and more came out.

We started with a yuzu and basil seed cocktail inspired by LOVE. To incorporate the "methods" Tessa had us each light a match to a lime rind so we could see the essential oils being drawn to the surface. We then rubbed that on the rim of our glasses.

First course, based on MAINE, was a Spinney Creek oyster with beach plum jam on a bed of seaweed. Tessa actually had a friend collect Maine seawater to hydrate the seaweed. That's dedication. Each table had a steaming bowl of pine and rose water, and with our pippettes, we adjusted the taste of our dish with the flavors.

We had a ceviche based on AMARA (new scent coming out this Fall inspired by my recent Cambodia trip), duck confitted in jasmine flowers a la NOBLE, and a corn tamale with HUNTER sauce.

For dessert, Tessa drew inspiration from SAVANN (also due out this Fall), which has a strong mango top note. There is no natural mango oil, so a perfumer recreates the scent of mango using an accord, or combination of ingredients. In SAVANN, I use bergamot (and Italian citrus fruit most commonly used to fragrance earl grey tea), aldehyde C14 (a synthetic peach) and rhubofix, a high quality synthetic ingredient that's most akin to grapefruit rind. Tessa's take on this was an almond-milk based earl grey panna cotta with roasted peach, candied grapefruit peels, and a swish of mango puree. YUM.

Thanks to Flora Hanitijo for the photographs.