It all sounds delicious! Peach Melba was my favorite dessert when I was growing up. How will you deal with the lobster if both you and your DH are allergic?

@porkandham that is why I am doing a high/low appetizer.... tuna salad on chips LOL

DH didnt; want to give up the alliteration of @jojoco's first suggestion, the Seven Seas*. By moving some things around and changing out the cocktail, we were able to come up with this :

The Captain’s Table Seven Seas Tasting Menu

North Atlantic

Mini Lobster salad in pastry puffs

South Atlantic

Tuna salad on potato crisps

Indian Ocean

Iced Tea Bar with homemade Assam sun tea, and Roobios Tisane

(With simple syrup, mint, lemon, and lemonade for Arnold Palmers)

South Pacific

Pitcher of Mai Tai

Arctic Ocean

Watermelon gazpacho served on ice

North Pacific

Korean Beef

Southern Ocean

Strawberry Pavlova Shortcake

*The term "Seven Seas" historically refers to a collection of major sea areas, though its exact definition has varied throughout history. In modern usage, it often refers to the seven largest bodies of water on Earth: the Arctic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Southern Ocean.

I guess my question should have been, do you only have issues if you consume shellfish? Can you safely touch it?

Ahh, i can touch it but i cannot taste the sauce … i went to the E R once when i tasted the sauce for Coquille St Jacques.

I have a local source for shelled cooked lobster to go. i chop it, dress and garnish very lightly, et voila.

btw tuna fish on chips is my FAVORITE lunch

Nobu serves tuna sashimi on potato chips! imho it tastes the same

I love caviar on potato chips. Will have to try tuna salad!

The menu is perfecto!

I've never heard of tuna on chips - although in one post you wrote crisps. Regular potato chips? or some exotic version?

One of my kids serves shrimp salad on wheat thins.

The brits call them crisps and sometimes it is used to be fancy. i know a local deli that makes their own. i don’t own a fryer

ooh , these!!!

What fun! I love your table setting.

It all sounds wonderful - I just am amazed at your ability (and others) to entertain like this!

@ Funky - let's do lunch :) Tuna salad with chips (usually corn but I see I have options) is my favorite !!

Wow! Sounds like it’s going to be a
going to be a delicious fun filled
gathering. Love how much thought and how creative you are in making it so special.

Another high class delicacy on ruffles or chips is sloppy joes. Trust me on this. Is not quite highbrow enough for this menu though but makes a good lunch.

Excited you get to use your initial plates and that Queenie wasn't invited!

I love everything about this. Wonder if I could get the cookbook club to try something similar one month - assign a sea and a course and let each come up with her interpretation. We have no allergies and only one strong aversion (duck).

Just read my post.🤪

Sorry responded by phone

Does anyone else have trouble seeing past the first line of a response on their phone? Sometimes I can scroll and see the rest, but more often, I’m flying blind!

@Arapaho-Rd oh yes! I like a sturdy ridged or wavy chip-- like Simply Ruffles or Cape Cod lower fat Wave chips. I have made "nachos" with tuna though lol. No salsa or cheese (so NOT nachos), but tuna scattered on tortilla chips with butter lettuce, chopped tomatoes and green onions. Silly single girl meals LOL

@Funkyart, I”m going to have to put your tuna nachos into my rotation! What a great idea.

Yes, really, it is a delish combo. I think that is why Nobu "copied" it LOL!

Having a lot of fun with this. We are actually vacationing in NYC for a few days and on the way I stopped at Ikea and found the perfect bowls for a bed of ice for my Gazpacho Arctic presentation.

And I spent only $25 for ten of them!

Now looking at fun ice molds! Dolphins, sea shells, etc.

Mtn, everything looks just perfect, and the menu is fabulous.

Being the super shopper you are you’ve likely already seen these, but thought I’d post them anyway. Had to return something to Anthro today and saw them. The serving pieces were the cutest. Of course you don’t need any plates, but the platters were melamine or something not breakable.

What a fun and delicious-sounding menu!

@OutsidePlaying, cute!

I just bought these:

For tuna salad and chips!

I realllllllly wanted to buy these but I have multiple sets of outdoor plates. Actually, that's a lie. The only reason I didn't buy them is because there are only 3 left. In the pink, there were 5 left a few minutes ago and now it is zero. Love.

PS I know I know. More coastal kitsch. Stop me before I get a "welcome to the beach sign, ok?"

I am going to print up the menu, but only one copy, framed on the bar.

DRAFT:

@bbstx, Can't imagine why your club wouldn't like the 7 Seas theme? Especially as liberally interpeted as I have. Otherwise I am guessing it'd be more like the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Just Wow! And I was concerned feeding 35 for lunch with easy salads! All these fabulous special little delicacies have me dizzy at the prospect of putting them all together. Its going to be beautiiful by the pool and next to the ocean! Photo please!!!

* A M A Z I N G *

Awesome, Mtn! I saw the chip and dip platter too but didn’t get a pic of it. Glad you got the fish platter, it is so cute.

Did you see the cups? I couldn’t remember if you were serving iced tea, but they were nice, and you could let your guests take them as ’party favors’. Doesn’t really match your color scheme tho.

Love your menu card!

“Strawberry Pavlova Cheesecake”? I’m intrigued. Is that a cheesecake topped with a meringue shell and strawberries?

@bbstx

“Strawberry Pavlova Cheesecake”

I'm not sure exactly what it will be! I need to test some ideas. I wanted to do Pavlova since it suits the Southern Sea category, but making meringues in August can be tricky if it is humid. You can end up with unintended dental extractions. One of my fave local bakeries makes meringues from time to time, but even they avoid doing so on humid days.

I have made Eton mess a lot, so wanted something a little different. I came across the recipe below. I am thinking individual mini cheescakes w graham cracker crust (not using the white chocolate she suggests - why?). Then fold crushed meringues in unsweetened fresh whipped cream, and top w macerated strawberries in their juice. Essentially a very traditional cheesecake w strawberry topping, elevated by a fresh whipped cream that gets texture and sweetness from crushed meringue ...

https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/no-bake-eton-mess-berry-cheesecake/

So really, Eton mess cheesecake but that makes the link to Southern Ocean more complex... so kill me

It'll probably look similar

That dessert looks awesome!!!!

Before I posted, I googled. I found one Strawberry Pavlova Cheesecake that was a pavlova with a cheesecake-type filling topped with strawberries.

I have your wattermellon recipe, but could you post the lobster salad?

ETA: of course I am lobster deprived in North Alabama. My options are frozen lobster tails or Patigonia lobster, also frozen.

I will have to make regular shortcake, not meringues, since hubby would not touch.

I am shamlessly stealing you menu.

Sherry, would you consider adapting the menu to show off the region’s pluses….like substituting shrimp for lobster?

Commander’s Palace did that in one of their cookbooks. For example, instead of Trout Almandine, they made Trout with Toasted Pecans and Meuniere. Almonds aren’t found in the South, but pecans are. It is one of my favorite dishes!

I cook shrimp at least once a week, sometimes more. I buy the Florida pink shrimp mostly. It is flash frozen on the boat at Key West and I can buy at Publix.

I was just thinking of doing something different. I have about a zillion ways and recipes for shrimp. My maternal grandmother lived just outside of Mobile and my grandfather either caught the seafood or bought it straight off the boats.

She made stuffed crab in a lasagna pan. Could not be bothered with piddling and stuffing blue crab shells.

Sherry, I am honored you like my menu so much.

For someone who does not eat lobster, I make it at least twice every summer. We literally see lobster traps bobbing in the ocean right in front of our house. We drive less than 2 miles to a little shack that sells it cooked and shelled. My guests go wild for it. Since it is ostensibly the finest and freshest of its kind, I prepare it very simply.

First I make the puffs. I cut DuFour pastry (all butter!) into rounds with concentric cookie cutters and brush with egg wash. Bake, cool, and push down in the middle to make room for the filling.You can also buy frozen Puff Pastry Cups, but I don't think I have seen them from Dufour.

For each pound of lobster (chopped into small pieces), I mix it with a dressing made from:

1/4 c Hellmann's Mayo

1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice, strained

2T finely chopped celery

Put a heaping spoonful in each puff. Garnish with snipped fresh chives, white pepper, and flaky ...sea salt!

I miss going to Maine for the lobster. Reds Eats - best lobster rolls on the planet.

We get takeout of steamed lobsters at least once when we're in Cape Cod. They're great but somehow not as good as my memory of the lobsters we'd get in Maine.

Footbridge Lobster, Ogunquit. About 90 miles closer to you,too.

I’m jelly

Come to Maine and I will make the meal for you, since the theme was yours!

Is that an open invitation 😂

sure!

I did wonder about the lobster, since both of you are allergic to shellfish, but living there you would know how to cook even if you could not taste.

This lobster salad is the only preparation I make, and I buy the lobster cooked and shelled. I serve it as a passed appetizer so then it doesn't really matter that we don't eat it.

My oldest grandson is highly allergic to dairy. He has worked and is now a manager of CheeseCake Factory. A restaurant full of dairy!

I like lobster, crab and oysters. Scallops can incapacitate me just from tasting the sauce in which I cook them. Shrimp gives me a headache. Clams give me intestinal issues. None of it has ever caused breathing issues

I used to get lobster and crab dishes at a restaurant that was a block from a hospital, just in case. Then a Dr. told me that while it is possible to be allergic to some crustaceans/mollusks and not others, it is likely I am allergic to most if not all. Moreover, you can have mild reactions all of your life and suddenly have a very severe one. Conclusion: no crustaceans or mollusks anywhere anymore. I also avoid oyster sauce and the like.

Sherry; fyi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAwQNNe8YhM

Yes, I understand there are two camps, mayo and butter.

In other news, having fun with other details. Who knew there were tasteful drink umbrellas for my Mai Tais?

And since we will being down at the pool for drinks, apps, and playing bocce, I need a pool float. for "decor." Over the years they all seem to break.

These come in the most tasteful color ways, too

Fun! Maybe consider adding a sea-bird kite or two over the pool, or on poles, for more interest. These from the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum (<link) look OK, esp the Seagull and the Eagle.

Hmm, not really our theme. But what would keep a kite airborn?