SARAH URIST GREEN: This
episode of "The Art Assignment" is brought you by Squarespace. A couple of weekends
ago, John and I decided to put to the test J.
Morgan Puett's art assigment to host a Scramble
Scrabble Dinner. We came up with a
list of friends, shared the video with our
guests, set a time and a date. And soon enough, we were
consuming azul tuna sushi. We decided to gather our
group a couple of days before the dinner itself so
we'd have time for shopping. Morgan advised us to limit
the game to two to six people. But we wanted to
have a bigger party, so we invited a
larger group but had only one person play the game
if they were part of a couple. First, we gathered
around a piece of linen I bought at a
local fabric store. And armed with Sharpies, began
by writing out our full names and scrambling the
letters to make names of foods and ways of
preparation and display. Then the game began with one of
us playing a word then working around the table clockwise
to add words Scrabble-style. Words we'd sketched out before
were only a loose guide. And of course, when you're
working off other words, the possibilities expand. We kept going until
the group felt we had enough words
to make a dish and then started over to
create the next courses. Whenever questions came up, we
decided the answers as a group, always keeping in
mind Morgan's advice to try to resist
the traditional. Last, we sketched out the
dishes as we imagined them from the scrabbled
words and decided who was going to be in
charge of which course and who was going to make
a playlist for the evening. Then we parted ways
until the main event. [MUSIC PLAYING] Before everyone arrived,
John and I planned our dish and made sure to hoosh
the table in a way that Morgan would approve
of by spreading out our game tablecloth and
displaying clippings we'd taken from around our yard. With the words "sushi", "share",
"azul", "manner", and "mince", John and I decided to make sushi
using fresh, sushi-grade tuna and salmon over blue rice
with a little spoonful of minced, green onion
vinaigrette over top. We presented it on
platters for sharing and assumed everyone
would use their best manners in eating it. Lauren and Andy worked
from the words "hen", "onion", "fry", "grate",
"lemon", "garnish", "ouzo", and "nest". They made an absolutely
delicious avgolemono soup with rice, served in a nest-like
bowl with a fried chicken wing on top and a glass
of ouzo to enjoy it with. Next up, Anne-Marie and Stuart
played with the words "beer", "greens", "fats", "season",
"yam", and "hominy" to create braised greens
served over stewed yams and hominy-- all in a
souvenir beer glass. Elisabeth and Michael' used the
words "tacos", "corn", "thyme", "lean", and "sauce" to make
thyme-roasted corn and mushroom tacos served with
homemade tomato sauce. Then we cleared our palettes
with a refreshing drink made by Zulaiha who played
off the words "lassi", "fizz", and "zaatar" by making a
fizzy mango lassi sprinkled with zaatar. We were all leery of
the zaatar, but it was a huge hit--
a surprising bit of spice that served as a foil
to the sweetness of the drink. Last, not least, Rosianna
closed out the meal with a desert fashioned from the
words "grits", "fruit", "tart", "sear", and "mint". She made a delectable,
seared apple tart with a grit crust
garnished with mint. It was a truly delightful meal. After doing the Scramble
Scrabble myself, here's my advice. Invite people who will
approach this challenge with abandon and
embrace the spirit of the hoosh, defy
convention, and make it weird. We all made dishes
we'd never made before. And having the freedom to
adapt and stray from recipes is central to the
pleasure of this. Don't worry about getting it
wrong or breaking the rules. Use the steps as
a rough guideline and feel free to improvise. Oh, and last of all, do it. This challenge involves
some planning for sure, but it's worth the effort. You'll have a fun
evening, eat new foods, and even have an artful
tablecloth left over to remember it by. And we all know that
nothing really happens unless you document it, right? Take some pictures of your
Scrabble Scramble Dinner and share them on your social
media platform of choice with #theartassignment. This episode is brought
to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is an easy way
to create a website, blog, or online store for
you and your ideas. Squarespace features a
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Squarespace.com/ArtAssignment for a special offer. Squarespace, build it beautiful.
