Fabulous Food in an El Paso Barn

Okay, I know my Blog is geographically located in North Carolina and Georgia.  But, let's take a pleasant side trip to the Home/Barn of Richard & Helen Knopp in El Paso, Texas.  Helen is my Husband's sister, and she has the impish look of their Father, Harold.

Same twinkly eyes, same engaging grin.  Not to mention the freckles.

From a very early age, Helen has been stone-cold in love with Horses.

Meet Ladie Zortanna, her current horse-love and Dressage Partner.

And, she has a son, Troy Williams, who is stone-cold in love with the preparation and presentation of fabulous foods and wines.  Never mind that he is a Corporate Suit during the day - after he clocks out, he dons his REAL uniform and rocks the kitchen.  Take a look:

Here is Troy with Rosie, his  Sous-Chef for the Barn Dinner, in the trenches with their tools and raw materials near at hand.

 Helen & Richard love to entertain close friends and family, and knew they could call on Troy to stage an all-out dinner in the Barn amongst the horses, with numerous courses and lots of wine.  After some Serious Barn Cleaning, the stage was set and ready for the props:

The setting of the Dining Table in front of the stalls is watched with great anticipation...the horses are certain that all this fuss and attention to detail is being done just for them.

 As the sun drifted towards the horizon, the participants gathered in the sweet evening air, and the event began.

The table was adorned with a Southwestern floral arrangement, and place cards that were die-cut specifically for the dinner.  See the little horses on top? 

The lovely meal begins with a soup composition.

 
The evening progressed with the participation of the horses, who were simply delighted that their humans had organized this event for them:

Swapping kisses for the Gruet.

They looked on as lovely, lovely compositions were served by Chef Troy:

 

There was no photo for the Seventh Course, which was a Spanish Surf 'n Turf.  Sounds yummy, of course.  So I inserted a photo of our intrepid and very talented chef, who is serving after all that work with the utter delight on his face that comes from following his passion.  Forget the hard work, this is what he loves to do.  And it shows.

All good things must come to an end, but what satisfaction is on these faces!

 Kudos to Troy, and to Richard and Helen for sharing your photos with us for this blog.  I am always delighted to see an artist at work - the energy and passion and sheer happiness in the final result is just, well, Stone-Cold fabulous!