Indigo Dream

Tasting Color: A Seven Senses Feast

I feel full like the moon: my heart swelling with joy, and my mind brightened by color.

Last weekend, I hosted the second edition of TASTING COLOR. The sensorial dinner series is inspired by the COLOR issue, featuring a fictional character by Paul Auster and photography by Sophie Calle. The first event, which took place last May, focused on the color Green.

This time, we immersed ourselves in INDIGO. Our guests feasted on blue-purple foods, on a tablescape filled with azure florals, listening to a blues and jazz playlist, and indigo tactile gifts to take home.

Even though the photographs are gorgeous, a guest told me they don’t fully capture the evening. Indeed, what makes these events so special is that they have to be experienced in person. They’re about the alchemy that happens when a group of strangers get together around a table to feast, converse, laugh, and sense this colorful moment together.

The reason why I started publishing Seven Senses (more than two years ago) was to help us get back in touch with reality through all our senses. It was a way to counteract the over-digitized and artificial world we increasingly partake in.

These immersive and community based events are an extension of that desire – a way of becoming more present with ourselves and each other. It seems that we’re all hungry for that, to slow down enough to enjoy the bounty that art and nature provides, to truly connect with one another in intimate spaces, and to create moments of joy during uncertain times. The words that guests share by the end of the night reflect that intention: “enchanting”, “filled with wonder”, “heart full”, “inspired”, “magical.”

When curating Seven Senses experiences, every aspect counts: from the seating arrangement to the delicately placed blue corn kernels on the table. Some of those details may go unnoticed but the effect has a resonance. People sense the creativity, the care and love that goes into it.

It’s something that the media is starting to take notice of as well. Time Out recently featured TASTING COLOR, calling it “the most picturesque dinner party ever.”

The vision may have sprouted in my mind, but the reality is built by many dedicated hands: from the exquisite menu created by Chef Tracy Tober, to the unique space hosted by Josh Janowicz (Jōdo saké bar), to the beautiful photographs captured by Francesca Forquet.

For this full moon edition, I wanted to offer a glimpse of this memorable evening including the food menu, music playlist, and other indigo delights.

In Joy,

Sabrina

PS: Blue seemed to be part of the collective unconscious that week. A couple days before our event, The New York Times published a piece entitled ‘Why Are We So Obsessed with the Color Blue?’

SEE

Blue Space

From the blue lights at the entrance door, to blue bouquets displayed in the hallway, to a tablescape filled with blue wonders –– the entire space was curated INDIGO. We also ask guests to dress in the designated color, as we consider them active participants in this colorful experience. The visual effect is a blue immersion, a sense of indigo wonderment and a sensual and calming effect on the body and mind.

HEAR

Indigo Playlist

Listen on Spotify

My life partner is our color dinner sonic curator. He has wonderful musical taste (he used to DJ) and offers his wide-range of sonic knowledge that spans eras and genres. For the playlist, we didn’t want to fall into clichés by making the music mix too literal (with lyrics featuring the word “blue”). Instead, we wanted to create a certain mood that reflected the color: mysterious, soulful and mystical. The sonic foundation was Ethiopian jazz, such as Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou and Hailu Mergia, along with American blues, folk and jazz.

SMELL

Blue Florals

Blue is the rarest color in nature – which includes flowers and plants. Sourced at the Los Angeles Flower Market, the floral arrangement included blue and violet delphinium, hydrangea, dendrobium, anthurium and plumosa.

TASTE

Indigo Menu

Creating this menu was probably one of the most challenging endeavors for Chef Tracy Tober. For these dinners, we select the color according to what is seasonal. Our dinner was originally planned for January, but due to the LA fires, we rescheduled it for early March – the tail end of blue season.

No artificial coloring is used for any of our dinners, so we work with what nature provides us. In this case, relying on purple and blue vegetables (potatoes, carrots, cabbage), berries (blueberries and blackberries), and algaes (blue spirulina).

Here’s the full menu of seven blue tastes:

- Blue potato chips with roasted red onion and shallot dip

- Roasted purple cauliflower with kalamata olive tapenade

- Blue cornbread with melted butter and honey

- Kale and chicory salad with dried italian plums, blue stilton cheese, freeze dried blueberries, olive oil and lemon juice

- Blue potato salad with purple carrots, blue hard-boiled eggs, kewpie mayo, garlic, rice wine vinegar and miso-mustard

- Stuffed cabbage rolls with plant-based meat, rice, purple carrots, blue potatoes, ginger and garlic

- Pavlova with mixed berries and whipped crème fraiche

TOUCH

Blue Tote and Indigo Rocks

Guests took home some tactile gifts, including indigo totes with my handwritten message ‘We’re not going in circles, we’re expanding.” They were also given indigo rocks, which I brought back from Oaxaca. The rocks can be used to make pigment paint or natural dye.

Here’s how to make natural watercolors from indigo rocks:

- Wear gloves and a mask

- Delicately crush the indigo rock on a surface where you can collect the blue dust.

- If you have a glass muller, finely grind the pigment. Or you can use a rounded stone.

- Place pigment onto the surface you are using (recommend using a glass cutting board).

- Use a binder, such as gum arabic. I use a liquid form (which you can buy at an art supply store), or you can dissolve a powder form with water.

- If you plan on preserving the paint (drying it out to save for future use), you can also add a bit of honey or glycerine (acts as a humectant) to the mixture and a couple of drops of clove or rosemary essential oil (antifungal and antibacterial).

- Mix your pigment with binder (1:1 ratio) and humectant (optional) using a palette knife.

- Once you are satisfied with your final paint test, pour the mixture into pans or bottle caps and leave them to set.

If you prefer to use the indigo rock to naturally dye fabric, I recommend following this tutorial.

BALANCE

Blue Cocktails and Blue Herbs

Prior to the dinner, guests are welcomed in the oasis garden for cocktails (or mocktails). We named our cocktail “Purple Pooch” as the recipe is a twist on the classic Greyhound (vodka and grapefruit juice). Our version included freshly squeezed grapefruit, lemon and lime, along with vodka (or sparkling water for the non-alcoholic version), and with butterfly pea flower ice cubes. Miss Grass, a high-end female-owned cannabis company, also supplied boxes of their indica pre-rolls for our guests to take home.

ENVISION

Blue Zine

As a last gift, guests also took home a mini-zine that I created on the color blue, which was inspired by my recent published edition ‘Blue World’. It featured poetic excerpts, fascinating facts on the color blue, and illustrations. The cover was made from homemade watercolors using the indigo rocks.

For the invite, I also create still life installations in collaboration with photographer Francesca Forquet. Prints are now available online.