The smell was quite disgusting. Large, rotten fish were laid on handsome silver platters; cakes, burned charcoal black, were heaped on salvers; there was a great maggoty haggis, a slab of cheese covered in furry green mould and, in pride of place, an enormous grey cake in the shape of a tombstone, with tar-like icing forming the words, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, died 31st October, 1492. (Book 2: UK 102, US 133)
Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington’s Deathday Menu
Halloween 2016 marked Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (lol, that name)’s 524th Deathday, and we wanted to celebrate in style! We decided to recreate Nearly Headless Nick’s 500th Deathday feast, which featured …
Fish, laid on handsome silver platters (we opted for poached salmon).Cakes (Jenne found us a recipe for very cozy spiced tea cakes).Slabs of cheese (appropriately moldy).But don’t worry; we also got cheese we could actually consume. Appropriately English cheese.
An enormous grey cake in the shape of a tombstone. (Although it turned out to be dry and not terribly tasty, it certainly looked very impressive.)Peanuts for nibbles.And for those who were brave enough to try it, haggis (spoiler: haggis is every bit as disgusting as you’d expect it to be.)Just for funsies, we also had cheese fondue, because it’s delicious and looks v. cauldrony, and mulled wine with skull apples in it.Guests were asked to dress up in Harry Potter garb or as their favorite ghost!Jenne as the Tongue-Tying Curse Dumbledore, a.k.a. old Dusty.P.S. You can get a toilet seat for about $7 at Home Depot if you need a cheap and impressive Moaning Myrtle costume prop.
Did it measure up?
Yes! Even the dishes that didn’t turn out super-tasty added to the authenticity of the feast — after all, there was nothing edible at Nick’s 500th Deathday.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. London: Bloomsbury, 1997.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1999.
36 Eggs 