Storybook Dinner Comes To Life

Fans of Washington Irving can dine like the fabled characters in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, a collection of 34 essays and short stories published in the early 19th century, at Ahwahnee Hotel in California's Yosemite National Park Dec. 13 to 25.

Each year the dining room at Ahwahnee Hotel is transformed into a 17th century manor for the Bracebridge Dinner, a seven-course dinner-that recreates the Yule celebration in Irving's The Sketch Book, which includes the more famous The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.

Though seven-course dinner is part of an elaborate, four-hour interactive performance. The menu includes "The Relish", a savory chevre cheesecake with arugula pesto and crispy root vegetables; "The Soup", a roasted kobocha squash crème fraiche with pumpernickel croutons; "The Fish", a smoked salmon and dungeness crab timbale with upland cress drizzled with citrus-farm egg vinaigrette; "The Peacock Pie", braised California pheasant and chestnut pithiview with roasted parsnip purée and huckleberry jus.

Rounding out the courses are "Boar's Head and Baron of Beef", a roasted Brandt beef tenderloin with potato and cauliflower gratin, Swiss chard and bordelaise sauce; "The Salad", an endive salad with candied pecans, shaved fennel, and blood orange vinaigrette; and plum pudding and wassail with brandy apricot.

Dinner-only tickets for the Bracebridge Dinner are $299, but three area hotel also has a dine and stay packages which include accommodation, shuttle service, a professional portrait sitting, and dinner for two for $1,125 per night.

Nikki Maniscalco is a Junior Writer at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @NikkiMarie2116