Dinner in the Dark...Who's With Me?

Okay...this is maybe a little out-there for some of you readers. But one of the participants, K. J. Holmes, is a teacher/mentor/friend of mine and an exceptional artist, and all of the projects I've seen her participate in have been sort of life-altering and, well...I just really want to do it, okay? And I want to extend an invitation to any other interested culinary bloggers. Come on, you know it sounds awesome.

What: DARK DINING - A Sensory Feast Served to Blindfolded Guests
When: Monday, February 20 and Tuesday, March 7 at 7 PM.
Where: CAMAJE Bistro, 85 MacDougal Street, NYC
(West Village between Bleecker and Houston)
Price: Four course meal plus wines, $70 per person, tax and gratuity additional.
How: Reservations required. Please call 212-673-8184.

For Additional Information and Schedule of Upcoming Events: Visit www.darkdiningprojects.com
Contact: Dana Salisbury 917-686-7474
dana@darkdiningprojects.com
www.darkdiningprojects.com

DARK DINING: THE ZEN OF SENSORY FEASTING

In "Dark Dining," guests stretch their senses while feasting blindfolded and in silence on a luxurious four course meal.7 PM Monday, February 20 and Tuesday, March 7. Brought to you by Dark Dining Projects Founder Dana Salisbury and Chef/Owner Abigail Hitchcock of New York City's CAMAJE Bistro. No visual distractions; you are wearing a featherweight mediation mask that blocks all light. You aware of others around you, yet fully immersed in your own sensations, which are stunningly alive. Complex and delicious aromas reach you from the kitchen where chef Abigail Hitchcock is preparing a four course meal with wines. You eat turning the tastes and textures over on your tongue trying to ferret out the secrets of the menu. Simple things, and simply being, take on new depth and lightness.

The evening's events unfold around you, some nearly imperceptible and others impossible to ignore. Under the artistic direction of Dana Salisbury, dancers Silvia Birklein and K. J. Holmes bring soft, rippling air currents and light mists. The breathy sound of a Japanese flute played by a shakuhachi master James Nyoraku Schlefer floats in the air; its ethereal clarity transforms the room until it seems to hover in time and space. In stark contrast, the sharp, quick and unbelievably complex rhythms played by Douglas MacKenzie on the mrdangam, kanjira and morsing, percussion instruments from the South of India, bring you back to the present, grounding you squarely in the here and now and the voluptuous Zen of sensory feasting.

The evening's mysteries, at least a few of them, are disclosed, when, at the end of meal, guests are handed a sealed card revealing the menu.Vegetarians and other dietary requests can be accommodated and should be specified when making reservations. Guests will remain blindfolded during the entire meal; however, they will be guided to bathrooms which will remain completely lit.

ABOUT CHEF ABIGAIL HITCHCOCK
Abby Hitchcock has been a private chef, run her own catering company, and cooked for Martha Stewart Living Television, The Tea Box at Takashimaya in New York City, Vong in London, and the BBC's Good Food Magazine. She has been mentioned in the New York Times, New York Post, Daily News, WOR 710, Time Out, Zagat Wire, and many more media. www.camaje.com/thechef.html

ABOUT DANA SALISBURY
New York Dance and Performance Award ("BESSIE") winning Dana Salisbury is a multidisciplinary artist whose recent work, inspired by the sensate and imaginative life of the blind, explores non-visual perception. Her dances and videos have been seen in New York at PS 122, Judson Church, DTW, Dixon Place, University Settlement and the 92nd Street Y. She has created site-specific performance/installations at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and the Old American Can Factory in Brooklyn. Her visual art has been exhibited widely in museums and galleries.
www.danasalisbury.com

ABOUT CAMAJE BISTRO & LOUNGE
Zagat Survey (2006) writes, "Wonderful French-American bistro fare comes in 'cozy' quarters at this 'laid-back' Village 'refuge'; factor in 'reasonable prices' and 'terrific cooking classes and wine tastings', and it's a puzzle why it remains largely 'undiscovered.'"
www.camaje.com