Our Perfect Dinner Venue – Kalona Makers Market

What an amazing venue.

My foodie friend Jim and I are a perfect match in the kitchen, and his kitchen is a chef’s dream. But when we hatched a plan to cook a ten course rustic Italian dinner…Jim had an idea. And it turned out to be a GREAT one.

Touring The Venue 

Jim asked me to meet him at Kalona Makers Market. It’s a brand new venue that had yet to be used to host an event like ours. So I hopped in the car and made the twenty mile trek back to my childhood stomping grounds in Kalona.

I was blown away when we walked through the door! This room looks as if it belongs in New York or Chicago.

It is easy to imagine holding many types of events in the large room which is flooded with natural light.

The huge garage door allows for easy delivery of large items and the hanging lights are on long cords to allow for many levels of lighting.

The Venue – Art Room

Owners John and Jane Schlabaugh have created a perfect canvas to work with. And speaking of canvas…a small art studio in an adjoining room was also available for us to use for our future event, so we stepped inside to check it out.

We quickly decided that small room would be perfect as a welcoming space for our guests, and for serving a first course while we set the stage in the adjoining room for the rest of the evening. The bicycle found a new home when the big evening finally rolled around. (You’ll see!)

My decorating wheels began to turn as we walked through the main room, and Jim and I both agreed the rustic work tables would be perfect to serve as a dining table.

Metal stools seemed just right for a rustic vibe. And with ten courses we had a feeling the guests would appreciate an easy stool to slide off of to walk around between courses!

It was such fun to see the venue in a totally raw form.

Owner John was happy to move eight tables into the space, and the long, wide table created just the right vibe.

The Venue – Kitchen

The as yet unfinished kitchen space was already equipped with a dishwasher but it was missing a stove. We made it work for our event by utilizing electric hot plates.

Eventually the kitchen will be completed and it will become a commercial kitchen space. (Jane tells me it should be completed by this summer 2020.) The lack of a stove and oven was really no problem for our meal since we had already planned to use Jim’s dream kitchen a few blocks away to prepare some of the courses.

Let The Planning Begin!

I began to think about all the dishes I have collected in the past fifty years, and I  knew that between Jim and I we would have almost every dish we would need to serve our rustic Italian dinner. So I went back to Iowa City simply overflowing with ideas for how to decorate the space.

I immediately imagined a burlap runner down the center of the tables so I headed to a craft store to begin the search. I needed at least 30 feet of burlap.

Who knew there were THIS many colors of burlap!! Holy COW!!!

When I saw this one I knew it was the perfect choice for the venue! It actually screamed Rustic Italian to me!!

Dishes…And Decorations

Now about those dishes. LOTS of dishes.  I began to search through my cupboards as the big day approached.

Our wedding dishes have been seriously underutilized for almost fifty years! I’m not sure what I was thinking when I picked a pattern that is perfect for Thanksgiving…but not much else. 

But for a rustic Italian menu they were just right! Look closely…you’ll see at least one year of dust in that bowl! I promise you I washed them before the big day!

I mixed those place settings with my “every day” dishes and it all just seemed to work. And Jim had a big stack of plain white plates to add to the mix. 

Ten courses with multiple food items in each course requires LOTS of dishes for 16 guests. I realized we needed a few more white flat pasta bowls than Jim and I could come up with. And I was missing a few martini glasses. So off I went to some of my favorite thrift stores to add to our collection.

Our rustic theme meant we could mix and match to make it all work!

Several years Iago I bought two of these HUGE pasta bowls at a thrift store and I decided I would use them as decoration on the long table. An Italian tablescape was beginning to form in my mind.

I scoured our house in search of as many rustic items as I could find…

It’s amazing how much JUNK I came up with! And I couldn’t wait to put it all together when the day arrived.

Our Timeline – The Final Countdown

Dinner was set for a Sunday evening, so Friday and Saturday were BUSY days for Jim and me.

• Finalize and print the menu for each guest
• Shop for all the food
• Decorate the venue
• Start cooking!

The entire process was a labor of love for both Jim and for me.

You’ll see…