A Tree of Plenty and a Whole New Sort of Cocktail Dress

Talk about a tree of temptation...

I am a sucker for novelty. 

And to be fair, while it wouldn't take much to stand out in the sea of sameness that is the usual tea-break offering at most meetings - little shot glasses of desserts, trays of baklava, nondescript slices of black forest cake and dry cookies - I have to say a recent meeting at Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza blew my socks off!

Imagine a life-sized tree hung with glass baubles glittering in the late afternoon light. Baubles filled with edible goodies - sweet cookies, chocolates and cakes in the first round, savoury sandwiches and sliders in the second - that guests could literally pick off and devour.

If you weren't hungry when you stepped into the room, you didn't stay that way for long!

Given that most tea-breaks in a day-long meeting are meant to not just offer some well-earned brain fuel but also break the monotony of hours spent labouring over a conference table, this little distraction did so much more. Everyone was oohhing and aahhing over the display, thoughts of everything else went flying straight out the big glass windows overlooking the Nile.

Each bauble held a little bite

And there was more... if the food came artfully presented, the drinks weren't too far behind. Riotous rows of  tropical mocktails were piled into a giant metal skirt and passed around by a server housed within the gorgeous drinks trolley. Gave a whole new meaning to the term "cocktail dress". Well mocktail dress... we were working after all ;)

The sort of cocktail dress that would be a hit at ANY party