Game of Thrones Banquet Nails

So today I bring you some nails that are technically incomplete but were done especially for a Game of Thrones banquet I attended this week.  Can you guess the significance of the nails before I explain under the cut?

O.P.I Greenwich Village, L'Oreal Paris Banana Pop, O.P.I Don't Talk Bach to Me, Color Club Wild Cactus, Barry M Gold Foil, Ciate Cream Soda and Flossgloss Faded

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So as part of Belfast Restaurant Week, Ryan's Bar hosted a lavish Game of Thrones banquet.  As soon as I found out about the event, I knew I had to go and had to do some nails to mark the occasion.

If you are a GoT buff, you might realise that my nails signify the Houses I affiliate myself with.  If you haven't guessed already, the yellow nails signify House Baratheon and the green nails signify House Tyrell.  I painted my base colour for the nails, alternating the colours between each finger and using a striper brush, applied my stripes of different shades relating to the different house colours.  I got the different thickness of lines through varying the pressure of the brush on the nail.  As you can see on my little finger, I had a bit of a mishap and tried to redo the finger but because I didn't leave adequate time between coats and linework, hence the bunching.  Timing is everything ladies!

This sort of stripy manicure is a great way to do fandom related nails without being too obvious.  You can see how this can be reinterpreted for the Hogwarts houses (I'm a Ravenclaw btw), various Marvel characters and the list goes on.

As I am such a fan of the shows (still haven't got properly stuck into the books), I had to make sure my outfit on the night was complete with a little jewellery from the land of Westeros.

I'm sure you are all wondering how the banquet went?  Well I wouldn't want to disappoint so here are some pictures (not the best quality because they're from my phone but hey ho)

The second of our two starters.  This was 'Simple Dornish Fare' which consisted of flatbread, hummus, cheese and olives.  I don't like olives so I stole the peppers from the salad.  Our first starter was 'Bread and Salt' which was a rosemary and red onion foccacia and sea salt.  Everything was served banquet style so we could have much or as little as we would like.

So this is half of our main courses, which were 'Honeyed Chicken', 'Pentoshi Honey Duck'(both pictured), 'Beef and Barley Stew' and 'Dothraki Blood Pie'.  This was definitely not an event for vegetarians.  We also had roast potatoes and veggies as accompaniment for the meal.  If I had to pick a favourite, I'd probably say the Dothraki Blood Pie which was not at all as gruesome as its name suggests.  We think it was kind of a steak and ale pie, the meat was so tender and the gravy was so delicious.

Our first dessert was 'Lemon Cakes' and 'Sweet Biscuits' that were accompanied by 'Strawberries and Sweetgrass'.  The lemon cakes and sweet biscuits, unlike the rest of the meal, were served individually.  By this point in the meal, we were all beyond stuffed but my mantra is 'there's always room for dessert'.  I love sweet things so I haven't got much to say other than I ate everything on my plate.  I would have liked a bit more lemon cake at the time but as we were faced with out last course, the Petit Fours, that would have been a silly decision.  

The 'Dothraki Stallion Hearts' were definitely the most visually stunning bit of the banquet and definitely not for the squeamish but if you are a fan of this series, then you more than likely not one who would shy away from this sort of stuff.  These very realistic hearts were in fact cake and the blood that the cakes sat on was raspberry coulis.  We shared one heart between four of us, with some of us eating more than others (i.e me).  It was the perfect end to a great night and by the time I finished my second bit of stallion heart, I was ready to be rolled out of the place!  

As we went to pay, we were given small goodie bags with our given houses sigils (we were seated in the House Lannister section) so I got a Lannister badge, some candy in a vial and some gold coins.  The entire meal (which included a glass of Lemon beer and warmed, spiced wine) cost £25 and was definitely worth it.  Great food was had and the Rains of Castamere was not heard once so all in all it was a good night.

If something like this happened in your part of the world, would you go?  Any courses you like the sound of or don't?  Let me know what you think in the comments below and through any other social media, until next time :-)

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