Have a dinner party

Friend of mine had a birthday, so I had a little party for her.

This party consisted of 10 people at my house, and me making chili con carne for them. The food was great, the company was excellent, and the evening was superb.

Definitely love having people over to my place!

What a wonderful time we had last night! Hero and Keg wore tuxes and served everyone. I cooked and hung out in the kitchen. Kika had to eat and go take care of Bubby, who was ready for his dinner as well. Lady provided us all with the calm of knowing that everything would turn out right. Hero and myself have a tendency to worry about every tiny detail; Lady assured us that the important thing is that everyone has a good time, not that every morsel of food is timed perfectly and served perfectly. Thank God for her soothing touch!

And everything went so smoothly! The way it worked out, more or less, is that my generation did everything necessary to wait my parents’ generation all evening. And the younger generation – my nieces and nephew – flitted about and added spice and sweetness here and there.

Hero’s salads were truly epic. Field greens, dainty slices of kumquat, a sprinkle of sunflower seeds and craisins on top, and garnished with just enough asiago to make it interesting. He prepped them and served everyone an individual salad plate; the presentation was beautiful.

When everyone was done with their salad, they cleared the plates and served the main course. Everyone raved over the salmon – it was so juicy, it was so tender, the flavor was so good, it wasn’t dried out at all, etcetera, etcetera. The horseradish smashed potatoes were a smash hit as well. I had been quite nervous about the potatoes – it’s only the second time I’ve made them (I’m not a big potato eater, myself), so I was afraid they wouldn’t turn out. No such worries. Every last ounce was scraped out of the bowl!

There was one little mishap with the potatoes – when I had finished smashing them, I set the hand mixer back down on the counter and somehow turned it on to the hightest setting. Potatoes flew everywhere! The front of my shirt looked like a blizzard had struck. There were potatoes in my hair. There were potatoes on every knife in the knife block. There were potatoes on the underside of the cupboards. Potatoes, potatoes, everywhere! We all had a good laugh at that particular episode!

There’s no feeling quite like the feminine pride of knowing that you’ve cooked something that everyone enjoyed. I was watching – there were no sneaking glances as people tried to choke down food they didn’t like; eveyrone ate with gusto!

The more important thing, though, is that my parents got a chance to have a nice quiet evening with Lady’s and Keg’s parents: two couples who are very special to them. They didn’t have to take care of any preparation or serving or cleaning up (although my Mom did insist on chipping in and washing dishes after everyone left). Mom and Dad got on a plane this morning to fly back to Texas where Dad’s job currently has them located. This was not only an anniversary dinner, but also a nice send-off that they can look back on over the next several months until they get a chance to be home again. It’s hard for them, being away from their friends and kids and especially their grandkids for so long. I’m sure they’ll cherish this memory.

Back to the dinner:
Hero and Keg served the dessert; we all served coffee. All the guests of honor said as they were leaving that they could never get better food or service at any restraunt in the entire city.

I call this goal accomplished, and completely worth doing. For our first dinner party, cooking for and entertaining 15 people isn’t too shabby, I think. Working with Kika was such a pleasure. She planned everything out and assigned everyone with tasks so that, when the big day finally came, it was just a matter of taking care of the little part we each played and everything couldn’t help but go smoothly.

My parents are celebrating their 30th anniversary on Feb. 12th, and we’re having some friends over to celebrate. This dinner party will truly be a group effort, with my sister providing the venue, all my siblings chipping in for the food, and myself doing most of the cooking.

The guest list is going to be Hero, Lady, and The Four Princesses; Kika, Keg and Bubby; Lady’s parents; Keg’s parents; my parents. Grand total of eleven adults, three kids, and two babies.

We’re fixing salad, salmon in Orange-Ginger sauce, fresh asparagus, some starch (haven’t decided what just yet), and my mom’s favorite cake from my mom’s favorite bakery.

I’m really looking forward to it. We’re doing this on the 12th at 6:00 – I get off work at 4:30. I know Kika, though, and I know she’ll have everything prepared with the house and the setting and whatnot and I’ll just have to cook. I love working with her on these things b/c we’re a good even team. In fact, she’s probably the one person I know who pulls more weight than I do when we’re working together.

I’m so much looking foward to this! It’s going to create memories that we can all take with us for a lifetime.

So the dinner party fell through because I forgot that my sister’s baby shower was Monday night. Blast!

But I did have a friend over Saturday and it was kind of a dinner party and it went really well. Unfortunately, everyone in my life is pretty busy right now, so it’ll be a while before I’m able to reschedule.

I’m more comfortable with my new home, though, and with my hostessing skills, so I’m looking forward to having more people over.

I’ve invited a friend over for Monday night, planned the menu (except a starch – I’m looking for a good starch), and tonight I’m going to talk to another couple about coming over as well.

Hope they say yes – it’ll be my first real dinner party in my new apartment!

Had my brother and sister-in-law over yesterday afternoon for lunch, along with their four daughters. I’ve discovered that my apartment is really too small to have very many kids roaming around. It was fun, but the kids got bored and wanted to be wild. (My 3-yr old niece actually told her mom: “I don’t want to read a book; I just want to be wild.”) :-)

If I continue to have couples with kids over, I need to get some kid-friendly things to keep them occupied while we adults chat or play games. That’s another thing I need: more games.

The dinner itself was a raging success, though. My sister-in-law wanted the recipe of everything I cooked, and even the kids ate. So on that front, at least, I have no worries.

I think the reason the kids were so restless was just because they have been sick and now my brother is sick, and my sister-in-law is coming down with it as well. So, considering that everyone is either sick, getting sick, or recuperating, I think it went exceptionally well.

Now I need to pick some non-family people to have over for dinner and see how it goes with them.

Onward and upward!