Host a dinner party

I want to host a tea. In 2 weeks from now I think I can put this goal as complete. :) 3 months ago

...as an old friend coming over for dinner has grown into a full-scale girls-night-in dinner party!

The gal who started the ball rolling can’t come, but I’ve since added seven of my closest friends to the invite list, and four are coming for sure.

We’ll start with veggies and an avacado/yogurt dip I’ve been wanting to try, then for dinner I’m making grilled romaine salads, grilled salmon, and a rice pilaf. Dessert will be grilled peaches over ice cream.

Since the weather’s supposed to be amazing on Friday, we’re going to use the picnic table out back and I’ll get a few tea-light candles set up for after the sun goes down. It’ll be my inaugural party in my back-yard, where I’ve been dying to have a cookout all summer!

Tonight I’m trying out some mocktail recipes I found because most of us are tee-totalers, but I still want to have some fun drinks.

Super excited! 10 months ago

so this shouldn’t be difficult :) we’re getting four place settings, but i’ll probably convince him to get a few extras… hehe. Or at least, you know, good paperware. I want to have it as sort of a moving in, housewarming, look-how-awesome-of-a-cook-i-am party. 12 months ago

My friends help me host my birthday party/going away party it was a great turn out I had 16 people show up and enjoy a lot of cheesecake ;) 14 months ago

I’ve been reading this delightful book, Bonjour Happiness, and it’s all about French culture and it makes me want to throw a dinner party. Unfortunately, this will probably have to wait until I get home and have my own apartment. I went to a really wonderful dinner party some friends hosted right before Easter last year (it was inspired by something from the Gospel), and it is such a good memory. One day! 14 months ago

I’m so exited…dinner party on monday and I’m cooking…there are so many fantastic recipes, I just can’t decide.

Perfect way to end my BIRTHDAY :) 17 months ago

Bread and cheese
Winter vegetable and bean stew
Cappuccino chocolate chip cookies

It wasn’t the fanciest menu, but it was so fun to break bread with my friends. 17 months ago

We were home for just a day, and already wanting to be surrounded by company. J, freshly inspired by our travels (and the dried chiles we picked up in Santa Fe, NM), made a red chile sauce as well as a mole dulce sauce to smother chicken enchiladas. He found a cornbread recipe made with jalapenos and cheddar, after a stint in the Charlotte airport at a bbq joint Sunday made me fawn over the cornbread there and request him to make some ‘someday’. (Who knew I’d be feasting on some fresh the very next day?!)

“Brother M” as we call him and his wife C happily accepted our invitation having recently been to Santa Fe themselves, and responsible for many of the recommendations for restaurants and a hotel.

We enjoyed citrus-y margaritas, great food, and lots of laughs. It is becoming apparent to us how much we’ll miss each other when the next phase of medical training is upon us. 2 years ago

When I move in the new place, I plan to host a dinner party for some friends as a housewarming get-together. Maybe by then, I’ll have Rexi (the name of my future dog) and he can clean our accidental spills from the floor! It would be nice to prepare a full menu, with flavors that complement and dishes that follow some kind of a theme. And dessert and coffee in little cups at the end. No movies or games, just nice conversation. 2 years ago

To try out some more grilling techniques on J’s Big Green Egg BBQ, we had C & M over. J butterflied and grilled a leg of lamb with Za’tar seasoning. So good. We were worried there wouldn’t be enough meat for the four of us, so we also grilled up some buffalo brats stuffed with cheddar cheese and jalapenos. Holy cow. (Love our farmers market.) J roasted some potatoes in the oven. We had fresh mint mojitos and some wine with dinner. And C & M treated us to baklava ice cream (no joke!) that they brought with them.

It was so nice to just hang out, tell stories, and laugh. 2 years ago