dinner party: month 3

We missed our monthly dinner party in June, mostly because I was out for a full week with a killer migraine and the then Hubbs strained his back at work. That meant we had to go all out for JULY.

So this 4th of July the Hubbs and I hatched a plan. It centered around a Pork Butt. Have I mentioned my hubby has a meat smoker? Yes, and it's his first love...before me and the children. He headed out on Saturday and bought a slab of meat and then we hatched our plan.

Plan: Show up to church on Sunday and ferret out those who don't have 4th of July plans for Monday. Then invite everyone over and throw a shindig for all of us.

This plan could have seemed entirely crazy because of the last-minute-ness of it all. But we pulled it off and it was the best 4th we have had in years!

We set up a pool and a slip-n-slide and invited all over at 2pm for water fun. Around 4pm when the meat had been fully smoked to perfection we started the eating. We provided the Pulled Pork, coleslaw, hot dogs and buns and potato salad. Each other family brought sides, salads, drinks and desserts and boy, did we EAT!

Kids played, men threw footballs and frisbees, women chatted about their top 5 celebrity crushes...it was perfection. I made a last-minute 4th soundtrack on my MP3 player and we set up speakers and busted out the Otter Pops and danced the day away.

Two brave souls even decided to stay until the fireworks at dusk and for a wicked game of Trivial Pursuit and chatting that lasted until 1:00 AM.  That's a lot of Ahern exposure for one day!  And I am so glad they stayed...we had such a wonderful night with them.

Seriously, it perfectly subscribed to my new line of thinking since reading The Reluctant Entertainer. I let go of the fact that our living room is oddly half painted, that two of our dining room chairs recently broke, that our guest bathroom has a white toilet seat on an almond colored toilet and that it was last minute. Stupid things that could have gotten in the way of a truly fun and fabulous day. 

In 10 years there is no way I would ever remember that, on this holiday, our Living Room was imperfect and that we realized too late we had no towels in the guest bathroom...but I will absolutely remember the time we spent with friends.

 

dinner party: month 2

As I mentioned here, after reading The Reluctant Entertainer I decided to entertain in my home at least once a month. Now, before this time, our dinner parties have been extremely informal and have included me being stressed out, frazzled and witchy to my family on the day of the party (ie: Why is our bathroom so messy! Gosh!!!).

Having read the book we made some changes, did well at some concepts and struggled with others. Here's the skinny...

Guests: 2 (sister missionaries for our church)
Date: Mother's Day 2011
Menu:
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Roasted Garlic Potatoes & Onions (using this recipe, but adding whole cloves of garlic)
Grilled Asparagus
Mixed Fruit Shortcakes


The girls playing in the yard with the Sister Missionaries before dinner.

 What we did well:
- We realized (too late) that some of our fresh strawberries had acquired mold. We grabbed some frozen blueberries from our freezer, ran them under warm water to thaw and added them to our berry mix.  Crisis averted.
- We also had a mishap with the potatoes not being near done when it was time to eat. No apologies, we just laughed and said it was part of a second course.

What we can work on:- We did not remove all toothpicks from the Chicken Cordon Bleu, so we warned our guests to watch for them. One of our guests (bless her heart) was trying to remove a toothpick and her entire chicken cordon bleu flew off of her plate and landed on the floor!  Note to self: Instead of using standard toothpicks to hold cordon bleu together, try longer skewers that WE can remove more easily before serving.
- Much like last month I realized we maybe should always have two veggie options on the table (something my mother always did) since one our guests did not like asparagus.  Plus, we would eat more veggies, right?

We're doing better and better as each month passes!
When did you last entertain?

Dinner Party: Month 1

As I mentioned here, after reading The Reluctant Entertainer I decided to entertain in my home at least once a month. Now, before this time, our dinner parties have been extremely informal and have included me being stressed out, frazzled and witchy to my family on the day of the party (ie: Why is our bathroom so messy! Gosh!!!).

Having read the book we made some changes, did well at some concepts and struggled with others. Here's the skinny...

What we did well:
- The morning of the party arrived blustery and cold.  We had planned on making ribs and the bar-b-que fixings, but changed over to a simpler menu. I made my Slow Cooker Beef Stew, bought greens for a salad and mixed up a batch of 5 Minute Artisan Bread.  This change was wonderful because it (a) allowed more time to tidy the house, which needed tidying and (b) was easy and worry free.


(click to enlarge. then right click and save as. print as a 4x6" photo)

- I asked our guests to bring the dessert.
- I purchased a $10 table cloth from TJ Maxx which covered our battered kitchen table and made me feel very grown-up indeed.
- We had the table already set when our guests arrived so we could focus on being present with them, catching up and being relaxed.
- Ahead of time I designed and printed simple place cards and let Ella (6) write the names of our family and our guests on them.  It was a fun and meaningful touch.

What needs improvement:
- I should have run the tablecloth in the dryer with a steam ball after taking it from the package. It was very wrinkled. Not a big deal, but good to remember for next time.
- I apologized for the salad not having fancy salad fixings.
- I realized we need a fancy water pitcher.  And by fancy I don't mean crystal, I only mean NOT plastic.  Next on my small to-buy list.
- I should have offered more varied side dish options, like red grapes and cheeses. This would have made the fact that our guests' kids didn't care for the stew less noticable and also would have given them other healthy options to eat instead of avoiding dinner all together....they could have snacked on bread, grapes and cheese.
- We ran out of eating utensils for dessert. Again, not a big deal, but maybe we should invest in some inexpensive additional forks/spoons.

Overall I was very happy with our progress.  I was especially grateful for my choice of menu. It was warm, comforting and not stressful to prepare.  When I realized that a bay leaf had remained in the pot I simply declared whoever found it the winner of the night. 

Hello new relaxed attitude!



*beef stew photo by blogchef.net