That weekend was dedicated to Dinner Party of Doom madness. THE dinner party, which I've been painstakingly planning for two months. Two months of shopping, contemplating, thinking out and strategizing everything from the appetizers to the guest list. My VERY. FIRST. dinner party.
My lovely boyfriend, John, has been so supportive in my anxieties as well.
"What if everyone hates my food?"
"They won't."
"What if no one shows up?"
"They will."
"What if we get eaten by bears?"
"We won't."
Friday night, with the help of my wonderful, awesome boyfriend was spent chopping, making the bread dough for the dinner rolls, the cookie dough for dessert, the tomato puree sauce for the entree, and toasting and candying the walnuts for the rice and the dessert. We finally crashed at 2am, only to be up at 10am Saturday morning for more chopping, kneading, and prepping.
We got to Christie's house, and after 20 minutes of retrieving the kitten that bolted out of her door as we were walking in I started to set up.
And it finally happened.
And everyone had a great time.
And nothing crazy/detrimental/stupid happened.
And while the food had some glitches that only I seemed to notice, everyone loved what I made.
Then I could exhale.
*WHEW*!!
There was dancing to Motown greats and the familiar Industrial/EBM, coloring Bible stories and bad NASCAR coloring books, pool-playing in the billiards room and TONS of laughter (of course, knowing this group ;-D). The kitten of the house - that would be Mr. Henry - was a hit as well, and Batty had a lovely time ballroom dancing with him. Lori showed up with 2 very pretty dressed for me and a pair of KILLER stripper shoes that I can't wait to wear. Many people brought wine, and 90% of it was consumed in the duration of the party. Batty was nice and toasty and gave me sloppy Batty love, LMAO. Fabulous Johnny showed up after the meal, wine bottle in hand, and had a BALL dancing with Dorian, hahaha! I was especially glad Mr. Fabulous showed, because it's rare that I ever really get to see him.
He liked John, too. He gave him his trademark glance-over, patted him on the shoulder approvingly and declared, "I LIKE this one! He's nice and sturdy!" Hahahaha!! I simply adore him :-)
Everyone was so wonderful and helpful as well. Lori helped me slice the figs so I could stuff them, a few people came over to the five pots I had going on the stove and stirred them, Dennis ran out for cilantro when I discovered that the bunch I had bought had gone bad, Kelly and Carrie ran and got the dried cranberries when I discovered that I had forgotten them at home in my whirlwind chaos, Mindy helped me assemble dessert...and Lauren...OMG they were amazing. They were BUSTING. THEIR. ASSES cleaning up after everyone ate. I offered to help, and both of them were like "You cooked! You shouldn't have to clean as well!!" (I did anyway after you guys left, though, even eventually figured out how to work the dishwasher, LOL. Just didn't know where to put the garbage).
And even though I had forgotten to add the salt and butter to the boiling rice, and the sauce didn't thicken because I overcompensated the chicken stock ratio to the puree, and the ginger sugar cookies made one BIG spread on the cookie sheet because they had sat in the kitchen and warmed up for too long.....EVERYONE. LOVED. MY. FOOD. Or at least said they did. Batty and Dennis offered to bribe me to get invited to the next one, so I guess it did turn out pretty well.
As my lovely, wonderful guests filtered out the door, Lori, Johnny, Dorian, and I talked in the kitchen while cleaning up as John and Andrew drunk-Facebook-messaged each other in the living room. After the last guest, Fabulous Johnny, left, I poured myself a bottle of wine, cuddled up to John on the couch, and just laid there in my happiness and exhaustion for awhile until we could muster the energy to pack up.
A very special "Thank You!!!" to Christie for allowing me to host this party in your beautiful home and trusting me to your kitchen with my guests, to Lauren for being such a rock for me in my chaos, to the lovely Miss Lauren for busting your friggin' ass cleaning up, to Batty for being THE FIRST PERSON to EVER give me flowers!!!!!, to John for being as wonderful and helpful as he was during this whole thing, and of course to everyone that came, brought gifts of wine and laughter, and for making this a truly wonderful night. :-)
I love you, Man. :-)
For now, this was The Menu:
Appetizer:
Stuffed figs with feta cheese, candied pecans, and red pepper flakes and drizzeled in honey
Entree':
Chicken Takari (chicken in a tomato-based curry and yogurt sauce) with zucchini, onions, cilantro, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, and cauliflower
(Vegetarian version replaces chicken with tofu)
Served with coconut rice tossed in cilantro, dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts and dinner rolls made from a recipe in my great-grandmother's cookbook.
Dessert:
A scoop of vanilla ice cream served over a warm ginger sugar cookie(recipe also from my great-grandmother's cookbook) and topped with an espresso-vanilla bean glaze and candied walnuts.
Current Mood: [mood icon] happy
Current Music: "A Little Help From My Friends" - Joe Cocker version (because the Beatles' version SUCKS!)
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