A Messy Kitchen Dinner Party, Please Have a Seat!

No, that’s not my table.  But isn’t it lovely?  Formal dinner parties might be dying this generation, but they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon in our household.  I dream of long wooden tables with runners and chargers and decorative fruit!  With candles and centerpieces and serving utensils that actual match!

Well, we’re not quite there yet, and as a young couple on a budget it may take us some time.  But we’re getting closer!  Friday night we had a dinner party of eight, our biggest yet.  In preparation, we decided the time had finally come to invest in what most couples get when they marry: a set of eight full place settings.

Instead, we registered for a bunch of really cool gadgets.  We could process and mix and griddle and waffle and blend and breadmake… but until this week, we couldn’t serve a group of eight on matching plates.  And yes, those are paper towels for you to put on your lap.  But check out our gadgets!  (I guess I should mention that my mom got me a set of beautiful plates from Anthropologie… which I exchanged for a purse.  A really beautiful purse.)  Regardless, this was our call to action.

Better yet, while browsing for said place settings, we fell in love with a long(er) wooden table, which is now on it’s way.  This time, we made due by crowding six around a table made for four, and putting the boys at the counter.  But we really didn’t mind, we’re all one big happy family.  And that put the boys closer to the beer and the peanut butter sandwich croutons.

So our formal dinner party collection is coming along, slowly but surely.  And I suppose we’ve always had the only things you really need for a successful dinner party: good company and a wine opener.

As we work to perfect the collection, I also work to perfect my role as chef and host.  The calm and relaxed hostess who can have everything ready when it’s supposed to be and still sit and chat with her guests is still a mystery to me.  Hell, the dinner party host who gets the chance to sit and eat when her guests do, and whose husband doesn’t have to spend the entire next morning scraping food off the walls still eludes me.  But hey, it’s good to have room to grow.

My dinner party prep looks more like this.

The full recipes are on their way, but here’s a preview:

Course one: Thai Peanut Soup with Peanut Butter Sandwich Croutons

Course Two: Vegetarian Coq-Au-Vin over Polenta

Course Three: Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cookies

Johanna