Winter Dinner Party

C invested in a Mountain Collective Pass this season, which meant he took ski trips to Whistler, Alta, Jackson Hole and of course, Aspen/Snowmass. During his weekend in Utah, I hosted a dinner party while Miss F enjoyed some time with her grandparents. I originally envisioned a table all in silver and white. I ordered the runner and napkins from Amazon, which arrived just hours before the party began.  I still have no idea why they were so delayed, but at least they arrived.  I ended up raiding the marked down flower section at the grocery store.  Bunches of pale pink tulips and roses were only $4 each, so pale pink was incorporated into the scheme quite nicely.

I went with an Italian influenced menu.  We started with prosciutto wrapped melon, artichoke bruschetta and fresh tomato dip with crostini.    The tomato dip was a last minute addition since my mom brought over a great amount of tomatoes from her garden.  I opted for a soup course instead of salad since it was "winter."  Even though winter in Houston would be equally well served with a salad.  I served C's favorite, minestrone, which I had prepped in advance and just added the pasta when it was time to serve.  The main course was beef tenderloin rosa di parma with garlic roasted broccoli.  Of course, mozzarella basil bread had to make an appearance, it helps absorb all the wine.  We ended the evening with chocolate cappuccino cheesecake, which was divine.  I had made two cheesecakes, but due to last minute cancellations, I probably could have worked with one.  But who doesn't love extra cheesecake?

Look for recipes in the coming days.  As always, it was an incredibly lovely weekend with some of my most favorite girlfriends.  I am so lucky to have so many amazing women in my life.

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Summer Dinner Party

I made a massive error when I registered for my wedding. I assumed 12 placesettings would be more than enough for any event I would host that would merit china. I was wrong. My last dinner party fell on a date that worked for everyone, which meant dinner for 15. Luckily, my friend Courtney has a very similar china pattern that she let me borrow (and I still need to return.) Lenox or Waterford, plain china with a silver rim never goes out of style. I do have my grandmother's silver, which doesn't seem to have the same number of any piece. There were at least 15 spoons, forks and salad forks, but I was short a knife. Her silver also has one "child" sized set, so one guest had a knife about the size of a salad for. I wonder if she noticed...

The more the merrier definitely applied to this party! After much furniture arranging and re-arranging, with Miss F's help, I decided to push the kitchen table up to the dining room table so that everyone wouldn't be cramped on one table and we wouldn't be separated, I worried that the people stuck in the kitchen would feel like they were banished to the kids' table.  I had 20 feet of table to decorate, so I decided to keep it really simple.  I used three white tablecloths overlapped to keep things cohesive.  I put a Gerber daisy in dollar store vases at each placesetting, so there was a pop of color at each seat.  I printed out menus on plain cardstock with a pink Gerber daisy sketch on each to tie in with the simple flower arrangements.

Cooking for 15 was daunting, but totally doable.  I was able to prepare most of the menu well in advance, which made things easy come party time.  The menu included shrimp scampi bites, bruschetta with mozzarella and tomatoes, mixed greens with creamy Italian dressing, herb marinated pork tenderloin, baked penne with corn, zucchini and basil, mozzarella basil bread and a strawberry Italian crème cake for dessert.  The pork and pasta baked at the same temperature and time (I so wish I had a second oven,) which made things very easy.  I just added the bread to the oven to warm while the pork was resting.  Thanks to all my friends for all their assistance in plating and serving, there is no way I could have done it all for 15 people.  As always, it was an amazingly fun time and I am so happy to have so many fantastic women in my life.

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Spring Dinner Party

Miss F and I have plans to travel to Aspen for almost two weeks for Spring Break. Because of that, C didn't fly home for the weekend before the big trip. So what's a girl to do when she has a free weekend? Dinner party time! I stocked up on our favorite champagne, Piper-Heidsieck, along with a refrigerator full of wine for our evening. It is always so nice to get together with friends for an evening of food and fun.

We started the evening with a dinner party favorite, artichoke tarts, along with a new recipe for Roasted Shrimp Cocktail.  I made 48 artichoke tarts and every single one was eaten, they are always a crowd pleaser and they are incredibly easy to make.  I want to try a spinach and artichoke version next time I make them.  For the salad, I prepared Mixed Greens with Creamy Dijon Vinaigrette, the egg yolk adds an incredible richness to the dressing.  For the main course, I made Balsamic Filet of Beef, Potatoes Dauphinois and simply steamed green beans.  For dessert, we devoured an entire cheesecake with strawberry basil topping. 

I made three simple flower arrangements for the centerpiece.  There are some amazing flower markets close to my house, but my most favorite has buckets full of flowers for 75 cents each stem, it ranges from carnations to roses to daisies.  They are basically remnant flowers from arrangements made earlier.  The tricky part of this scenario is that you cannot go in with an idea in your head of what kind of flowers you are looking for, you really have to be open to anything because you never know what they are going to have in stock.  I went in hoping for either pale yellows or deep pinks, but the flower shop had a different idea for me.  The buckets were full of a gorgeous variety of purple flowers, so even though it was not at all what I had envisioned, it turned out just perfectly.

We ended the evening with dancing, a few party crashers and lots of selfie taking.  All in all, it was a great success and I can't wait to host my next dinner party.

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Autumn Dinner Party

C left the day after Thanksgiving to take a weekend's worth of beginner ski lessons, so it was the perfect time to throw a dinner party. No worries that I hosted Thanksgiving two days earlier or that several people couldn't attend because of the holiday weekend, it was dinner party time. I wanted a menu that celebrated fall, but was far from the traditional Thanksgiving meal we had all enjoyed with our families. The menu was exceedingly easy come party time, everything was prepped in advance and there was very little active kitchen time during the party, which is always my goal.

We started with bacon wrapped dates and cranberry-brie crostini with champagne. We moved to the dining room for spinach and apple salad with crispy almonds, followed by short rib lasagna with a mozzarella basil bread. The meal was finished with a chocolate pots de crème. It was the first time in over eight years that I finally used my china's coffee cups. I don't drink coffee, we don't have a coffee maker and they have just sat in the cabinet. This little dessert was the perfect use for the cups. They were the perfect size for the rich dessert. And all I had to do was pull them from the refrigerator when we were ready for dessert. It couldn't have been any simpler. Every single recipe was new, so look for them to be posted in the coming days.

The centerpieces were simple square glasses vases from the dollar store, with succulents from Lowes in each. I wanted to use the centerpiece for both our Thanksgiving dinner and the dinner party, so I used the plants knowing that they would be able to hold up for a few days. I think the succulents really added something special to the table and they are going to be planted in my mother's garden, so that is an added bonus. I printed the menus on cardstock, then folded them around the napkin, to act as a napkin ring.

As usual, it was such a lovely time with my dear friends. I am missing a couple of Christmas get togethers this year with our upcoming Aspen trip, so it was nice to see everyone.  Next dinner party I need to get the timer working on my camera so I can force myself to be in a photo!

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Spring Dinner Party

This past weekend was quite the crazy weekend! We bought a new 4x4 SUV for C to take to Aspen, where he is starting a new job and then he began his 19 hour drive on Saturday afternoon. I dropped Miss F off at my parents for the evening and distracted myself in the best way I know how: a girly dinner party. I busied myself with preparing the meal, all the while there was a crazy thunderstorm brewing outside. The weather was madness, parts of Houston flooded, many areas got hail and it was just a big old mess. Luckily for me, my friends are all troopers. And every one made it to the party!

I ordered the my go to cheap napkins from Amazon, gathered up my dollar store fishbowls and headed to the flower markets for some hydrangeas. The first market didn't have any, so he offered to go across the street. I decided it was easier to just go there myself and when I got there, all they had was white and they wanted $7 a stem. I had looked at hydrangeas at the grocer the day prior and I knew I could get three stems for $6, so the choice was obvious. I headed over to HEB and they had a gorgeous selection. I choose pink, blue and white to coordinate with the menus that I had made.

We started the evening with brie with baguette and strawberries and bite sized crabcakes with crabcake sauce (I really need to think of a better name for this.) We all sipped on champagne and discussed the crazy weather. While we ate I warmed the artichoke soup that I had made the day prior. I always serve a soup with dinner, it has become a thing ever since I got the soup bowls for my china pattern. When the soup was served, I removed the slow roasted beef tenderloin from the oven to rest. In went the truffled potatoes and roasted asparagus to cook while the tenderloin was resting. This meal was really easy to get together and I made it work with my single oven.

After our meal, we had pink zebra cake for dessert. The cake was a riot. I had made it the night before and it was one big old mess. Each layer came out in two pieces. I decided to toss my cake pans because I have had issues with the last five cakes I have baked in them. The new pans arrive from Amazon today. I knew I could make the cake work, but I worried that the zebra effect would be ruined. Then it was time to make the chocolate cream cheese frosting. And I was a half a cup short of the confectioner’s sugar. We have a Walgreens and a Family Dollar store a couple blocks from my house. I went to both. Neither had confectioner’s sugar. I debated buying a big bag of powdered sugar doughnuts and shaking it off, but I knew that would be silly. At this point I should have just driven to the grocery store, but I turned to Google instead. I learned that you could make confectioner’s sugar by processing sugar in a food processor. I figured it was only half a cup… I whirred and whirred and whirred. The sugar looked pretty powdery, so I added it to the frosting. And the frosting tasted pretty grainy to me. It hadn’t processed nearly enough to get the smooth texture that confectioner’s sugar provides. The next day I bought three bags of confectioner’s sugar when I bought the hydrangeas. I am not running out of it ever again!

Much thanks to all my lovely friends who showed up in the nasty weather to attend my dinner party. It was a sad day for me, but spending the evening with such wonderful girlfriends really did make everything feel a little bit better.

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Autumn Dinner Party

C was headed to Six Flags Fiesta Texas for the weekend with his brother-in-law and two pre-teen nephews, needless to say they rode a lot of rides. So I was home alone for the weekend, which provided the perfect opportunity to host a dinner party for my girlfriends. I had read an article in Bon Appetit about a fall dinner party, the main course was a glazed pork, which looked amazing. I knew it had to go on the menu. We started with crab stuffed mushrooms and brie with grapes & baguette slices. The soup was butternut squash and apple, which was suprisingly savory. The soup was followed by a salad of mixed greens with balsamic dijon vinaigrette and candied Creole bacon. The entree was the glazed pork from the magazine alongside roasted root vegetables. For dessert, we shared rich chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting. I will post all the recipes over the next couple of weeks. I decided to challenge myself and try all new recipes for the party, which worked out amazingly well, I was very pleased with the outcome.

There was lots of wine, food and friendship. It was such a lovely evening with the girls, I am very lucky to have so many amazing women in my life. One of my dearest friends was not able to join us for the evening, her mother had passed away the day prior. All of our thoughts were with her and her family, we know she will join us at the next one.

I kept the decor very simple for the party. I ordered burnt orange napkins from Amazon. I got small grapevine wreaths from Hobby Lobby to act as napkin rings. I added some silk fall foilage to each wreath and the napkins were ready. The centerpiece was an arrangement of gourds on a gold runner with more leaves scattered about. I didn't even bother with fresh flowers, they didn't seem to fit the autumn them at all and the gourds were a lot cheaper. I am planning on re-using most everything for our family Thanksgiving celebration.

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Foodbuzz 24x24: A Gathering of Girlfriends

Once or twice a year, I like to invite a fun group of girlfriends over for a dinner party. Sometimes we are celebrating things, like a birthday or my “retirement” to become a stay at home mom, but most of the time, we are just getting together to spend some much needed girl time. My husband, C, refers to it as a “Cackle Fest”, as we can get quite boisterous as the night wears on. This generally results in dancing to a Britney Spears song or group singing to “Umbrella.” The parties are never dull and I am so fortunate to be able to share these parties with such an extraordinary group of friends. Some have been friends for years, others are new acquaintances, but by the end of the evening, we have formed a lasting circle of friends.


Last night nine of my friends gathered for just such an occasion. I had already sent out the invites (paper by snail mail) when Foodbuzz announced the date for June’s Foodbuzz 24x24, where 24 parties are held over 24 hours. I felt so lucky that it happened to be the same day as my scheduled party and even luckier when I was selected to participate. I had already come up with a menu that was Latin inspired; I wanted the flavors to be bold and exciting. I set out to the local flower shops to find the brightest blooms I could find and I programmed the computer to play Buena Vista Social Club, Gypsy Kings and the like. One of my most favorite details was the charger menus. I had seen the idea on Pinterest and I ran with it. It was such a nice way to decorate the table without being too fussy.

The girls were greeted with sparkling Sangria, a recipe from Michael Chiarello. The drinks were fruity and strong, the right way to start a party. I had three appetizers out for everyone to eat while the other guests were still arriving; we are women, you know not everyone is going to be on time. I had prepared corn blinis with Chipotle cream, cantaloupe wrapped with Serrano ham, and short rib empanadas with avocado cream. Look for the recipes in the coming week.

The first course at the dining table was a fresh garden tomato salad topped with cilantro pesto paired with an Argentinean Malbec. The main course was Tequila lime chicken and shrimp, roasted in the oven for entertaining ease and paired with couscous and sautéed zucchini and yellow squash paired with a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. For dessert, slices of chocolate raspberry cake were passed around with glasses of champagne. After all that eating and drinking, we had reached “Cackle Fest” levels, so it was time to head upstairs to the rooftop to talk, talk, and talk some more. This was truly a delicious and delightful gathering of girlfriends.

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