My First Real Dinner Party
The idea came to me on Thursday evening. My husband Ben and I sometimes have special dinners on the weekends since I actually have time to cook an entire meal instead of reheating lasagna 3 nights in a row. We were planning such an evening for Saturday, but then thought about inviting our friends Jason and Carrie over for dinner. I started searching for recipes and found something that would be more ambitious than anything I’ve tried before…but I was ready for a challenge. Pan seared venison with blackberry ancho sauce and sweet potato pine nut polenta. I replaced the venison with pork tenderloin. Cinnamon ice cream (from scratch) with Mexican shortbread cookies for dessert. Jason and Carrie offered to bring some cheeses and a salad.
The plan had been made….but not executed…yet. Saturday morning at 8 am I head to the grocery store. I return with quite a few HEB bags and a bouquet of flowers…no dinner party would be complete without flowers. I start with the blackberry ancho sauce…a 4 step process. Then I start the cinnamon ice cream…also a time intensive effort. Then the polenta. Then the marinade for the pork. A quick house cleaning and I was pretty much prepped and hitting the showers by 4:30 pm. I was ready…
Carrie and Jason get to the house at 6 pm and Jason sets out the cheeses, crackers, bread and fruit. I discovered that I have a deep love for Port Salut…creamy French wonderfulness.
With Carries’ help, dinner was tasty and dessert was terrific. The 90’s Trivial Pursuit game was good for the Hartmans…not so good for the Zinneckers. The pressure of hosting a dinner party has been lifted. What challenge will be next…hosting family Thanksgiving?!!?!