"I love it when a plan comes together"
Many thanks for all your suggestions - the party turned out well! Everyone seemed to be impressed that I had a menu planned and a good wine bottle opener and all those other little ingredients and gadgets to make food preparation and serving work. heh. They exclaimed over the fact that I had a full fridge, which is what happens when you go party shopping on an empty stomach. On the other hand, my cute new coasters don't work on my glasses bc they are too small. Good thing they were on clearance.
My mum's right - they all but finished the carrot spread, spinach-soy nuggets, and cheese - why do people finish everything but the last bite?? I was too full to finish them after the guest left, so the 2 remaining spinach-soy nuggets and the tbsp of carrot spread are probably breakfast this morning. Also, the olives were hardly touched: I think I ate most of the ones that were eaten.
The six of us drank almost five bottles of wine - must remember my co-workers like chardonnay and shiraz and none of this aromatic or lighter stuff. I'm glad I opened the expensive bottle of white Burgundy for them, bc it turned out to be too dry for me.
The carrot spread took far too long to cook last night - the directions call for 90mins, but I gave up at 2 hours and just shoved them in the food processor. It was my favorite food at the party, but I think L- was the only other person who ate it. Actually, looking over the last two paragraphs, it sounds like I have completely different tastes than my cow orkers. Which might be sort of good in this case, bc it means I like a higher proportion of the leftovers than of the party food. I'm certainly happy to see the spinach-soy nuggets are gone and they ate half the manchego I brought back from Spain; also good bc it turns out I don't like that either. They left some of the Pyrenees erhaki: it's a young cow cheese the guy at Fairway recommended.
I also need to remember we have 3 vegetarians in the crowd, not 2. The prosciutto and ricotta bread was barely touched and was the most effort, bc the baguette was so hard. It might've been easier to learn to make ciabatta :-/ Now I also have to figure out what to do with the pounds of prosciutto I have left over - I think brunch tmw may well be roasted brussel sprouts with shredded prosciutto. Also, i'll never be able to eat prosciutto again.
Bc K- wasn't there, the conversation was much less saucy than usual, and somebody let Raita get started on Sarah Palin, so half the night was spent discussing religion in politics. Just religion might've been ok - we had 2 Jews, 2 Hindis, and 2 atheists - but yeah.
I have no idea what music you're supposed to play in the background for a little party at your place, so I had cello music, Shakespeare in Love, and Master & Commander in the background.
Anyhow, I'm totally calling this one a success, to the point where, once my tiling is done, if I can get some more of the Stuff tamed, I'll throw another one and invite the male apprentices as well. The second condition is very important - for this one, I took TRQ's advice and shoved all the detritus in the bedroom, but it seems to me a good host should have either a viewable bedroom or coat closet. Oops. On the plus side, moving all the detritus gave me inspiration to get rid of some of it.
My mum's right - they all but finished the carrot spread, spinach-soy nuggets, and cheese - why do people finish everything but the last bite?? I was too full to finish them after the guest left, so the 2 remaining spinach-soy nuggets and the tbsp of carrot spread are probably breakfast this morning. Also, the olives were hardly touched: I think I ate most of the ones that were eaten.
The six of us drank almost five bottles of wine - must remember my co-workers like chardonnay and shiraz and none of this aromatic or lighter stuff. I'm glad I opened the expensive bottle of white Burgundy for them, bc it turned out to be too dry for me.
The carrot spread took far too long to cook last night - the directions call for 90mins, but I gave up at 2 hours and just shoved them in the food processor. It was my favorite food at the party, but I think L- was the only other person who ate it. Actually, looking over the last two paragraphs, it sounds like I have completely different tastes than my cow orkers. Which might be sort of good in this case, bc it means I like a higher proportion of the leftovers than of the party food. I'm certainly happy to see the spinach-soy nuggets are gone and they ate half the manchego I brought back from Spain; also good bc it turns out I don't like that either. They left some of the Pyrenees erhaki: it's a young cow cheese the guy at Fairway recommended.
I also need to remember we have 3 vegetarians in the crowd, not 2. The prosciutto and ricotta bread was barely touched and was the most effort, bc the baguette was so hard. It might've been easier to learn to make ciabatta :-/ Now I also have to figure out what to do with the pounds of prosciutto I have left over - I think brunch tmw may well be roasted brussel sprouts with shredded prosciutto. Also, i'll never be able to eat prosciutto again.
Bc K- wasn't there, the conversation was much less saucy than usual, and somebody let Raita get started on Sarah Palin, so half the night was spent discussing religion in politics. Just religion might've been ok - we had 2 Jews, 2 Hindis, and 2 atheists - but yeah.
I have no idea what music you're supposed to play in the background for a little party at your place, so I had cello music, Shakespeare in Love, and Master & Commander in the background.
Anyhow, I'm totally calling this one a success, to the point where, once my tiling is done, if I can get some more of the Stuff tamed, I'll throw another one and invite the male apprentices as well. The second condition is very important - for this one, I took TRQ's advice and shoved all the detritus in the bedroom, but it seems to me a good host should have either a viewable bedroom or coat closet. Oops. On the plus side, moving all the detritus gave me inspiration to get rid of some of it.