SPECIAL DINNERS

Carrie and I to date have cooked around 40 meals together. It has been a very enjoyable journey.  We have learned tons about food, about planning, about recipes, about cooking, and about each other.  I have been wondering today about how all of this began.  I had been cooking for friends long before cooking with Carrie, and she also had been cooking long before cooking with me.  I would imagine it all began after having Natalie.  Entertaining became a little bit harder to pull off with the addition of a baby, and everything else I was juggling at the time.  When Carrie had been working for us for a bit, and we discovered how much we had in common, and that we enjoyed doing things together, it just seems to have taken off quite naturally.  We've had some very fun times in the kitchen!  We've put in some very long hours too.  We have discovered, that after midnight, we are utterly useless.  We've had moments of complete failure, and times of great success.  But I would say the greatest joy, the greatest reward for all the work and time and money, would be the joy we've brought to those we've fed and nourished.  Nothing compares!  It warms our hearts to think back on our times with family and friends.  So this is what we will share with you, our readers.  Not a great deal of note taking and picture taking were happening at the beginning, but as we moved forward, we documented better, and seemingly the dinners became more entertaining (behind the scenes!).  So little by little, we will pull these stories from our notebook pages, and bring them to light!  Enjoy!!

October 2006

DINNER PARTY FOR 10

5 COURSES

1

DELICATE SESAME CHICKEN DUMPLINGS

2

OVEN-ROASTED TOMATO AND AVOCADO SOUP

3 DIFFERENT HOMEMADE CHEESE BALLS AND ASSORTED CRACKERS

3

SALAD OF GRILLED ZUCCHINI AND CORN WITH CILANTRO VINAIGRETTE

4

GRILLED AND BRAISED SHORT RIBS OVER POLENTA 

GREEN BEANS WITH BACON

5

RAINBOW ICE CREAM TORTE

LEMON CHEESECAKE

Carrie and I planned, shopped and cooked this meal together.  It was really a lot of fun.  It took us about 16  total hours to cook.  We had prepared most of the meal the day before, on Friday, and finished up on Saturday.  We served the dinner on Saturday evening.  We learned some things as we went along, and if we repeated this menu again, it would go smoother. ( Never have we repeated a menu, sometimes we have repeated a dish.)  Every part of this meal was a huge hit.  One of my sons, Michael, and two of his friends, helped in the kitchen.  They soon petered out on us though, as the dishing began to mount!  *Just for the record-Michael and his friends (later adding girls), became excellent helpers! Couldn't have done these nights without them!