I made cheese straws for people to nosh on before dinner, as those are what people always have at dinner parties in books. I made them the night before, and I actually found they were best right out of the oven, but they went over rather well. When our guests arrived (we had a total of six people, counting me and Krista) they insisted on sitting on the floor in a circle. It felt sort of like a coven meeting, especially with Susan decked out head to toe in black, with big witchcrafty boots. At one point we were discussing Quine, but the conversation about Quine got mixed up somehow with an aside about a former colleague of Kari's whom Sharon and I had met in Memphis and who apparently thought we were hot. Susan was confused by the overlapping threads of conversation and thought we were discussing who Quine thought was hot. The possibility of breaking out the Ouija board was discussed to settle Quine's opinion once and for all.
I also made my gingered carrot soup and rolls using this recipe, which were rather good even though I didn't exactly follow all the directions. Krista helped by setting the sponge yesterday morning, and when I got back from the grocery store it was all bubbly and sentient. Baking is so cool.
The main course was fettuccine with creamy red pepper sauce (Serious Eats again!) which was disappointing because the pasta stuck together, making it hard to eat. I put a little oil in the water to keep this from happening but it didn't work. Susan brought pumpkin bread pudding for dessert, which was delicious, and we went through two bottles of red wine.
I don't really know much about wine, so when I went to the store to get some for the party I went straight for the Excelsior Cabernet I used to get in Northampton, but they didn't have it. So I asked the fellow working there to recommend a cheap white and a cheap red, and the red he suggested was this:
which I obviously had to get, given the theme of our party. It was pretty good, as far as I could tell. (We now have an unopened bottle of white wine chilling in our fridge, and it will probably be there for quite awhile as Krista and I can't drink a whole bottle of wine all by ourselves. Maybe we'll break it out to celebrate the end of the semester.)
I consider our party a total success - everyone was jolly and seemed to enjoy the spread and be suitably impressed by the from-scratchness of it all, and it was very nice to just spend time with the female portion of the philosophy department - because if there's one thing I love (in all seriousness), it's voluntary gender segregation.
After everyone left, Krista and I did the dishes and then I went and passed out in my room. Having a party really takes it out of you.
7 comments:
The problem I had with with the cheese straws was that they seemed to get eaten before they had a chance to cool off much.
You didn't mention what music you had for background, but otherwise it sounds great.
Congratulations on the succes sof your party! The best way to keep pasta from sticking is to make it on a dry day. Humidity is a killer. The second suggestion is to make sure that it is thouroughly dried before cooking and then undercook and serve it immediately.
Music: the Memphis mix, followed by a mix CD I threw together with representations from all the female artists on my iTunes.
ZOMG! You baked sentient bread. Such cruelty. Oil in the water is a myth, so is salting it.
Had a dinner party ourselves the other night. total of 6 people including us. Served broiled terriyaki pork loin, roast potatoes, fresh asparagus and salad. Must have been good. No leftovers. dessert, however, was a disaster. sara Lee Pound cake which turned out to be rather stale with an orange compote made with Grand Marnier over it. the compote was a gift from afrined and was not very good. Oh, well. We all know I'm not much of a cook. Nice friends came and I don't think will hold it against us.
Sorry, that wasn't ex-Tante Meera, that was me. I was signed is as her, working on her googlepages website.
Haha, Uncle Greg said "Zomg"
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