Some dear friends of ours decided to start a supper club and invited 6 women to join them, including Holly and I. The first Epic dinner party for our little group. It was a no kids, no spouses, affair held at the beautiful home of our friend. We ate, we drank, we laughed-until almost 1 am. We all agreed it was a truly fabulous time. And our dear friends-chefs extraodinaire! We were served an 8 course dinner, complete with wine pairings. It was a foodie dream. And by the end of the night, all 8 of us agreed to pair up and keep the tradition going, at least quarterly.
Next up, it was our turn to host the epic dinner party. Holly and I had the vision of comfort of food and designed a menu around that theme. We hosted our dinner during the doldrums of February, when it was chilly outside with snow on the ground. We had a great month tossing around recipe ideas and settling on courses. We went to thrift shops to buy mismatched china to serve on. We had a great day cooking and garnishing and making our table beautiful. We also took a few photographs to share with all of you!
And then our guests arrived. Each guest was handed a glass of prosecco upon arrival and told that their only goal was to relax and enjoy! Eight awesome women sitting around a table, sharing a great meal, great conversation and so much laughter. If you haven’t ever thrown a dinner party, do it! Invite your tribe. Plan good food (it doesn’t have to be 8 courses-start with whatever feels good to you). Choose recipes that can be made ahead, or heated in a crockpot, or at least prepped in advance, so that when it comes time to serve your dinner, you will be able to sit at that table and enjoy too!
Here is the menu we used for our Epic Dinner Party (with links to the recipes):
Course #1: Cheese Tray. We chose a brie, a cheddar and a blue cheese. We garnished with crackers, grapes, fig onion marmalade spread and an olive tapenade.
Course #2: Pomegranate, Squash and Apple Salad
Course #3: Carrot Ginger Soup with Coconut Shrimp
Course #4: Peppercorn Beef Tenderloin Crostini with Horseradish Sauce
Course #5: Ravioli with Rosemary Mushroom Sauce
Course #6: Braised Short Ribs with Beer (from Williams Sonoma Cookbook) with Goat Cheese Polenta
Course #7: Pomegranate Lime Sorbet
Course #8: Molten Chocolate Babycakes
Umm, so jealous that I couldn’t come to this. Looks amazing!
We miss you Colleen!