In the works

[plural]

Dinner parties are something I greatly enjoy having
some have said I excel at them
so I thought I'd share the process with yall
let you in on the work in progress
instead of my usual glamorous fait accompli

As you can imagine the first step is inviting the guests
this is however not nearly as simple as it sounds
for the goal of a dinner party
is not, contrary to popular opinion to eat good food

a memorable dinner party is a social affair
and social interaction, conversation even, is of primary import

I always select my guests with careful consideration
attempting to balance out their various strengths and flaws
but also ensuring to avoid inviting a bore

I use two definitions of bore here
the first and lesser is quite simply, a person who, when you ask how they are, tells you
the second and more severe is a person who cannot enjoy having their opinion discussed and challenged
such a person is a plague upon a dinner party because they shut down any conversation
after providing their opinion

so after avoiding bores, I attempt to balance out people of various political and social perspectives and backgrounds
but keeping in mind that there will be enough commonality to encourage discussion
after all if every discussion is stillborn with the statement
"lets agree to disagree" its hardly any fun.

the second step goes along with the first
in that one must query for dislikes, allergies or other such dietary restrictions

it is key however to note
that a proper dinner party cannot be accommodated
without at least a week to plan
one must leave wiggle room for the inevitable snags
and nothing perfect can ever be rushed

that said, the date set, the guests invited

then one must plan the menu
take into account not only your skill
[fortunately I have ample]
but also your available space
and the number of guests
as that will affect how complex or simple
your menu can be

Preparing even the simplest of menus
for say 45 guests is quite a challenge

while for 6 guests you can go all out

I tend to prefer smaller dinner parties
as I enjoy being somewhat extravagant

I have for this occasion invited six people to join me
three men, and three women
normally I would have an even number but I wanted to leave a slot open
for someone I've not yet had the opportunity to invite

Unless it is particularly spectacular occasion
I generally use the following format

Aperitif
Appetizers (usually two)

Wine
Entree
Sides (usually two)

Dessert
Cocktails (usually three)

Too many courses or too much food
tend to overwhelm and require most of your time serving
so unless you have household staff
it is better that you spend your time with your guests

So for this particular occasion

I'm thinking of the following menu
I'm breaking a few of my own rules here as I have both vegetarian guests and normal people [duck]
but rather than provide a vegetarian menu, I decided to produce side by side menus

Aperitif:
Georgia Sparkles - Brut with a hint of peach schnapps

Appetizers:
Beggars Purses - Flats of smoked salmon lox filled with capers and a dollop of cream, then folder and bound with a chilled leek

Nova Neapolitan - Potato pancakes layered with smoked salmon lox, sour cream and capers

Baked Brie with Pesto and Pine Nuts - Round of brie topped with pesto and pine nuts, then baked and served with Crostini

[I could and probably should ditch the first and keep it simple]
[but they are a personal favorite of mine]
[unfortunately as you need precise two inch squares]
[for perfect presentation, it tends to be wasteful]
[so I devised the second app as a way of using up the left over lox]
[without over complicating either the palette or my shopping list]

Wine:
I've not yet entirely decided on the wine yet
I need both white and red wine but a pairing that will both match the food
and each other should the need arise so it will be a delicate choice

Entrees:
Breaded breasts of Chicken - stuffed with wild mushrooms and brie then garnished with a tomato and basil sauce
Breaded filets of eggplant - layered with wild mushrooms and brie then garnished with a tomato and basil sauce
[nearly identical to give a similar culinary experience while meeting dietary requirements]

Sides:
Pan seared vegetable medley - Red, yellow, orange and green peppers tossed with button and portabella mushroom and pan-seared to perfection.

Roasted potato medley - Oven-roasted red, gold and sweet potatoes marinated in a blush wine vinaigrette and fresh rosemary.

Dessert:

Black Raspberry Marbled Cheesecake - Creamy cheesecake marbled with Chambord

Cocktails:

Sex on the Pool Table
Triple sec, Peach schnapps, Chambord, Midori, & Grapefruit juice

Voodoo Doll
Vodka, Chambord, Orange juice & Cranberry juice

Sex under the boardwalk
Peach schnapps, Chambord, Midori

So this is my tentative plan
The party is scheduled for Sunday evening
[an odd time but it was the only day which worked]

That means tonight is verification
I need to check my stocks and make a grocery list

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I will go to the grocery store
and verify that all my planned ingredients are readily available
but I will wait until friday to actually purchase them
[so that they are as fresh as possible]

Thursday is to deal with any problems
make modifications should anything not be available
[although the only items which might be tricky to obtain]
[I already possess ample quantities so it should not be a problem here]

Friday I'll do the shopping

Saturday is my prep day
I'll slice all my vegetables
chop the roasting potatoes
and grate those for the pancakes
prepare my sauces
make the cheesecake

Sunday is game day
dinner is set for 7:30
which means I need to start cooking around 2pm
so I will have all of my grooming done before then
and set out the clothes I will wear for the party
[but I'll wear different clothes while cooking]
[just to be on the safe side]

well I will end this here
but continue to update as the process continues
so you can see my various stresses and adjustments

On sunday I will provide a detailed explanation of the cooking processes
and
god willing on monday [should I be sober by then]

photos of a glorious night

Comments

[darwinpolice.livejournal.com]

I didn't read any of that.

For dinner parties, I order pizza, put on porn and provide a variety of beer and a fresh deck of cards.

I win. :)

[ignote.livejournal.com]

Sounds divine.

My dinner "parties" are usually for 2-4, but it's still fun to make an event of it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_sacchi/]

May I partake? With an open slot, and divine-sounding food...

[campbellconey.livejournal.com]

oh yum. so when are you flying me up for your dinner party?

I absolutely love dinner parties. i love to have them. I don't enjoy going to them as much. Seriously, I thought I was the last person left in our generation who liked having them. Last year I had a canned jazz dinner party. Delicious food, and nothing but Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald. So bomb.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_sacchi/]

oh, and, as mother used to work in a wine store and is the closest thing to a resident expert in this house:

for the red, pinot noir; for the white, either pinot grigio or a spanish white (she did not have a name on hand, though we have one in the wine rack and I'm too lazy to check :P)

(not that you need this advice, but anyway)

[radiantsun.livejournal.com]

I want to go to your house for dinner. Yum!

(I also love throwing dinner parties . . . but rarely do so due to time. . .)

[plural.livejournal.com]

Well, if you're in Nova Scotia in the next two years or so, or wherever I end up after here, you're most welcome. (after all you have good referrences)

Before moving here, I threw one dinner party and one cocktail or wine tasting party a month, I'm about back up to the one dinner party, hoping to get the other going here shortly.

I've got it pretty down pat by now, have a series of forms I use to plan and schedule all the prep work so that its pretty efficient. Of course, not having been gainfully employed since 2001, time is not exactly something I'm short on

[radiantsun.livejournal.com]

How do you keep the costs under control?

[plural.livejournal.com]

define under control? *grin*

for a dinner party of six, it generally runs in the 300-400 dollar range, depending on the menu and wines. Of course, I tend to be a bit extravagant in my choices, and making do with whats available or toning down the menu would greatly lower the overall cost. I'd say you could easily pull of a quality dinner party for six sans vino for about a hundred dollars. wIne is obviously a huge variable, for the party I was planning above, the wine alone was 225$.

Wine tastings vary tremendously based on the number of people, methodology and obviously the cost of the wine. I prefer to provide the wine so I can design an evening and an experience around it, although a budget option is just to have everyone you invite bring two bottles of wine they enjoy, although generally giving a theme as a guideline helps with the continuity of the experience.

As I maintain a modest yet fairly comphrensive bar at home, I can host up to about 20 people for a cocktail party without having to purchase anything, save perhaps mixers if I'm running low on any of my usual stock. Anything larger than that requires a bit more liquor than I keep on hand. As a general rule I tend to replace bottles when they drop below 1/4 so its rare I run out of stock unless there is a particularly heavy run on a particular liquor in an evening.

Fortunately I have few material needs so the lions share of my modest monthly budget can be diverted to fun and games.