It turned out to be another enjoyable little dinner party. Suzanne, Vickie, and Mary came at 5:00 and we had appetizers and drinks until the meal was ready about quarter of six. This time, I didn't make everything from scratch, as I usually do. Instead, I bought Birds-Eyes's frozen chicken Florentine, made it up in the afternoon, then revved up a hot (400 degree) oven and re-heated it for the half hour before my guests arrived. Damn, it was delicious, bought or not and everybody loved it. I just added a simple salad, plus rolls and crystal pickles and that was the meal. For dessert, I again served blueberry slurry and homemade whipped cream (Cool Whip? I'm not a savage!) to bought lemon cake, and it went over big.
The company stayed until almost eight, and that was fine. Vickie gave Suzanne and me each a package of chocolate truffles--so nice of her, but I wasn't planning on giving her a gift (I already have one for Suzanne). Maybe I'll work something up. I did give each of them a lemon from Ellen's bounty:
Spent the morning preparing the meal. I decided not to include the butternut squash leftover from my last company and froze it instead for another time.
Earlier, I had called Olivia to tell her I had forgotten about T.O.P.S. this morning, so couldn't meet her to go to the office until 10:30. I called Sharon, who's our T.O.P.S. sunshine person (yes, it's just like a Brownie Troop; she sends birthday cards to members), to find out Julie's birthday. It's not until October, so I'll take her to lunch then. Julie herself called to say she'll pick me up this morning.
Speaking of Julie, I wrote a little personalized Christmas card for her--just thought she'd get a kick out of it:
J olly Christmas wishes wait
U derneath the tree,
L ots of fun and laughter, too,
I can clearly see;
E ven if you may, perhaps,
C onsidering your past,
O pt to make a getaway
O n something with a mast,
K eep in your heart the season's glow
E verywhere you choose to go.
I don't like the last two lines, so will try to work on those. The mast reference is because she lived on a boat for two years, by herself, before she married. I'm debating with myself whether to have yet another dinner party with Julie and possibly Olivia and--Stella? Gordon? Vera? I have wine, beer, and port left and it might be a good time to use it. I enjoy it when it happens, but do I really want to all the prep again so soon? Pondering...
2 comments:
You are not only a chef extraordinaire you have so many followers. Do you actually read all those 40+ comments each day? Your dinner parties sound like fun and yet a lot of work, but you love it, don't you? Wish I had your creativity.
Pat, those entries that supposedly got dozens of comments were news to me. Clearly, they were all or almost all electronically generated and Blogger posted them. I have NO IDEA why this happened or how I can avoid it. I'm still trying to get back to the simple format (or "theme," as they call it) I had for so long, but can't seem to get there. I hate this setup and will keep trying to change it. In truth, of course, your comments are usually the only legitimate ones. I also dislike having to "approve" them; if they're from you or anyone else I know, I'd just want them to be posted without my approval each time. Of course, that's how those 40+ comments got on!
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