I can tell you now, after we’ve had some success in fulfilling our goal, that one of our New Year’s Resolutions last year was to have people over for dinner more often. For some reason, although we both really like to cook, we haven’t had many dinner parties in recent years. We felt they were something we missed so we resolved to step up our game and it has been fun getting back into hosting, from planning the meal to cooperating on its preparation and creating a nice time for friends. Plus it means our home gets a regular cleaning, which is an added bonus for sure.
I hope that my posts talking about these evenings at our place are interesting for you, but please be sure to let me know when you’re getting tired of seeing what goes on around that same round dining table! And don’t worry, I’ll be changing things up soon because we’ll be taking it outside very soon.
In fact, when we originally invited new friends, Chris and Kim, over on Sunday evening, we completely thought we would be outdoors. That was a no-go because it was still too cold, so inside we stayed.
You have met them when we went to their place here, and before that here when they came over for the first time. They are a nice couple who we have been enjoying getting to know.
It was a three day weekend in Canada, so with no one having to get up for work the next morning we may have had an extra drink or two. Nick makes a very good tea-based cocktail he invented, which he calls ‘Sinner’s Tea’, I think because it aids in loosening tongues which leads to the sharing of stories of past sinful deeds!
Our table setting included a few thrifted treasures : the tablecloth is the one found during this thrifting trip, the napkins during this one, and the salad-dressing bowl during this one.
The vintage tray is one I got from E-Bay a few years ago, with seashells embedded in a resin base. The place-mats were some that my parents gave us for Christmas last year, and the plates and cutlery were things given to me by a former boyfriend’s family. The pink vintage Pyrex dish for the quiche was also given to us by my parents, who had found it at a thrift shop. The salad servers were a gift from my aunt and uncle.
Oh, and the note-card on the salad bowl said it came from Eddie (the cat) when I received it as a Valentine’s Day gift a few years ago, after Nick and I had promised one another that we were only going with very small gifts that year.
And now I am realizing that the bowl and the wine glasses (which are these by Mikasa) are the only parts of our table setting that we bought ourselves at retail, but the glasses were bought with gift money I’d received from a place I used to work (We each got money on Canada Day to spend on whatever we wanted … it was pretty neat!). So everything we used was either thrifted or a gift … how frugal of us! This is an appropriate time to say again how I love the kitchen/home section of any second-hand store.
Our meal was a joint effort between the two of us, with Nick making an Onion, Tomato and Swiss Cheese Quiche, with a whole-wheat and rye flour crust. It was delicious and there wasn’t a bit of it leftover. In fact, Kim said she thought it was the best quiche she had ever tasted!
I made a salad with Leaf Lettuce, Arugula, Yellow Tomatoes, Cucumber, Dried Cranberries, Pumpkin Seeds and a homemade dressing.
I also made the dessert, which was these individual Chocolate Cakes (they’re really un-frosted cupcakes), served with French Vanilla ice-cream and warm blueberry sauce. I used this technique to make the sauce with some wild blueberries we had frozen last summer when they were in season.
Here are some shots taken throughout the evening …
You know our boy Eddie was never too far from the party …
After we ate, although it wasn’t planned, we watched a movie together. Here’s to Netflix for offering up so many choices! We watched The Heat with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, which none of us had seen. Lots of laughs there.
All in all, it was a fun and laid-back evening.
Thank you for dropping over and taking a look. Just as we enjoy the company of friends in real-life we also appreciate the visits of our online friends. I wish everyone could come over for dinner!
xo loulou
