Dinner Party prep

I just spent an enjoyable evening preparing for a dinner party I'm having tomorrow night. I really can't remember the last time I had an honest-to-goodness sit-down dinner party. With china and everything. I think it was before Kiddo was born.

Dinner parties are quite different from bigger, appetizer-heavy grazing parties. The menu planning must include courses, side dishes, presentation. I am not a Martha Stewart fan...for the most part, I let the food speak for itself, and any presentation finesse is provided by Hub. In our house, he's the one who can arrange flowers, he's the one who will drizzle sauce expressively on a plate, he's the one I turn to when meats must be sliced Just So.

And really? It's because I think that's all hooey. What I always remember from any party or gathering is the conversation, and how happy and comfortable I felt. Too much presentation lowers actual hospitality, in my opinion. In fact, my brand of cooking may even lower the hospitality meter, because I love to cook...sometimes it dissuades those who don't love to cook from inviting me over for dinner. What most people don't understand is...I'd be happy with pizza and beer! Plus the right combination of people to talk to.

For this one, I've hired a sitter to watch kids here, if the parents so desire. Partly that's because I remember being sent upstairs when my parents had parties, with my siblings and the other children who came. We always had an excellent time. Our children are still a bit too small to send up on their own. Not all the participants are planning to bring their kids (some have decided they'll have a better time if they don't have to think of them in the house) but enough are coming to provide playmates for Kiddo.

So here's the plan -- I'll let you know how it actually turns out:

Start at 5:30 pm -- adults start grazing on appetizers (which my friends Ms. C and Ms. T have graciously voluteered to provide, we thought cheese fondue with bread and crudites would be lovely) and the kids in attendance will have quesadillas, veggies and juice boxes, then be sent out to play on the playset with the sitter. Hub's planning on mixing his killer martinis.

When the light starts to fail (7:00 or so), send the kids upstairs with the sitter. At our house, the TV is upstairs, along with Dance, Dance Revolution, Kiddo's playroom and a real, full-size pinball machine. The hope is, they'll mostly stay there. Sitter will be provided with popcorn when needed, and pajamas, and maybe we'll set up a group bath. Or what we call "Penis Soup" since most of the kids in the cohort are male.

Actual recipes for the following will depend on whether they turned out well or not...

Soup course. Roasted Butternut-Squash and Garlic, which I prepped for by roasting the squash and garlic and doing the food-processor thing (Kiddo ran it). I'll reheat, add Greek yogurt and seasoning tomorrow.

Dinner. Spice-Rubbed Chicken/Duck with Port Wine Sauce. Hub removed the skins from the duck breasts tonight and I made, then rubbed in the spice mix. Also, I prepped the sauce.
Brown-butter orzo, no prep needed
Turnips and greens, no prep needed

Dessert: I made a dark chocolate/dried cherry/walnut bark last weekend, which I will serve with vanilla ice cream. And Ms. P (who can't make it until dessert) promised some kind of divine-sounding chocolate pie.

I don't have enough good china to go around. Oh, well. Like I said, that's not what matters!