Weeknight Dinner Party: Yikes! They'll be here in an hour!

People seem to have this conundrum a lot: How will I have time to prepare a dinner party when I only get home from work one hour before my guests arrive? My advice: Keep It Simple, Prepare Ahead, and let it be a Casual Affair. Don't let working all day deter you from hosting a dinner and enjoying your friends' company during the week. It doesn't have to be a stressful event. I’ll continue to offer more menu and set up ideas, but here is one from this week.

We had talked about going out to a Mexican Restaurant, but ultimately we decided to eat at my house.

The Menu:

Green Salad with Mint (leftover), Cucumber (leftover), and Olives

Green Chili Enchiladas

Sour Cream on the side

Foil-wrapped Chocolate Hearts to nibble after the meal

I did my grocery shopping two evenings before the dinner. The next evening I made the enchilada sauce, cooked the chicken and shredded it. I have some amazing green chili powder from New Mexico that makes a great seasoning for an onion-based enchilada sauce. I had some Valentine chocolate hearts which I scattered down the center of the table. They livened up the table and looked good with the pink roses I got for Valentine's Day, and they also served as dessert so I didn’t need to make one myself.

When I got home the night of the dinner all I needed to do was assemble the meal and set the table. Or so I thought.... There was one unforeseen hitch in my perfectly timed out plan. I had ended up painting walls all day so I was speckled and smeared with yellow paint. I hadn't foreseen that I'd need time to shower and change my clothes as well, so I answered the door in my paint splattered jeans and tee shirt. What can you do. A bit of paint-dipped host didn't seem to bother anyone. We had a delicious post work day meal, took our shoes off, and enjoyed one another's company.

Homemade Valentine's Dinner

Dinner at home can be so romantic. Especially if you're like me, and you want all the details to be handmade and special. For a romantic at-home Valentine's Day dinner, let me stress: Details. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or time consuming (believe me, mine weren't: colored paper and m&m's). Just something personalized and fun.

I kept the same color scheme of bright pinks and white as I had at breakfast. Cut out paper hearts, pink and white m&m's, and of course the necessary Conversation Hearts twinkled happily among the tea candles. (Try having a conversation only using the phrases on the conversation hearts.... Very tricky!) I displayed the festively wrapped gifts on the mantle, and adjusted the various lamps for a low and romantic glow.

The Menu

Riesling

Smoked Salmon Pate and Baguette

Chickpea, Cauliflower and Red Endive Salad

Mussels and Clams with Crusty Bread

Belgique Chocolatier Artisan Chocolates

I tried to stay in the pink realm with the food too, though the mussels and clams are stretching it a bit! But it is so fun to slurp the broth out of the shells and to use your hands. And the chocolates. One of the few things I would rather buy than ever attempt to make myself, Belgique's filled chocolates (stores in Kent and New Canaan, CT) are perfect in every way. Eat some if you are ever in the neighborhood www.belgiqueonline.com

After dinner we opened our gifts, and since we were home and unshod, complimented one another on the festiveness of our Valentine socks.

A Pink and White Breakfast In Bed

Happy Valentine's Day! I know a lot of people dread this holiday. It is either a downer because there is no one to share it with, or too stressful because the expectations are high. Yes, in mainstream culture this holiday is primarily for couples, but remember back in Second Grade? The whole class would be cutting and pasting valentines together, giving one to everyone, sharing chocolates and wearing pink and red. This is how I still like to think of Valentine's Day. Ok, ok: I am spending the evening with my very special valentine. But I also e-mail and call my parents and friends to send them virtual kisses. I wish I could make and mail valentines to everyone because for me that truly is the epitome of the day. Perhaps that is a project for next year. But this year I'll be sharing ideas for breakfast and dinner.

Breakfast Menu

Heart Shaped Scones with candied orange peel

Scrambled Eggs

Sliced Strawberries with sugar and balsamic vinegar

Butter and Berry Jam

Coffee and Tea

And a scattering of paper hearts….

I chose dishware in pink and white, and set everything up on an industrial sized aluminum baking sheet. This baking sheet is a versatile kitchen accessory. It doesn’t fit in my tiny oven, but I use it as a surface for icing cookies, drying fresh pasta, and also as a tray when I need a really big one -- like for a breakfast in bed!

Every Day Delights: A Splash of Pink

Remodelista’s “5 Quick Fixes: Bright Pink Accents” http://remodelista.com/posts/5-quick-fixes-bright-pink-accents got me thinking. I love a splash of hot pink here and there. So just in time for Valentine's Day here are some of my bright pink accents.

Vintage neon “Steak” sign from a diner in Nebraska. Yep, it's big. Some day when I have a giant white wall to put this on, maybe I'll replace the neon. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking....

Mini champagne bottles saved from a bridal shower. I thought these were fun, so I kept them and use them as vases from time to time.

Sabre acrylic demitasse spoons. These are available at www.Gracioushome.com in every color (not just pink), as well as various sizes. I use mine for tea, or for dips and spreads served in white dishware to accentuate the bright colors.

The Sandra Snowflake Party

My friend Kate and I invented Sandra Snowflake Day in 10^th grade. It is a winter holiday that brings smiles to my friends’ faces. And, I'll be honest, questioning looks from friends who are wondering about my sanity.

Here are the basics:

Sandra Snowflake Day is the last Monday of January.

Celebrating this holiday requires lots of paper snowflakes, yummy sweet treats, and the realization that there is always something to celebrate.

Sandra Snowflake Day was founded on the understanding that the end of January (particularly the last Monday of the month) desperately needs an occasion: A reason to have a party, celebrate the winter, and share some good cheer with friends.

I admit it is a little insane to invent one's own holiday. However, finding reasons to celebrate, and taking the time to do so is the crux of The Occasionist. And Sandra Snowflake Day is an excellent experiment in starting traditions from scratch. This year there seemed to be a whole lot of people who needed convincing that Sandra Snowflake Day was indeed a holiday (if only in my world), and that it required celebrating. So I decided to throw a big old party, and hopefully make some new Sandra Snowflake traditions.

This year’s party had a little bit of arts and crafts, and a lot of white!

The White Menu:

Cauliflower Crostini

Ricotta Crostini

Fresh White Winter Veggies and Buttermilk and Mint Dressing

A Selection of White Cheeses and Baguette

Popcorn

White Bean and Sausage Soup

Homemade Grissini (bread sticks)

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

Coconut Macaroons

Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses

Spanish Cava

Most of my dishware is white. White goes with anything, and can be used for any color scheme your occasion requires. Seeing as this party’s theme was white, I had my pick of most of my dishes and tried to use different shapes and sizes.

I used some more inventive containers as well. The grissini are in a metal urn, spray painted white. And the fresh vegetables are lined up in square glass flower vases. You can use any container for food (just make sure its surfaces are food safe): vases, baskets, lunch boxes. So be creative in displaying your food.

I have a set of nesting snowflake cookie cutters that I used for the sugar cookies. The nesting cookie cutters take up less space so they can be stored away more easily. A few friends came over the day before the party to decorate cookies, drink tea and catch up.

For our Winter Wonderland I hung snowflakes by fishing line over the farm table, and attached them to our front door.

The farm table was set up with white paper and scissors for snowflake cutting. Guests taped their snowflakes to our living room windows for added effect. Snowflake making turned out to be a more popular activity than I had expected. Nearly everyone took their turn with the scissors. For a party with a lot of people who didn’t know one another very well, snowflake cutting was a good icebreaker. (Although I think I’ll be finding tiny bits of paper around my apartment for months!)