The Dinner Party

While being on vacation is fun, sometimes you need a bit of your usual routine to help center you. I'm trying to do Pilates every few days here, and the other thing that makes me feel "homey" is throwing a dinner party. In this case, there is kind of a zesty challenge added because while our home here is very comfortable, it doesn't have much in the way of dinner party needful things. Like serving plates, large scale skillets, etc. (unlike our flat in London 12 years ago, which came with place settings for 12, wine glasses, serving platters - it was a place begging to have parties. And boy, did we.) So the question becomes, what can you make that doesn't require many specialty food items, and can be made in a few basic cookery pieces? It was a fun culinary puzzle to figure out, what to make for a party of eight for Wednesday evening?

We weren't completely in the wilderness, because we have the able help of Jo Durkin, the Merton housekeeper. She doesn't clean the various properties here, but oversees the needs for all their various components, like towels, sheets, cutlery and when one politely requests it, a pressed and starched table cloth and starched napkins! And wine glasses and port glasses (a staple here in the land of sherry and port). So with Jo's help, here is how our elegant dining room shaped up:

That door on the wall to the left of the sideboard leads into another small kitchen, with sink, fridge and dishwasher! So of course we're going to have a second kitchen installed when we get home, they are really useful when you're entertaining and the main kitchen is downstairs (with no dumb waiter).

And the main dish? It was penne pasta with sauteed chicken in a mushroom/white wine sauce made with creme fraiche, truffle oil, and asparagus. The only thing to serve it in was a rectangular cake baking pan, but judging from the amount consumed, it was a hit. (With just enough left over to make a serving for Jo the housekeeper, who has requested that I become her personal chef.)

Here is the happy - and well-fed - crowd:

Once again, we were overrun with physicists, save for Amber (in the red top) who is an archeology student. Both Amber and Jena, the young woman immediately to Greg's left, are amazing chefs! It was Jena who made these amazing cream puff "swans" for our Second Dessert Party back in May (she made a salad with spinach, strawberries and pomegranates for the dinner), and Amber, a self-confessed sweet freak, brought little meringue tarts while her fiance Edmund made tiramisu! It's a darn good thing we do alot of walking here . . .