Monday, June 2, 2008

The importance of guests

I LOVE entertaining. Yes, I like to cook and entertaining gives me an excuse to do it; but more importantly are the guests. If the food is bad, you can manage around it if you have to, if the guests are boring, you are sunk. I invite people that are charming, witty, well-traveled, well-read, adventurous, playful, good storytellers and good friends. Parties at my house are frequent and some are annual events. There often is hilarity and sometimes singing and dancing far into the night. Occasionally there is sitting around the firepit with burnt marshmallows being pulled off sticks to be sandwiched between a piece of chocolate and graham crackers.

Once in a while visiting friends of friends get roped into the fun. This has happened a few times. This past weekend Michael and David were here. I met them years ago at a mystery dinner. They were as engaging as I remembered.


Menu
Deviled eggs (brought by a guest)
Pigs in a blanket
Pear martinis

The most amazing homemade mushroom soup (brought by a different guest)
Artichokes steamed in chicken broth with white wine and fresh herbs (same guest as the soup)
White wine

Marineated bison steak
Roasted corn on the cob
Potato salad
Green Salad with fresh herbs
Red wine

Strawberry Rhubarb pie with strawberry ice cream
French-pressed Coffee

Thank you all for entertaining me. The flowers are still lovely and the kitchen is finally clean.

6 comments:

Deejbrown said...

The most important ingredient in any party menu are the guests--the mix must be well balanced or the evening won't "taste right."

Anonymous said...

My invitation must have got lost in the mail

Teresa

Anonymous said...

Guests are critical to the success of a party. In times long past, a much greater importantance was paid to selecting and placement of guests at a party. It sounds like you hve a knack for throwing a grand affair.

Rosco said...

It was certainly a lovely gathering.
The guest who made the soup.

Anonymous said...

How did you cook the bison? What kind of mushrooms were in the soup?

Bill

Bevson said...

Hi Bill,

The bison was marinated in red wine vinegar, olive oil, black pepper and dried rosemary leaves in a zip bag in the fridge for 3 hours. Then we seared it on both sides on a HOT grill. Once the outside was nice and brown, we turned the heat to medium, closed the lid and continued cooking for 4-5 minutes. Bison is very lean, so you want to eat it no more than medium.

Mushrooms, I have no idea. I think he said regular white buttons.