{dinner parties} ~ our housewarming/labour day dinner

Things that helped this 15 people dinner party go well:

1. I set the two tables the night before

2. We had organic grilled vegetables, pulled pork and curried lamb catered

3. We had hors d'oeuvres (organic!), ice cream, pie, fruit and lettuce delivered

the day before.  

4. Mr. Husband and I did detailed meal planning

5. Two carafes of lemon wedges in water per table

6. Cheese Pizza and Doritos for the kids 

7. Wonderful dinner guests and two happy kids!

Christmas Ginger & Lemon Chicken

A special extra virgin olive oil from France,

a Christmas gift to Mr. Husband and I.

The chicken...will repeat what I wrote here:

"Did a roast chicken this way:

butter under skin with garlic cloves,

one small onion in quarters, fresh organic sage and half a zested lemon in the cavity,

French Lemon & Ginger infused extra virgin olive oil over the skin,

with salt, pepper, dried ginger and lemon on top...

450F for about 2 hours... I think next time I will take the chicken out a bit 

before 2 hours.... it was great though and I trussed the chicken 

for the first time (did not want the cavity onion and lemon falling out!)"

The skin was very crispy and the chicken very flavourful!

Our Home Has Been Blessed!

 Our House is Blessed! 

It is so very nice to have one's house blessed 

with prayer, holy water, oil and incense!  

*

Our priest, his Matuska and son stayed for dinner;

Mr. Husband's parents have known them all for years

and it was a lovely time of fellowship and reminiscing!

Meal:

Home grown mashed potatoes & salad from parents-in-law's garden

fried chicken from this recipe

fruit salad of red grapes and blue berries with whipped cream on the side

red wine, water

*

Flowers from guest's garden, vase Mr. Husband's.

Table Cloth and Candle holders were wedding gifts to me

from my Ottawa parish.

I also used rose tea towels and apron from IKEA

for the first time... 

I got these from the IKEA gift card

that my Ottawa church family also gave me.

So it was full of many memories and love, this meal...

Grandma's sauce boat.

Bowl from Halifax trip years ago.

Silver from rummage sale Mr. Husband and I went to;

other dishes from wedding, sales and bridal showers...

It was a lovely meal enjoyed by all!

*

Dessert:

Apricot Torte from this recipe

Juniors cheese cake

Tea, milk, cream, sugar, agave.

My Mother-in-law helped greatly with the meal

and it was a really special time! 

We are so thankful to God for His great mercy to us!

Book Club and an Early Thanksgiving Meal

We are now done with chapter 5
in GK Chesterton's book Orthodoxy.
We had a wonderful early Thanksgiving meal
to start things off!

As I wrote earlier,
I made a lot of butternut squash soup last week.
I got some out the morning of book club
and let it thaw on the counter.
About half an hour before dinner was to be ready,
I simmered it on the stove and added cream,
salt and pepper.
It was a 7 cup container and it filled up the soup tureen well.
It was well received! 

I made drunken chicken again ~ so easy!

I also did a carrot and orange glaze
from the same cookbook.
It was great also! 

We had a dinner of 7 and so I got to
mix and match my blue and white dishes.
They went even better together than
I had envisioned! 

It was a joy to set the table!

I love how the dishes have the matching
forms...

I was really pleased at how they complement each other!

My first full cheesecake.

A Gluten Free Crust, with lemon zest.

The Meal:
~Drunken Chicken
~Carrots in orange glaze
~GF Gravy {just add chicken juice from drunken chicken,
strained with a fine mesh strainer and add GF all purpose flour
until it has thickened.}
~Cranberry Sauce {homemade from book club member)
~Great Green Beans {by same cook}
~Mashed Potatoes that were glorious {brought also}
~Yams with Cranberries ~ YUM ~ {brought also;
I hope to get the recipe!}
~Green Salad
~Soft and Hard Apple Cider
~Local Beer {to honour GK Chesterton}

The chicken was very flavourful!

We all shared things we were thankful for.
I found these words shared to be
deeply meaningful and beautiful.

Thanksgiving is so important to us! 

At the end we had the cheese cake
with GF crust... we had strawberries,
from Mr. Husband's parents,
that we had frozen in our freezer,
waiting for such an opportunity!

I was complimented on that fact that
my cheesecake did not crack.
Beginners' luck I guess!
I merely followed the recipe... 

 

It was very decadent cheesecake.
I think Mr. Husband does not mind
that we have some left overs from this,
as he loves cheesecake.
*
It was such a lovely time and I am so thankful for it!