Sunday, January 29, 2012

Dinner for 10

who says having a tiny apartment means you can't entertain?  we surely tested our limits this past weekend by having 8 people over for dinner, making it 10 total with us.

the key to it?  making everything re-heat-able and making things that are ideally eaten out of a bowl with a spoon or a fork, no knives needed (when 1 hand is holding the dish, it's pretty hard impossible to cut something with a knife..)  we surely don't have "dining" seating for 10 people, so everyone ate on the couch or on a chair in the living room.  eating while holding your plate is just not fun (and is asking for something to spill to the floor), so we served everything in bowls!

pasta and meatballs it is, then!  i knew mr p would enjoy making this, because he LOVES making things from scratch that most people wouldn't dare to try (or, at least, they don't get on a regular basis).  he made his sauce from scratch, meatballs from scratch (including grinding the meat in the new meat grinder attachment to the kitchenaid mixer), pasta from scratch, and homemade plain white Italian bread.

before the prepping began, though, mr p and i went to the grocery to pick up food for the night, grabbing some good ole Shoprite sushi while we were there:

who says grocery store sushi isn't good?? i surely like my spicy tuna in brown rice
(well... coming from the NON sushi connoisseur)

mr p's regular tuna with white rice


let the REAL festivities begin!!

started the night with some homemade guac and blue corn tortilla chips


mr p's pasta-making in action

fluffy bread's ready :D


everyone's pappardelle ready, just wating on the meatballs and sauce!
check out the bowls with the raised sides, new dinnerware additions from sur la table

mr p's bowl :D

thanks to everyone for bringing the booze!

thanks to jo for making the BEST "better than sex" choco cupcakes.
(with her AMAZING addition of melting cookies and cream hersey bars on top!)

needed a new chalkboard drawing now that christmas is over

"sign-in sheet"

after eating delicious food, drinking lots of coronas and lots of wine, playing countless rounds of catch phrase and the game of things, and staying up past 2am (ha, it's not exactly college days anymore, 2am is LATE!!), we slept in and made breakfast with leftover bread, leftover rice, and DEEEELICIOUS sausage my mom got from the butcher and sent back with us at christmas time (well, mr p made us breakfast, really, thanks babe!)

smoked mutz. (i.e. mozzarella)

my brown rice, sausage, and runny egg with frank's.

mr p's goodies that obvi wouldn't fit in his siracha-sprinkled sammich bread he had prepared.

zack's sausage and egg sammich with frank's.

thanks to everyone who came!  hopefully it will all happen again soon, and those who couldn't make it will make it for the next feast!

cheers to a great week ahead :D

toodles.
j&h

3 comments:

Jo Dhesi said...

So much Fun - thanks J and H for being amazing hosts!!!!

Janine said...

that dinner looks amazing. i'm jealous. wish we were friends.

jenn @ beyond the stoop said...

haha janine you're too funny. if you lived in or near NYC we could be! we love cooking, and we love saving money, and we love our friends. a dinner party is the best way to "have your cake and eat it too" :P