Tonight, we finally had friends over for dinner. When we first moved in, we planned on having a big house warming party, but that failed. Then we tried for a 50′s themed Summer BBQ…that never happened either. You see, this house was made for entertaining. We have a huge kitchen, two ovens, a semi-industrial stove, a butler’s pantry, a large main room with a fireplace, and an expansive yard. This house wants to party. And because I’m a girl, I’ve always dreamed about throwing fancy dinner parties. You know, ’cause it would be fancy. I like the idea of entertaining, having people over, cooking, and setting the table.

I recently read an article that summed up my desire to entertain. To paraphrase, it said that entertaining it part selflessness and part selfishness. On the one hand, you want to provide a nice evening for your friends, but on the other hand, you want them to adore you for doing so. Life centers around food. The dinner table is the cornerstone of every house. It’s where you eat, get to know people, play games, and discuss important things. Doing all those things over a beautiful table setting and delicious food only heightens the experience.

I would call tonight a success. I was thrown off by a timing mishap in which I was originally told our guests would arrive at 7:30, but they were told 7pm. Otherwise, everything went swimmingly. I prepared an appetizer with sourdough bread cut into thin slices topped with cheese (I forget which, my sister knows…the soft one from Christmas) and apricot preserves, which tastes like marmalade. I followed this with an apple and almond salad topped with raspberry vinaigrette. The entree was vegetable penne rigate with a homemade pesto sauce – OMG, it was so good. For desert, Greek yogurt with blackberries and honey drizzled on top. It was all so delicious, I even surprised myself. I’m always amazed when I cook something good. I usually imagine it won’t ever be as good as it’s meant to be, or that somehow it will be lacking. Somehow, I’ve turned into a pretty great cook, if I do say so myself. Surprise! I guess it’s because I love it and I really try to put a lot of thought into the meals I prepare.

After dinner, we retired to the main room, drank coffee and talked away the hours. It was frickin’ delightful. Naturally, it helps to have delightful guests. We had Dave and Jason over and both of them are quite lovely and so much fun to be around.

I’m really digging this entertaining thing. The whole dinner took about an hour to prepare, maybe a little more. I got most of my recipes from the Food Network website and don’t tell anyone, but the penne was a Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meal. Who knew you could make fresh pesto pasta in less than 30 minutes? It all looked so lovely, I wish I’d taken pictures. I wanted to, but ran out of time. Maybe next time. Oh, and by the way, you’re supposed to toast the pine nuts, but I burnt them a little. Didn’t seem to matter. Oh and Greek yogurt? The bomb. Desert only took 5 minutes to make.

I can see more dinner parties in our future. I love it. Total grocery cost was about $100.00 which ends up being about $25.00 per plate – about what you’d spend at a semi-fancy restaurant, but in this case, you get the comfort of home and the pride in doing it yourself. You could probably do it for less, but we bought everything fresh and got it all from Whole Foods…which I imagine bumps the price up a bit.

My sister recently asked me if I was planning on becoming a house wife. Not that she meant any malice by it, but it later occurred to me that Morticia Addams was a house wife. A pretty good one too. But no, not really. I have a career and my own interests. I also really, really like being around my friends and serving them kick ass meals. I figure, I can do both. If you can have your cake and eat it too, why not? The best part about this is that it’s actually really easy to entertain. Easier than you think. There’s something quaint and old fashioned about having people over for dinner. Something magical as if your taking yourself back to a better place in time when people had the forethought to do these sort of things. It helps that we have vintage 1950′s dinnerware. And now to figure out how to invite people over with hand written invitations. Or is that taking it too far?

Tonights Menu:

Appetizer: Sourdough bruschetta topped with soft cheese and apricot preserves
Salad: Apple, almonds, mixed greens, and raspberry vinaigrette.
Entree: Penne Rigate pasta, asparagus, thin green beans, and homemade pesto sauce.
Dessert: Greek honey flavored yogurt with blackberries and honey drizzled on top.
After Dinner: Coffee and leftover Christmas cookies.