So, like I said last night, I am deeming my dinner party to be a success. I chose to go the tougher route and cook/acquire most of the food on my own instead of relying on my guests. I am so happy that I took that route. Sure, some items could have used some improvement, but I don’t think I embarrassed myself at all.

For snacks prior to dinner, I set out three things. The first was just chips and salsa. I put out two types of chips with salsa to give a bit of interest. I liked the square angle dishes I used for it with the contrasting colours. The second was toasted pita chip triangles with hummus. I toasted them myself with olive oil and salt and pepper. To be honest, I don’t think this one was all that great. The pitas I used were sort of thick and didn’t lend themselves well to this application. I was hoping to serve this one freshly toasted, but I prepared it a bit too early. I ended up putting it in the warming drawer while waiting. I think that made them a bit tougher instead of crispy. Next time I can improve that one for sure. The third thing is the fruit platter. I figured that I needed something fresher to go with the starchy things.

In terms of main courses, there were two items. The first was a vegetable lasagna. I don’t think it was that bad, but it could have been a lot greater if I timed it better such that it came out of the oven closer to meal time. Plus, I think I could have put more cheese on top. The second item was prime rib pot roast. Now, this turned out better than I thought. I braised the meat in broth, onion soup mix, red wine, and some frozen Mediterranean veggie mix. I let it stew for about 3 hours. The resulting roast was really soft. I was totally pleased with the result. I really need to do this again on Saturday. It’s too bad that the only picture I got of it was blurry.

For dessert, I used a caramel crème brûlée recipe. Really, this is the type of thing that should be prepared the night before. Unfortunately, I only got it started at noon. It didn’t provide enough time for the custard to really cool down significantly. Also, without a blowtorch I had to use my oven’s broiler to get the caramelized top. That probably contributed to the custard being warmer than I wanted. Next time, I need to get this dessert started early, and I need to acquire a torch. In terms of taste, I thought it was great. Just needs some tweaks to kick this thing up to the next level.

All in all, I did a passable job. Combining all of this with salad, garlic bread, cookies, and 1.5 bottles of red wine (for me) and I ended up really stuffed. And that’s why I didn’t run this morning. Yes, I’m comfortable with that decision. Anyway, next time I’ll work even harder. Got to hone the skills!