We are having dinner for 6 tonight to celebrate A's birthday.
He invited people - without realising he was being flown to his parents (SURPRISE!) and wouldnt land until 6:05pm lol. Dinner is at 7..
I had a bit of a plan. The plan has gone south. I worked until 2am and was up a lot between then and 7am with a sick lil boy. OH. SO. TIRED.
I am NOT cooking for 6 people and managing to whip up something awesome between 6:45 (if lucky) and 7pm LOL nahhh. So I have earned my crown of packet opening princess.
I went to an upmarket cafe who do the BEST salads. Really interesting and unique things I would never in the land of ever whip up. They are expensive salads for lunch but.. buying the larger size x a couple actually makes them fairly affordable (the alternative being making them and buying a whole pile of ingredients I dont have in the cupboard. I thought i would share in case anyone else finds themselves stuck.
Entree - we did say 7 / 7:30 so i thought an open ended starter would be good.
'Fancy Dips' x 2 from nice market, some salami embedded with olives, actual olives and some Bangalow Smoked Ham (it is soo good I will name drop - worth looking for) and some vintage cheddar on a chopping board lined with lettuce leaves..(in fridge and ready to pull out at 7. I also have some crackers and sticks etc. (I did chop celery but you could skip it. Literally everything came from a packet).
Mains - 2 salads from cafe. One is a beet and potatoe. it is really pink and sweet and oh so interesting. I bought extra beet leaves from the market and padded it out and lined the bowl etc. The other is a roasted potatoe with some middle eastern dressing and poppy seeds. Mmmm yum. Added some mixed lettuce leaves to this one.
The main dish is lemon thyme chicken. It is a chicken breast, covered in a lemon/pepper mix . and topped with a slice of lemon and sprig of thyme. We have it once a week and buy it from the butcher premade. It is $6 per breast but to die for (sure I could make it?) but i figured $36 doesnt go far in meat in terms of roasts etc for 6. I added some turkish bread and a mixed greens w/ whole cherry toms and red onion. I cut the onion and washed some leaves. Cook the chicken in about 30 mins.. and could do it in BBQ trays if you dont want to wash up
Dessert is a Pav from the cheesecake shop. No one is going home hungry.
I have opened packets, lined things and presented well. It is fuss free (being a male birthday) but elegant/pleasant. Everything is opened, cut and so on and all sitting in the fridge ready to serve. I set the table after lunch.
I have mucked around making iced water. I have used a muffin pan - cut the lemon into thin slices, adding one slice to each muffin try. Then adding filter water.. and froze. Now we have ice with the lemon slice embedded. Have also done a long tub of strawberries to add to another container. Looks special. Did it after breakfast.
I am going to curl up with a coffee and wait until it is time to go to the airport. just the way it should be
Packeting Opening Princess
. You are truly the master of packet opening
. But you know what - I love your style. Between the 2 of us we are slowly educating my DH. His idea of a dinner party in the past was a 3-4 course meal that we have slaved over. I keep trying to explain to him if we had more relaxed dinner parties like yours I would be happy to do it more often. He loves to have people over so this is swaying him.
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