Monthly Dinner Party

Apron courtesy of Anthropologie

Matt and I like to have friends over for dinner, but if we don't make a concerted effort to do it, the entire month can fly by with no dinner parties.

At the beginning of the month, I like to sit down and decide whom to invite for dinner that month. Matt hates such calculated planning, but he puts up with it!

Last month, we met a really cool couple at a party. They seemed like the perfect choice for January's dinner party.

Now we have to decide what to serve...

I'd like to serve a salad and bread, so pasta seems like a logical choice. Or, maybe we could make little flatbread pizzas using this crispy rosemary flatbread recipe from smitten kitchen with toppings from this flatbread recipe at fresh365. Yum!

Ooh. I could make focaccia bread from scratch, which I haven't done in a long, long time. I wonder if the timing could work. I could be home from work by 4pm today.

4:00-4:15 = Get bread ingredients measured and dumped in bread maker
4:15-5:45 = Dough cycle
5:45-6:15 = Rising
6:15-6:30 = Baking

Yes! It works. Dinner is at 7:00pm.

Now for a new salad....

How about salad with a lime-garlic dressing?

Yes, I think that will be just the one.

Now for dessert. It might have to be another pound cake. The one last week was just too darn good. Perhaps with this simple strawberry topping.

As for the drinks. It's going to have to be pomegranate soda from Whole Foods. I'm already cooking a lot.

Sounds fun!

Before I sign off, I should make a precise schedule for myself, so everything gets done at the right time (shh...don't tell Matt about another one of my tendencies to over-plan...):

• 4:00-4:30 = Make pound cake
• 4:30-5:20 = Pound cake cooks
  
• 4:30-4:45 = Get bread ingredients measured and dumped in bread maker
• 4:45-6:15 = Dough cycle
• 4:45-5:15 = Make salad + dressing
• 5:15-5:30 = Prepare pizza ingredients
• 5:30-5:45 = Caramelize onions
• 5:45-6:15 = Pick up the house
  
• 6:15-6:45 = Rising
• 6:50-7:00 = Prepare pizza dough
  
• 6:45-7:00 = Bread baking
• 7:00-7:05 = Assemble pizzas and put in oven when guests
  

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