Party Comes Off Fine And We Did Not Blow Up The House

The party was a success. The food was well received and the guests seemed to all get along well - a good thing since none really knew each other before hand.  We had a number of cancellations the day of the party which was annoying as it led to us having quite a bit of leftover food. If all had come who had originally accepted, we would have judged our food pretty well. I took some pictures but because of it being in the evening and with the lighting of our house the way it is they really didn't turn out very well so I'm not posting them. However here is the menu.

Antipasti/Tapas/Hors d'oeuvre/Mezze

Three kinds of Spanish Chorizo

Jamon Serrano

Home made Pate de Compagne

Two kinds of home made bread

Four kinds of cheese including a crazy Spanish blue cheese that everyone scarfed up

Borani - a Turkish yogurt and roasted vegetable paste

A Turkish inspired bean paste

Soups

Austrian pumpkin soup with toasted pumpkin oil

Cambodian style chicken soup with coconut milk

Mains

Austrian goulash with buttered potatoes

Bucatini with Veneto style ragout

Desserts

Three (count'em) Three home made gelatos

Home made chocolate salt truffles

Peppernotten  - a Dutch specialty cookie

(hand carried by maidens across the Atlantic from Amsterdam)

We had a bit of excitement as I was trying to cook the bucatini in broth, a trick I got from an old Italian cookbook to replicate the flavor of the pasta we had in Italy. Unfortunately broth does not react the same way as water and when I put the pasta in literally half the boiling liquid boiled over the top. Fortunately my gas stove top has a deep pan and most of the liquid stayed there. But then we had the problem that I'd flooded all the burners. Guest and friend John Le Grain had had a similar problem and we were able to gradually get things dried out enough so the electric starters were no longer arcing (which was freaking everyone out) and we were able to finish the pasta.

On another note it also happened to be my birthday - the party was not a birthday party it just happened that was the best day to schedule it - and wife went online to the World of Errev store a bought me my very own Purple Wizard Official Bathrobe Complete With Evil Spell Warding Cowl And Matching Harmonic Power Back Lighting. Sweet!