The Guy's Kitchen

This year for my birthday I have decided to host a dinner party for a few couples, there will be about 8 people including us. (I think)  I am going to make Beef Wellington along with some sides, most likely mashed potatoes, some green veggies (green beans or broccoli), a salad and I am thinking a soup as well.  It all depends on what I can find at the grocery store.  :)  I have been thinking about the mechanics or logistics of party hosting a lot the past weeks.  We had a Christmas party in early December, with a large turn out in excess of 30 people I believe.  Also I have been watching Dinner Party Wars on the Food Network, and I am even trying to convince my wife we should try and get on the show.

Some things I have thought about:

1. A dinner party is significantly different than a cocktail party.  We would not have been able to do a dinner party for over 30 people.  Our party was an “Open House” meaning that people came and went through out the late afternoon/evening, we served a variety of drinks and finger type foods.  Our living dinning room was set up  like a lounge with a buffet and people kind of mingled around as they visited.

2. The hosts of a dinner party have to carefully balance their time with the guests and time in the kitchen.  There is no point in having people over and then leaving them alone while you slave away in the kitchen, you aren’t supposed to be kitchen and serving staff in a restaurant.  :)  This always costs couples big points on Dinner Party Wars.

3. Preparation is the key to all parties!

4. Party hosting is a team event and working together is the only way to succeed.

So with these things in mind I have been working out in my head how things will work this Saturday.  One other thing I have to work around is that I have plans to meet up with some friends on Friday night after work, meaning I have lost the night before prep time.  But I am also keeping things fairly simple so I think we will be ok on Saturday.

First I am going to rely on my wife (see, team work!) to hopefully do some of the hunting/gathering on Friday because often her daily schedule allows for this.  If I make a list she is usually able to get most if not all the items before the day of our event.  This gives us lots of time to make sure we have everything we need and if necessary to work out any substitutions.  Saturday morning I will make the soup and it will end up in my slow cooker until it is time to serve.  The veggies will all be prepped including blanching if that is required.  The beef wellington will be cooked to the point of being ready for final baking prior to serving.  Hopefully all this means that once our guests arrive we can spend a lot of time entertaining and enjoying the party.

Oh drinks.  Luckily we have a fairly extensive supply of liquor on hand at any given time.  This makes us sound like raging alcoholics I guess, but the truth is we don’t drink much outside of parties, but we like to try new things.  So we have a lot of open bottles that we have tried, but never finish.  :)  I will need to pick up more wine though, and I am planning on using Magnotta again.  We served Magnotta wine at our Christmas party and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Dessert is one area I do need to work on.  I am just not a pastry chef kinda guy.  This one thing that when someone asks me “what can we bring?” that I almost always ask for.  Or I buy something at a bakery.  I find baking much more restrictive in that you almost always have to closely follow a recipe.  I have no problem following a recipe, I just prefer to be more casual in my cooking endeavors.  And then the touches that you add at the end, like say icing/decorating the cake are things that I just don’t seem to be good at.  I can’t wrap presents either, and usually opt for the gift bag route.

I am confident that Saturday night will be a great evening for all, and I am looking forward to preparing an excellent dinner party!