I went to dinner and drinks with a coworker after work last wednesday. As we were chatting and getting to know each other we discovered we live about 3 blocks from each other and there is another girl from work who also lives in the neighborhood. This was great news, I love the idea of having friends near where I live. So after a few more pints of cider and a whiskey or two I decided it would be a fantastic idea to have a few work friends in my apartment for dinner… that Sunday. Yup… in 4 days… of which I was working 3… great idea.
Did I mentioned there were a few of these consumed… hahahaha!

Thank night I came home and asked Emil (via dry erase board) if it was ok to have a few friends over. It is his apartment as well, so I wanted to check with him first. I woke up on Thursday to find this:

And just like that, it was official! I was hosting a dinner party! In 3 days!
First step was creating the menu. My friend Tom was online and I knew he would have great ideas for the menu. He gave me a few items and I went from there. I wanted something light and springy. One of the girls is vegetarian so I wanted to make sure there were options for her as well, not just salads. I had a menu with about 15 items in it by the time I sent out the invite.
I sent an invite to about 10 people (all work friends), of those only 5 said they would go, 1 said maybe, 2 declined and 2 did not respond. Since my guest list was cut in half, so was my menu. No big deal, it was actually for the best. In the end there were 5 of us here and we ate about 95% of all the food.

Here is what I made/served:
Savory:
- Dominican Style Potato Salad
- Mushrooms and Asparagus
- Feta, Tomato & Basil Salad
- Whole Wheat Pita Bread
- Shrimp & Tomato Stew
- Jully’s BBQ Ribs
Sweet:
- Flan (Regular caramel flan, not pumpkin like the recipe says)
- Bourbon Bread Pudding
Libations:
- Red Wine Sangria
- Sparkling Bourbon Iced Tea
- Beer
- Wine

Dinner was delicious and almost everything was gone within a few minutes. We ate and drank to our hearts’ content.
The ribs were, of course, a hit! Jully’s recipe was a success once again.

Everything else I pretty much made up as I went.

For the shrimp I added garlic, parsley, cherry tomatoes, siracha, canned tomatoes, green onions, celery and olive oil. It was not as spicy as I wanted it to be, but it was still pretty good.

I wanted to use as many fresh ingredients as possible.

I love veggies cooked in a simple, no fuss style.

Take the mushrooms and asparagus, for example. I only cooked them with butter, sea salt, cracked black pepper and chili powder. Simple, yet delicious.

The potato salad is my family’s recipe. I used idaho and red skinned potatoes, celery, corn, sweet peas, apples and carrots. I love it, I can eat plate after plate of this thing.

Dinner was successful and heaping plates of food were throughly consumed.

And then, it was dessert time!! I made flan, which is a staple in any gatherings I host and a bread pudding with a bourbon glaze. We ate about 20% of each and now I have a fridge full of flan and bread pudding calling my name. Thankfully, there is a new gym opening up in my neighborhood because I have the feeling i will be eating these!!

I was scared to host a dinner party with such short notice but it ended up being great. It was a lovely, rainy afternoon with friends, food and booze. We laughed so much and ate so much. It was pretty awesome!
Now I guess it is time plan (or wait until 3 days before) my next party. Wonder who’d want to come? ;)
Have a wonderful day and even better week.
Until next time.
xoxo,
Josie





























The train ride from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes.
Bus ride from Aguas Calientes to the entrance of Machu Picchu National Park.























