Another Dinner Party in the Books

So we had Zach's business partner and his wife over for dinner last night. I've been bugging Zach to let me start to entertain, but considering my house is about 1,000 square feet, it turned into "Zach, start letting me entertain 3 people or less".

Holly decided she wanted a Mexican themed cocktail, so I based dinner around that. I spent most of the day cooking and cleaning, so pictures were at a premium, but I did manage to snap a picture of my goat cheese spread before it was gobbled up. If anyone cares for the recipe, let me know.

My menu included: guacamole, salsa, goat cheese spread with cumin, dill, mint, and olive oil and margarita cocktails for starters; chicken thighs with a tomatillo and pepita salsa with jasmine rice and white wine for a main course; and cinnamon profiterols with coffee ice cream and homemade chocolate sauce for dessert.

It went pretty well - I was impressed with my ability to go dinner party with ingredients I've never used before. Another feather in the hat of Melissa, the wanna-be-Barefoot Contessa.

Alcohol + Silent Auction = Bad Idea

So over the weekend we went to a chili cookoff and silent auction that my friend Leslie was putting on to benefit the Make A Wish Foundation. Zach and I have gotten into charity a lot the past 6 months and not only decided to make an appearance, but decided to look at the auction items as well.

The problem was, the cookoff was held at Atlanta Brewing Company with unlimited beer, so by the time we got to the auction, Zach wanted everything. We have been talking about buying a piece of original artwork for a long time, and have visited the art festivals at Piedmont park the last few years looking for something, but whether it be the alcohol, our good will, or the chili..we bid and and bought our first original piece.

It looks beautiful in the house..and the fact it's a tax deduction makes it even prettier.