The housewarming party: Part A

I have a tiny apartment but I wanted to have a housewarming party. The problem is that I cannot physically fit all the people that I wanted to invite into my small space. So to solve this dilemma I decided to have two parties one on Friday and one on Wednesday. This seemed like a good idea to me but in actuality I just ended up confusing everyone. Some people thought that I cancelled the Friday party and rescheduled it for Wednesday. Sigh. Despite the confusion the last night was a hit. I love entertaining and cooking for people but I am not yet the hostess extraordinaire that I aspire to be.

When creating a menu for last night I had to take a few dietary needs into consideration: vegetarian, lactose intolerant, no-red meat, no seafood. That automatically ruled out lasagne, one of my tested and true party pleasers. So what then? I thought about mexican fajitas with optional fillings cheese, meat, chicken, veggie etc. but the last time i had a party I had a mexican theme and that guacamole and salsa can be pretty labor intensive... I ended up deciding on Thai. My menu was as follows:

Appetizers: chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce. Fried tofu with a cilantro/cashew dipping sauce.

Salad: Mixed greens with grape tomatoes, cucumber, carrots served with a homemade Thai salad dressing

Entree: Choice of chicken or tofu red curry served with jasmine rice

Desert: Lychees or Southern comfort cake (recipe courtesy of creole dc) served with haagen daz light but extra rich vanilla ice cream

Drinks: Thai iced tea, wine, prosecco or cocktails

Overall, the evening was a hit! I cooked the chicken satay under the broiler because I don't have a grill and because I was worried about giving my guests salmonella I might have overcooked them so they were a little on the dry side but still tasty. My fabulous friend S gave me a beautiful card with orchids on it ( I love love love orchids!) and an individual tea pot. It is sooo cute and I love tea. I think I will make a cup as soon as I am done writing. I am so thankful to have a home that is pretty AND that I enjoy coming home to. It is great being in a peaceful place. I am also extremely thankful that I have friends who enjoy (or at least do a good job of pretending to enjoy) my cooking who I can share stories, trials, triumphs, laughs and Justin Timberlake's performance on SNL of D__k in a box (we watched that last night)! LOL! Good times! Good times!