A Dinner Party

This past weekend, my husband invited his former boss and his wife over for dinner. We love having dinner parties because we have an 8 foot long harvest table in our dining room. The hubs' dad built it as a wedding gift to us. It's my favorite piece of furniture and it's perfect for entertaining, plus I love to cook!  We put out a mini bar consisting of white and red wine, Gin, Southern Comfort, Jack Daniels, tonic water and sodas as mixers.   I stuck with red wine for the night.  I love a good merlot!   I even pulled out the crystal glasses to use!!  Check out my mini-phalaenopsis on the left.  Can you believe this is still blooming?  I bought this plant back in Feb. 18th.  So awesome, I'm so in love with this orchid!!

The hubs wanted us to make shrimp cocktail, so we bought 2 pounds of shrimp.  This is my first time making shrimp cocktail, usually my dad makes it.  I wasn't sure if I should peel the shrimp before boiling it.  I ended up not peeling it, boiling the shrimp, then peeled it afterwards.  I think it works better that way, because then the shrimp doesn't curl up too much.

I also made a spinach salad with dried cranberries, walnuts and blue cheese.  THIS is my new favorite salad.  I made a balsamic vinaigrette with modena balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a little sugar for sweetness.  It is delicious over this salad.  I can't wait to grow our own spinach so I can make this salad with our produce.  I'm going to eat this all summer.  Hahaha

I made a whole lot of other appetizers and food, but I got too busy and forgot to photograph it. We made pigs in a blanket, mozzarella sticks, baked ham, macaroni and cheese, roasted asparagus and glazed spare ribs. It was quite a meal!