Home Cooking Parties forTM
The Story
What the heck is pear chutney? she said, and with that I learned sometimes when you send a shopping list to a friend, you will not always get a great response. Kathy was excited about coming to the Appetizers All Night Long dinner party. She and Matt had never been involved in an evening like this before. They had given and been to many dinner parties, but an evening of working together with friends and sharing an unusual bill of fare struck her as just the entertainment she and Matt needed. When she said yes to the evening, I immediately e-mailed her the complete menu, shopping list and preparation schedule along with the recipes. She wanted to see it all! I send out a lot of e-mails and communications, and I sometimes lose track of what I have sent and when. The next day I received one those infamous computer messages saying that there was a failure to deliver a message to Kathy. Was this the shopping list? Was it something else? A call was in order. I had to be sure she had gotten the menu, especially the shopping list. Without one-quarter of the food where would we be on Saturday night preparing the dinner?
I reached Kathy at work and was immediately met with the resounding pear chutney question. At least I knew she had the shopping list. I shot back, It is chutney made out of pears! She had already figured that out. Her real dilemma was where she was going to find pear chutney. Between us we had some ideas, and I certainly did not want her to make the pear chutney from scratch at home before coming to the dinner. That is not the idea of these dinners. Everyone is supposed to come to the dinner with purchased ingredients and prepare the meal right then and there. No advance work. This is not a pot-luck dinner! Our solution was simple. We both knew of some specialty foods stores in our area, and I calmed her with, Look a little bit in some of those stores, and if you cant find pear chutney, get mango sauce or pear sauce or whatever fruit preserve you can find and that will do fine! It is not important that these recipes be followed to the letter. If you find that you are short on one ingredient, especially when you start the dinner prep at the start of the evening, dont panic. Stop. Think. Talk it over, and with the eight brains you have handy, I am confident that you will come up with a fabulous substitute. You may even decide to forgive yourself and leave the ingredient out. Any one of these solutions is okay. Revel in your own inventions. That night we had authentic pear chutney on the baked brie thanks to Kathys eagle eyes and shopping ability, and it was delicious beyond telling. You will find out.
Tonights meal will meander through a whole forest of flavors. Wave after wave after wave of food and all will be appetizers. Taste everything. Portion control and pacing is important. Leave room for dessert. This is a big night for your oven. Enjoy!
Appetizers All Night Long
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