taking my own advice

I have a confession to make. And given the reaction I received upon hearing said confession from my dinner guests this past weekend, I hope this doesn't upset the rest of you too much. But here goes: I don't always follow my own weekend dinner party posts.

Burning. It burns. I don't like how hot my face feels right now. It's really, really hot. And I'm covering my face with my hands, but kind of wincing through my fingers to see if anyone's still here. Anyone? Do I still have an audience? Here's to hoping.

The thing is, I couldn't possibly swing a dinner party every single weekend, and I don't expect you to be able to do the same (although if you can, I haven't yet seen my invite come through the mail). But what I do hope to provide for you is a menu and a party plan that seems accessible and mouth-watering enough for you to press File, Print, and have this in your arsenal when an opportunity to entertain arises. And when it does, you're armed with a sure fire win.

And this weekend, we had a Birthday party, folks. So it was straight to last week's weekend dinner party menu I went: salmon burgers with lemon-chive aioli, orecchiette with arugula (subbed for radicchio) and sweet orange vinaigrette, and fennel-apple slaw. With Petit Nevat (goat's milk cheese shown below), green olive tapenade, and some pizza dough I threw on the grill and then cut into pieces for flatbread (you're welcome, that's the single greatest entertaining tip EVER), with a pop of a bottle of Spanish Rosé, we were well on our way to a particularly memorable evening. Because by the end of it, Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" album could be heard in every home in the tri-state area.

A night that ends in dance, sweat, and laughter is a job well done. Done very well indeed. Turns out, I can plan a serious weekend dinner party menu.