and so it starts...
Feb. 29th, 2008 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
verbicideI've invited my friend Amy T. and her exceptionally awesome husband Mike over for dinner on Sunday night.
Amy is a vegetarian; Mike and I are not. So I'd like to find a menu that can easily work for both omnivore and vegetarian.
I'm warning myself to stay calm and not over do it. Amy is an amazing cook and we bond over it all the time and I want to make something special. But then I don't want to get so caught up in it because I think that sucks the fun out of a dinner, too. She doesn't need me to have a seizure making something super frou-frou. This is a casual Sunday night supper, it doesn't have to be 12 courses, which is always my inclination.
I want the menu to be somewhat rustic, but cohesive. And I want it to look reasonably pretty. I don't mind putting in a bit of effort, but I want it to be done in an afternoon, and without me passing out from exhaustion.
I've been going over my repertoire and just can't decide. The menu options (so far) are:
- roasted tomato basil soup paired with a simple green salad
- fresh pasta? grilled pizza? gourmet burger bar? panini?
- vegetable dish (asparagus? potatoes? spinach?)
- cherry pie (from Saturday)
They're going snowshoeing earlier and I was also thinking of just making a hearty stew or soup or chili and serving it with some fresh bread and a green salad.
Or I could make Paki food. Which would be easy enough--two curry types (one meat, one not). Rice. Start with a cucumber and tomato salad with raita for dressing. Homemade naan.
Or Mexican food. A pan of enchiladas, half with meat, half with goat cheese. Starter of chips, salsa, and guacamole. Rice and beans.
I don't know if I want to fuss with running back and forth to the grill (like with pizza or naan or burgers). It'd be great to do a roasted vegetable lasagna that could be pulled out of the oven. Serve it with some homemade pesto-cheese bread.
Gourmet burgers could be fun, though. On those Macrina brioche buns with all kinds of fun gourmet toppings... (with obviously a black bean burger or something for Amy). Sweet potato fries with garlic and parsley.
Hrm. I keep vacillating. Now I'm strongly leaning towards Mexican food. Cherry pie isn't so cohesive witih Mexican food, though. Or Italian or Pakistani, I suppose. But somehow dessert is okay as a wild card.
I love my vegetarian friends and I refuse to make their portion of my dinner an afterthought. But it makes menu planning a little crazy since I am such a raging carnivore, too.
Must go home and pore over cookbooks, too.
Amy is a vegetarian; Mike and I are not. So I'd like to find a menu that can easily work for both omnivore and vegetarian.
I'm warning myself to stay calm and not over do it. Amy is an amazing cook and we bond over it all the time and I want to make something special. But then I don't want to get so caught up in it because I think that sucks the fun out of a dinner, too. She doesn't need me to have a seizure making something super frou-frou. This is a casual Sunday night supper, it doesn't have to be 12 courses, which is always my inclination.
I want the menu to be somewhat rustic, but cohesive. And I want it to look reasonably pretty. I don't mind putting in a bit of effort, but I want it to be done in an afternoon, and without me passing out from exhaustion.
I've been going over my repertoire and just can't decide. The menu options (so far) are:
- roasted tomato basil soup paired with a simple green salad
- fresh pasta? grilled pizza? gourmet burger bar? panini?
- vegetable dish (asparagus? potatoes? spinach?)
- cherry pie (from Saturday)
They're going snowshoeing earlier and I was also thinking of just making a hearty stew or soup or chili and serving it with some fresh bread and a green salad.
Or I could make Paki food. Which would be easy enough--two curry types (one meat, one not). Rice. Start with a cucumber and tomato salad with raita for dressing. Homemade naan.
Or Mexican food. A pan of enchiladas, half with meat, half with goat cheese. Starter of chips, salsa, and guacamole. Rice and beans.
I don't know if I want to fuss with running back and forth to the grill (like with pizza or naan or burgers). It'd be great to do a roasted vegetable lasagna that could be pulled out of the oven. Serve it with some homemade pesto-cheese bread.
Gourmet burgers could be fun, though. On those Macrina brioche buns with all kinds of fun gourmet toppings... (with obviously a black bean burger or something for Amy). Sweet potato fries with garlic and parsley.
Hrm. I keep vacillating. Now I'm strongly leaning towards Mexican food. Cherry pie isn't so cohesive witih Mexican food, though. Or Italian or Pakistani, I suppose. But somehow dessert is okay as a wild card.
I love my vegetarian friends and I refuse to make their portion of my dinner an afterthought. But it makes menu planning a little crazy since I am such a raging carnivore, too.
Must go home and pore over cookbooks, too.
