Dinner #2: The Last Standardized Test Ever.
Menu
July 10, 2016
Course One
White Bean Dip, Crostini and Celery
Course Two
Watermelon Salad with mint
Course Three
Corn Chowder and Fresh Bread
Course Four
Tequila Lime Chicken with Mango Salsa and Rice
Course Five
Peach Tart with Fresh Whipped Cream
Beverages
Leland Palmer
Nectarine Bellini
Well, the last standardized test ever for John. I work in education, after all.
So we decided to do the whole thing again a mere month later, putting some learnings into place. We cut the menu down to five courses (with drinks this time though - because nothing says partay like drinks), we tried plastic plates and cutlery so we didn't have to keep washing dishes in between courses, and well what do you know, we didn't do a pasta dish because we didn't have a pasta machine.
Some things we didn't think about....
We patted ourselves on the back, thinking we were now seasoned pros after last time. Sure John, you need to take a three hour standardized test on the same day we are doing an AJRB which will significantly eat into our prep time? Noooo problemmmmm.
And should we keep the same number of guests? Of course not, let's add and make it a total of 14 people.
Nothing should go wrong here.
So about a month before I set off for my grad school experience, we set off on our second AJRB experience and truthfully, not a lot did go wrong. Course One went smoothly - it was out on the table as guests arrived. Course Two was a fun and interesting combo, though again, not one of our most aesthetically pleasing dishes with large rings of onion with watermelon.
Our star dish was really our Course Three - the corn chowder that had simmered away all day and reduced down and was truly delicious and served with fresh-made (though somewhat flat) bread.
Course Four was a somewhat unadventurous chicken and rice dish but with some of the most beautiful mango salsa I've ever seen and we finished off with a white peach tart with fresh whipped cream (which I am secretly thankful we don't have a picture of because it was ugly as heck but tasted super good).
All in all, it was not the five hour learning curve the first dinner was, but by the end, we learned we were not exactly the pros we thought we were, as we cut it down to the wire (again), realized we had invited more people than we had seats so had to cobble together seats, then tablecloths...yeah, we still had a ways to go.