The Dinner Party

Whilst I'm in the blogging mood, I think I will tell you about my birthday dinner party that I hosted a couple of weeks ago.

The day started bright and early with a trip to church, before a last minute dash to Waitrose to pick up some much needed food and wine (although Jon will, no doubt, object to Lambrusco being classed as wine).

Richard arrived around 2, with Jon following shortly afterwards and we engaged in some skillful present wrapping (when I say we, I directed operations from my sofa and used my creative skills to assemble Sophie's present, leaving much of the actual mundane wrapping to Jon and Richard).

Around 5, with my mother starting to panic slightly, we began to cook. I, as head chef, again delegated out tasks to Jon and Richard which they completed with much aplomb. Jon, I must say, is amazing! He chopped and diced all the potatoes like he'd been born to do it, and when I passed him the onions to chop for the main course, he caught them and began to juggle! to juggle! with onions! and all this was whilst solving Christmas cracker puzzles and giving vital advice on where all the cutlery went on the table.

Richard was also very helpful, in a different, but just as important way (see, I haven't forgotten you sweetie).

We whirled through the kitchen, dancing and singing as we prepared the sweetcorn chouder (a soup thickened with potatoes for anyone who's interested) and the tagliatelle with mushroom sauce (a dish that has previously featured on both this blog and Richard's). It was all prepared on time, although the guests did start arriving before I had a chance to get dressed up, and the meal was completed with a minimum amount of fuss and panic. There was one slightly embarrassing moment when I served Jess and empty pot of ice cream, but that was dealt with very smoothly by the wonderful Sophie (who also provided the apple tart for dessert, she's a star!).

After dinner, we retired to the living room for some cheese and port. After Richard, Jess and Chris had left, we dug out the hair gel I'd given Jon for Christmas and styled his hair into a variety of amusing shapes before sitting up late into the night discussing politics. It was a brilliant party!

Oh, and when I woke up the next morning, Jon had done the washing up!