Dinner party

The first time Lincoln and I threw a dinner party was around Christmas 1999. We invited the Walker's over for dinner and it was the first "fancy" dinner that we had prepared for someone. When we lived in Franklin we had a small condo with a tiny kitchen but I remember it being a great meal even though I don't remember what we ate. I do remember starting a napkin on fire though. I went to light the candles on the table and the head of the match flew off. Apparently the head of the match lit on fire and when it broke off it flew across the table and landed on a paper napkin. It was actually quite hilarious but also a sign that we were not terribly adept at dinner parties.

Over the years we've had people over for dinner many times but usually it's family or very close friends that are no longer treated like guests but more like family. Or it's large groups of people for birthday parties or reunions where it's not really a sit-down dinner type of event. Last night, however, we had a "real" dinner party with grown-ups, no kids, great food, and wine. Mom and Hannah had cleaned up the house during the day so it looked great for company and Mom and Dad took the kids up to Leominster where Dad is teaching this week and stayed in Dad's hotel so the kids could go swimming. That of course meant that we could have an actual dinner without having to deal with the chaos that children naturally bring to mealtime.

One of my employees at work, Ryan, and his girlfriend Tasha are moving to Austin, TX next week. Tomorrow is his last day at work so Lincoln and I invited the two of them over for dinner. Ryan has worked for me for the past year and he has been a delight. He is definitely one of the best employees I have ever had and I will miss him dearly.

Of course no official dinner party of ours could go off without a hitch and yesterday was no exception. Over the years Lincoln has become the official chef in our family. I used to cook...and I'm not bad at it...but over the years I've really gotten away from doing any cooking because Lincoln is so good at it. He enjoys it too. On the rare occasions when he's not home for dinner the kids and I usually end up going out to dinner or picking up Dairy Queen. That is how little I cook these days. Well yesterday Lincoln called me and told me that he was going to be very late and probably wouldn't make it home until 8 p.m. Oh crap. That meant I was going to have to cook. And go to the grocery store. Two things I don't usually do.

Luckily I made it through the grocery store without any problems. Usually when I leave the grocery store I'm ready to tear my hair out from having to deal with teenage employees that take forever to ring you up and idiot shoppers who constantly block the aisles with their cart and look at you with surprise when you say "excuse me" and want them to move their cart. I hate the grocery store.

But I digress....

I had to cook. Even though I'm a little rusty I think I pulled off a pretty darn good dinner. I made Crispy Baked Drumsticks, breadsticks, mashed potatoes, salad, and mixed vegetables. Ryan, Tasha, and I enjoyed a cheese and cracker plate with drinks before Lincoln came home and then we had dinner and very enjoyable conversation before having dessert and them heading back into the city. I felt very grown up last night.

Maybe we'll have to try this again sometime. And I don't mean in another 10 years.