I love dinner parties

Lovely day yesterday. A good chunk was spent in Frances's lovely company with her coming over to Elsinore to study and myself doing little chores, as well as in preparation for a big dinner that was the brainchild of Steph. Bernie and I made creme brulee ahead of time, so it would have time to set. We're still a little thrown off by the fact that he don't have a recipe for my twelve-ounce ramekins, so we're never quite sure of the cooktime. Bernie caramelized the sugar on top with his beloved torch, and they seemed to be a big hit. They certainly are elegant-looking, for all how easy they are to make. I personally thought they tasted a little burnt on top, with extremely tasty custard beneath, but I'm beginning to suspect that it's supposed to be that way, and I just don't particularly like the flavor of the caramelized sugar. So they were probably perfect!

I found a recipe in my new Rachel Ray cookbook for a French onion soup with an Italian twist-- the broth has a dash of balsamic in it, and the crouton on top is covered with a bruschetta of tomato, mozzarella, and basil. We cooked at Wittenburg, the name that Brenda and Frances have given their grad. To my chagrin I set off their fire alarm when I put my first batch of croutons under their unpexpectedly powerful broiler and burned everything, necessitating a new loaf of bread and entirely too much time having to listen to that damned siren. My apologies to everyone's eardrums. The soup came out well, though. I think the bruschetta brightened up the onion flavor. Because I didn't want to buy wine, I substituted white wine vinegar in the broth, which may have made it a bit too acidic. I don't know, is vinegar more acidic than wine? I would think so. Still, it was an easy, flavorful recipe that I plan on making again, and it nicely complimented the tomato-basil pasta dish that Frances contributed. We did have three desserts, what with the creme brulee, Steph's strawberry empanadas, and the baked brie that Shana made. All in all, it was a really nice evening, if a bit more disorganized than I like. In my growing experience throwing dinner parties, I find I prefer when they're more coordinated, so everybody knows to make dishes that compliment each other, and when we know how many people are coming to better estimate how much to make. We could have done with one less side dish and one more dessert. ;-)