spontaneous dinner group

I rarely cook for and sit down to dinner with anyone other than Jordin. Thanks to conflicting schedules, my roommates and I have never had a dinner together. Being the case, I had that idea while at church to invite a couple friends over and make a night of it! I was already planning on trying out Michelle's Pasta with Carrot/Shallot Sauce tonight, and it made the evening so much better to try it out with other people.

[From left to right: Becca, Melissa, Nichole (roommates), Jasmine, & Hayley (neighbors)]

Sunday afternoons at home are very cooking-focused, so spending the three-and-a-half hours after church making french bread, Divinity, and the pasta was a very familiar, enjoyable experience. I loved setting the table with matching silverware and coordinating dishes. I iced the glasses and had a butter plate. And the food turned out great! It felt like a family dinner, which are such a prominent part of Sunday's at home.

The triumph of the evening was that my Divinity, which initially dropped into these unappetizing puddles

set up in time for dessert into these! Not perfect, but not a failure either!


As a side note, I've been discovering lately that I love hostessing. This trait comes from a lifetime of watching my mom and grandma, the two best hostesses I know. Hostessing tonight gave me a good dose of domesticity that I crave so much.