New home, new parties...

Some of my most cherished memories in Brussels are from dinner parties. I love hosting dinner parties at home or going to a friends' home and enjoying great food, wine, and conversation.  Given I have only been here less than three months, I am still working on building a social circle.  In Brussels, everyone lives at close proximity.  Here, at the National Capital Region, it is common to commute 70 miles to work which makes it difficult to connect with friends or colleagues after work hours.  If I commuted 140 miles roundtrip in Brussels, it would more than likely place me in a foreign place, such as Rotterdam, The Netherlands or Aachen, Germany.  However, I have been fortunate enough to reconnect with old friends and making new friends in DC proper.

Toasting to a New Life Life... and Friends

On Friday, I hosted a dinner party in honor of Carlis, my new neighbor and fellow blogger of SpicyCandyDC.  I had to feed a table of 9 and wanted to create a menu both creative and simple to make due to the large group and short preparation time.  My Dutchman is a very good cook and told me of a delicious stuffed shells recipe he learned to make during his time in Italy.  I decided it would be perfect main course.  I wanted to add European elements to the menu while making it accessible to my guests.  I decided to start with mussels, as a homage to Brussels with white wine and cream sauce. It always warms my heart when people drink the whole broth after finishing the mussels.  The ricotta and basil stuffed shells followed with a spinach salad with cherry tomatoes, fresh sweet peppers, and pomegranate.  Instead of a dressing, I just squeezed a lemon and added a few tablespoons of my recent Austrian discovery, pumpkin seed oil.  To conclude, I made a chocolate mousse with Cote D'Or Belgian chocolate which a friend brought to me from the Kingdom and thankfully just discovered it is sold on Amazon. I topped the mousse with fresh raspberries.

These Ladies Can Drink!

 There are many beauties of a dinner party.  It all begins with the preparation.  While making sauce for the shells the evening before, I begin to envision the following evening, hoping my new guests enjoy the menu.  The evening of the dinner, Carlis, Kat, and Grace arrived early to help.  We collectively chopped, tasted, and cooked, making it a party with stories and music even before the rest of the guests arrived.  Finally, we serve the meal.  Sitting in a warm home, trading stories, drinking as much wine as we want (10 bottles to be exact), and feeling the positive energy of talented and diverse women secured the fact there will be more evenings like this to come.  I do enjoy from time to time a dinner at a fabulous restaurant but nothing beats a lovely dinner at home. All photos courtesy of SpicyCandyDC.