My Kind of Night

Look!  I even remembered flowers (or Judy and Ann did.  Thanks girls!!).

Saturday night was the start of a new thing: The Girlfriend Dinner.  Twelve friends, from all over who didn't necessarily know each other before, hanging out and talking (and laughing!) without the intrusion of their other halves.  Well, mine intruded a bit and so did Audrey's but those two are *almost* one of the girls themselves (or at least they fancy themselves to be!) so it was okay.

I think I would very much like to have one of these get-togethers at least twice a year (next time, brunch?).  I loved looking down the length of my dining room and seeing all these amazing women whom I'm just lucky to know, let alone the fact that most of them would take a bullet for me. And it was so loud with laughter!  Who doesn't love that?

Here's what we had:

To start
*Muhammara with homemade pita chips

For dinner
Chicken Marbella
Armenian Rice Pilaf
Roasted Butternut Squash and Spinach Salad
Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Arugula
Store-bought Ciabatta bread 

Make this for your next dinner party.  You will thank me AND The Silver Palate ladies.

For dessert
**Coconut Macaroons
Shortbread Ripple Biscotti
Kouign Amann (OH. MY. GOD.)
Chocolate Sorbet

*this isn't the recipe that I used (can't find it!) but it's close
**quadruple this recipe because it only makes 4 big ones.  Unless you want 4 big ones teeheehee