springtime in paris

brittany and i auctioned off a
fancy dinner party at our ward
service auction at christmastime.
three  of our friends went in on
buying it together. it was quite a
feat to find a day that worked for
all of us to make it happen, and
finally the day of the party came
last saturday.
it had been a while since we had
thrown a dinner party together
and it was so fun to do it again.
the weeks preceding included a
lot of scheming and planning and excitement. and everything
worked out so beautifully!

{past dinner parties: st. patick’s
day / good friday / mid-summer
night / pioneer day / autumn /
st. lucia day}

        

        we decided we wanted to create the
        ambiance of “springtime in paris” and
        try french cooking together. brittany
        has lived with french families in
        france twice, so she knew just how a
        parisian dinner party at home should
        go.

        we started our preparations early in the
        morning on saturday. our first challenge
        was cooking julia' child’s beouf
        bourguignon. we found some youtube
        videos of julia demonstrating “the art
        of french cooking” and had them
        playing in the background as we
        worked. it felt like julia (with her very
        distinct voice!) was in the kitchen with
        us. after hours and hours, the beouf
        turned out perfect! we were so very
        proud.

        we went to a french bakery to pick up
        fresh baguettes and then back to work
        on our other dishes…and the table!     brittany has a lovely old map of paris that we hung above the simple, pretty table, and we just
happened to have perfectly matching aprons! this party was different than others we’ve
thrown because we didn’t sit at the table with out guests. it was really fun to just serve them and
be able to perfect things back in the kitchen. the three girls who bought the dinner invited three
boys to come. we loved bringing them all the different courses and hearing them enjoy.
 
we had the traditional cheese and bread course after the main course and before dessert.
 
maybe i spilled a slice of that gorgeous citrus tart right onto the lap of one of our guests and then
on to the floor while serving her dessert. it just added to the entertainment of the night!

everything worked out so beautifully! it was a super fun day preparing and evening sharing.

“this is my invariable advice to people: learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from
your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!” – julia child