Week of dinners

Last week was a week of dinner parties - hosted by me! Monday Sept 10 we held a Salmon Bake at our home/ back yard for some of Clyde's colleagues and their children. Clyde was really worried about the children, but we put out the bean bag toss game and some balls and they entertained each other really well. A spouse of one of the professors had brought back 70 pounds of alaskan salmon and they wanted to share and party. Clyde offered our house and my cooking skills to bake some salmon. Someone brought some ready for the grill l(Lime cilantro marinade), one person fried salmon with flour and lemon juice, and I baked two types. I used Emily's honey dijon recipe under the broiler, and found another marinade using maple syrup, soy sauce and garlic. They both were big hits. We ended the night with the best yet fresh peach ice cream. Clyde added lots more peaches and more cream, less milk. One person at the party could not believe how good it tasted and said their homemade peach ice cream was not good at all. She told me they used skim milk! Good ice cream is all about the butterfat!
Thursday night was the Grad Studies dinner for 1000 students and I am the one in charge. We had 1106 RSVP, but we always reduce our dinner count from past experience -- but it still a worry that we will feed all who come. My day started at 6 am, picking up the ticket raffle drum and then setting up the info fair with 29 booths for the 300+ students who would come through. My new student worker said he had never seen anyone so calm for being over such a big event! The dinner went well and we only had 39 empty seats! Whew! I was home by 8:39 pm and in my pj's before 9! Very tiring day, but very successful.
On Sunday we hosted Cousins Dinner for 11 or 12. Roast beef, peas, mashed potatoes, Rhodes rolls, garden tomatoes and double chocolate bundt cake for dessert. All standard fare but so appreciated by the college crowd. We had a few new faces: Caitlin Earnest (new freshman from Washington state), Nathan (Jill's son) and Cisco (Michelle's boyfriend). Next month we hope to have Dean Duke's son also. I was quite exhausted most days of last week.