What is the next event you are planning?

[Claire]

After the old guys military unit reception, the next event will be my husband's 60th birthday party. I'm planing on all foods from the 50s and 60s (as I mentioned before, my music is all old stuff so I'm good there). Jerry says he wants meat loaf and mashed potatoes. I'm going to ask folk to bring their favorite dish from the era (should be fun since quite a few of our guests will not have been born!). What do you remember from that time?

 

[bethzaring]

What do you remember from that time?

Getting our first tv and record player, playing chubby checkers and dancing with my sisters in the living room.

 

[cjs]

"What do you remember from that time?"
Cocktail wiennies in a Tomato soup 'bbq' sauce...
and
Sour Cream/Onion Soup dip

 

[Half Baked]

Angels on Horseback - water chestnuts wrapped in bacon

Olives wrapped in a cheese pastry and baked. Seems like the pimento was taken out and it was stuffed with an almond or something.

Cans of smoked oysters

You have to serve that green bean casserole with a can of soup poured over it and topped with fried onions.

Sounds like it will be a fun party.

 

[Claire]

Well, I had a think-tank get-together with the daughter (my friend) of the WWII guy we're throwing a reception for, and she thinks all our ideas are good ones. My suggestion was an early-ish party, happy hour time, yet with enough food to make it supper if needed. I'm ashamed to say I'm going to use a lot of pre made, heat up appetizers. I think I'll buy pre-made meat balls, then douse them in home-made sauces and throw them in a crock pot. skewers of fruit and veggies. I want it to be hearty enough for those who want to make dinner out of it. But still finger food. The main reason I'm using a lot of frozen stuff is that I'm expecting house guests for the rest of the month, and am throwing my brunch that week as well. So there is a lot going on. I'm hoping a bunch of frozen and re-heated stuff with some home-made sauces will do. I know this crowd, it will. No one is expecting a caterer, they know we're just folks.

 

[licia]

Not an event, but we are having friends for dinner on Saturday. I still don't know what I will make except for dessert. I'm making flan and also pound cake, both will be served with fruits - figs, honeydew, strawberries, peaches, raspberries. I want the main course to be something make ahead, but can't decide on a roast or some sort, steak, chicken - They are good friends and not hard to please so I'm sure I'll come up with something. I know a big salad or my pears stuffed with cheese mixture will probably be part and most everything goes with that - I may make the hash brown casserole - You can see I'm still quite iffy. Good thing my freezer and fridge are full of stuff.

 

[Claire]

Well, my first group of company (a Jr High girlfriend & her hubby -- wow, we've known each other 30+ years!) are going to leave in the morning, then the WWII guys will be here at around 4:30. So I'm going to go back to bed here in a few minutes and hope to catch a few ZZZs before I have to hit the grocery store and start cooking. There was a tragedy in one of the families of my brunch group, so I postponed my brunch day for a week or two until things quiet down a bit.

 

[Chopstix]

DH's boss is flying into town next week. He's an American from the mid-west. He's graciously accepted our invitation to have dinner at home next Saturday. He's bringing a fellow American so there'll be just four of us.

I'm thinking for mains it will be roast chicken and beef stew. (I know the boss doesn't like fish. I don't know about the other guy so having two mains is playing it safe.)

For the beef stew, I'm considering a great spanish ox tongue recipe. However, do you guys think he'll freak out with ox tongue? If so, I can substitute the tongue with beef shank instead, although they'll miss out on that creamy melt-in-the-mouth texture which only the ox tongue has.

What do you think?

 

[Half Baked]

'It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.' - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

That is my favorite book in the world.

Do you really know the boss? Would he enjoy Thai cuisine instead coming there and eating American food? I would make a Thai dinner, maybe with ingredients that aren't too 'foreign' to make him uncomfortable. I bet he'd enjoy it very much.

 

[Chopstix]

Half-baked, The Little Prince is also my most favorite! It's always by my bedside.

I've met the boss once before. He also lived here in Bangkok for a few years so he's familiar with Thai food. Dh mentioned though that the boss is not really into serious Thai food. Given the two mid-western American guys, I feel that at least one main dish should be western. And since I find it weird to mix asian and western food, I'm thinking of going all western.

 

[Half Baked]

Since he has lived there and wasn't wild about the food, I'm sure you're making the right decision.

 

[Chopstix]

Thanks Half-baked. But do you think ox tongue will make him flip?

 

[Constance]

Chopstix, I think the ox-tongue sounds wonderful, but most people I know turn their noses up at the mention of tongue, so if you decide to use it, I wouldn't tell them what it is until after they've tasted it. You can still call it beef stew.

I agree with Half Baked...if I were visiting you, I'd hope for a good home cooked Thai dinner. I've never eaten Thai food, and I'd want to try a sampling of several different things.

 

[Half Baked]

Thanks Half-baked. But do you think ox tongue will make him flip?

Only after dinner when you tell him what was in the beef stew.

When I was in Greece, I'd have the waiter bring out appys that he liked and not tell me what was in it. I found out that I liked chopped heart and liver in a rich bbq sauce and many other dishes. I would've never ordered them.

But in Germany, friends invited us over for dinner and they had a huge beef tongue sitting on the table as a first course. Just looking at it made me feel queasy because darn it....a 12" tongue was laying there . But I had a couple of slices smothered in the mustard sauce and probably swallowed it whole. I would have much preferred it mixed in a stew the first time I ate it.

 

[shannon in KS]

I am planning a divorce before I am even married if my fiance doesn't quit wanting to eat nothing but ramen, hot dogs, bratwurst and sammiches.. "but I was raised on that!!!" Ok, maybe this goes in the venting thread..

 

[Half Baked]

Nip that in the bud right now.

I'm having problems because I started getting lazy cooking and only making his favorites so he didn't want to try anything new.

That changed this week!

 

[Chopstix]

Thanks Half-baked and Constance. I think I'll mull over the menu some more after what you said ...

 

[Claire]

I'd say if he's coming to Thailand, he should be open to new concepts. That said, don't tell him it is tongue! I love beef tongue, but my husband says he'd never eat it, and he eats almost everything. I gather his mom fooled him into eating it several times, then didn't quite peel it just right once and he realized what he was eating. (oh, and yes, he's lived in Bangkok). I haven't had tongue since I was a teen, and I'd eat it in a minute. We used to eat it with horseradish gravy. I'd skip the tongue to be sure. Just make the recipe with a tender cut of beef (won't be as good,though!!)

 

[Claire]

Shannon, I actually did make a marriage based on food. Not kidding. My first marriage was to a man who was perfectly happy living on PB&J sandwiches. His idea of a great meal out on the town was a Ponderosa steak house. I grew up in a family where we were asked if we wanted money for our great grades, or a meal at a local ethnic restauraunt. WE always chose the latter. Six years after the divorce, I found myself seriously involved with three men. Two of them thought steak houses were haute cuisine. One brought me to a little Korean joint on the corner, small elegant places in Old Town Alexandria, etc. Where other men would stop at McD's, he'd stop for some Thai take-out. No contest. Been together for 25 years. Basing a marriage on love of food isn't such a bad idea!

 

[Claire]

I guess I should give you what I always call the party-post-mortem. The old guys and gals loved it! I didn't even get around to putting on appropriate music, because the conversation flowed so much that any music would have been an interruption. I wimped out and found mini-cupcakes at my local Piggly-Wiggly, and bought a dozen each of chocolate and vanilla, and they were a big hit -- just a hint of sweet. I bought Wal-mart meat balls, but then heated them in made-from-scratch tomato sauce with ingredients from the garden. For the rest of it we made skewers of things like olives and ham cubes and pineapple and cheese. Strawberries looked pretty,so I put them beside lite cool whip (sorry your purists out there, I was dealing with an average of 80 years old). Anyway, the bottom line is that the party was a huge hit. I forgot about the music, so after everyone left, hubby and I sat on the porch and listened to our old WWII music ourselves!!