We are family, I got all my munchies with me

When my family gets together, we eat.  It’s like we’re Italian, but we’re really Chinese. 

Most of my family’s never seen our house, so a couple of weekends ago we had a big party with them and some close family friends – 30 people!  It was so much fun. 

We started off with cucumber slices with prosciutto and homemade chive creme fraiche.  Also: goat cheese and ricotta spread (like we made for Mother’s Day), a crudite dip (a la Martha Stewart), and homemade spanakopita.  I make it sound like it was all seamless, but in reality I got home from blueberry picking 10 minutes before everyone showed up and I was on my feet a LOT.

Hubby got all sweaty at the grill while most of my family hid inside from the heat.  He made his famous chicken breast with mozzarella and tomato, and flap meat (like tri-tip) we marinated in coffee and other stuff overnight.  Served with my mother-in-law’s potato salad, tomato and basil salad (basil from our association-approved “garden” – i.e. pots on the deck), corn from the local farm, and watermelon.  Also made some dill butter compote and horseradish cream sauce for the corn and beef.

I don’t have any pictures of the party, sadly, except for some of the desserts:

In the front are two Amish friendship bread loaves my mother-in-law made, chocolate and cinnamon – OMG.  So moist.  I will write a whole other post about my experience with Amish friendship bread – anyone got the urge to bake some gook in a bag?

I made a trifle with some vanilla cake, pastry cream, and whipped cream, topped with blueberries that I picked with my cousin and his 8-year-old son (from LA) right before everyone showed up to the party.  His son did a great job decorating it, yes?  I also made a chocolate angel food cake (The Cake Bible) that I topped with some melted chocolate ganache, and a nectarine upside-down cake (Baking Illustrated). 

Must remember: do not be gluttonous and put in two layers of nectarines, however pretty it may look going in.  You will just get a big gooey mess coming out of the pan.  Delicious, yes.  Pretty, yes.  Syrup all over the counter, YES.