On cooking for close to 50

Saturday came and went and I can’t believe that we actually pulled off a dinner party (although it has more been described as a party with great food) for 45 people while preparing upwards of 12 different dishes. I think I ended up cooking/shopping/prepping for maybe 28 of 34 hours between Friday afternoon and Saturday night. Thanks to much help everything was finished, every guest left with a full belly and we even had so much food that I withheld a dish, the fines herbes gnocchi with zucchini and sage.

In the end I think the favorite dish was actually something that I was playing around with the night before and was really close to not serving altogether: the shrimp ceviche with achiote butter popcorn. I also think the duck confit with mole and macadmias earned pretty high marks. The favorite cocktail (from our well thought out and fairly original list) was the cava, elderflower liqueur and vermouth drink.

As I write this it’s Sunday night and I’m completely exhausted. I really enjoy cooking for people and trying to make them happy, but a party of this scale, where I do close to 85% of any cooking (not including chopping etc.) is probably a bit too ambitious even for me. When I’m cooking for fun I like cooking dinner for smaller groups of 6-12 where I can actually talk to my guests while I’m cooking and where I don’t feel like I’m ordering around all the kind people that help me. I guess I’m really happy that the party was HUGE success but I’m also kind of glad that I don’t feel like I need to throw another big party like this for at least another six months.

Bed time now, I need some rest before getting back to my real job. I’m still slightly shocked by the amount of food that was purchased, prepared and fed to 45 people over the course of a night. Thanks to everyone who helped!

P.S. I also screwed up/was too overwhelmed and forgot to bring a camera and take pictures, perhaps some will surface over the next several days that I can post...