Dinners: Part One

I've been attempting to host more dinners, since it's something I love to do. And because they're at night I don't really have any good pictures yet. Also, having people over for dinner is quickly turning into an excuse to bake. So until I have some pictures, here is the menu for the last 2 dinners I had:

Dinner One:
-Gratin Dauphinoise out of the Joy of Cooking (though I don't boil it on the stove, I just bake it for longer and I add a ton of garlic)
-Salmon with Dill (I cheated and bought pre-marinated stuff at Trader Joes)
-Salad with Tomatoes and my secret vinagrette (the secret is the rice vinegar)
-Home-made Chocolate chip cookies made with rock salt and hand hammered chocolate chips

Dinner Two:
-Ratatouille from the Joy of cooking
-Roasted Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes (I like to stuff the chicken with herbs, a halved lemon, and cover the skin with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic.)
-Mini Madeira Cakes our of Nigella's: How to be a Domestic Goddess with home-made rasberry jam (I make this by boiling some frozen rasberries on the stove and adding sugar to taste). Next time I'd also make some whipped cream or add vanilla ice cream because it was a little plain...

So there you have it.

A note: I don't have a dishwasher and the only way to not resent that you cooked all day is by cleaning everything after everyone leaves so that you wake up with a clean kitchen.

More soon. I'm planning a dinner a week!