Some numbers

Before I set out to open my dinner table to guests, I wrote down some predictions about who would come, how often, etc. Here are the actual results, along with my predictions. I was way off!

	Prediction	Actual
Max # guests	10	19
Number of visits from highest frequency guest	7	15
Number of discrete guests	25	103
Number of repeated dishes	0	0
Average number of guests	4	6.5
Number of nights with no guests	5	0

The most surprising number to me is 103 unique guests, including 20 people I had never met before! The total number of plate served was 202!

It will come as no surprise to the blog readers that Andy had the most number of visits with 15.
He was followed by Laura with 11 and Em with 10.

Most frequent commenter: Ella/Danica.

Thanks again to everyone that took me up on my open dinner table offer. You are all welcome for dinner anytime you want. I'll need more warning than 3 pm day-of though.

Best month ever!

Tonight was a perfect ending to a great month. Thank you to all who took part in open dinner table. I had so much fun that I might just do it again next year!
For the last night I got a few requests that I didn't make good on:
- lobster
- a single plate of each dish I made throughout the month
- fudge bread... like steak bread, but with fudge
Had I been given more time to prepare the meal, I might have considered fudge bread.

The menu:
- fajitas (choice of mushroom, shrimp, steak, pork, chicken)
- vanilla ice cream with caramelized bananas and baked cinnamon-sugar tortillas


The guests: Josh, Jen, Henry, Kesha, Justin, Yu, Chad, Aaron, Mark, Amanda, Laura, Ellen, Melissa, Louis, Em, Andy

It's like nothing ever happened.

Thanks to all my coworker-friends who gave me a very thoughtful gift of a double boiler and gift card to a kitchen store! Now I can make tapioca pudding without burning the bottom of the pan!

19 guests! Oh crepe!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Low hanging fruit. I know. It's day 30. I'm tired.


Tonight was the record for number of guests at 19! I don't think we'll break that record tomorrow. You all have until 3pm to try.

What do you serve a group of 20? How about something really labor intensive? Crepes! It actually worked out well, thanks to my sous chef, Andy, and all my guests who were in charge of assembling their own crepe masterpieces.

The menu:
- dinner crepes (choice of: mushrooms, asparagus, onions, spinach, sausage, ham, tomatoes, swiss cheese, mozzarella cheese)
- dessert crepes (choice of: strawberries, peaches, caramelized bananas, nutella, whipped cream)

The guests: Rachel, Nathan, Grant, Todd, Angie, Connor, Helen, Isabelle, David, Andrew, James, Caity, Raya, Shayna, Kwesi, Adeel, Andy, Paul, Matt (not pictured because he took Lou to the dog park - thanks, Matt!)


You can eat while cooking, right?

Cold summer salad

I wanted something light for dinner tonight, so I did a little searching on the internet for a cold pasta salad. Ah, the internet. Never fails.


The menu:
- sesame chicken pasta salad
- garden tomatoes and fresh mozzarella
- carrot cake and strawberries


The guests: Adam, Andy, Michelle, Caity, Raya, David, Matt


Caity and Raya brought me a wonderful treat tonight: bubblejack and two-hearted!!! (translation: good beer.) They know how to get into this girl's heart. You are welcome for dinner anytime!

Lou really wanted to lick that spoon. Trickster really liked that Lou was sitting. Awe.

Happy Birthday, Austin!

Tonight was a special birthday dinner for Austin. He requested grilled corn, carrot cake, and pot roast. Well, actually the pot roast was my idea but the rest is true. I've wanted to learn how to make pot roast for a while now. My mom came over today to teach me the family recipe. Thanks, Mom! It was delicious.

The menu:
- pot roast
- grilled corn (then steamed when the grill ran out of gas)
- potatoes, onion, and carrots


The guests: Austin, Missy, Tricia, Laura, Mom, Mike, Ben, Adam, Noah, Sienna, Moses

The birthday boy. I hope you had a great birthday, Austin!

Lou was super naughty tonight. Anyone want an 8-year old Vizsla? He was eying the cake but luckily didn't get any. I can't say the same for the pot roast.

A chili summer evening

This pun's for you, Sorbs!
My coworker, Aaron "Sorbs" Sorbel, was the only guest tonight. As the only guest, he got to request whatever he wanted. There was nothing that he wanted more on this summer Saturday evening than a piping hot bowl of chili.

I think of chili as more of a winter food, but I decided to grant his request anyway. Turns out chili in summer is delicious!

The menu:
- chili with garden tomatoes
- frozen snickers bars (thanks, Sorbs!)

The guest: Aaron (a lover of puns)

And Lou:

What to do with a pile of ripe tomatoes

Stuff 'em, grill 'em, and eat 'em.
Dinner tonight was another grilling adventure. Along with the grilled, stuffed tomatoes, we had grilled salmon with a grilled lemon garnish. It was a beautiful night to sit outside and enjoy good company after dinner.


The menu:
- grilled, stuffed tomatoes
- grilled salmon
- smoothies

The guests: Dad, Nancy, Marilyn


Dad and Nancy brought me the most delicious treat of all: Alice Waters' newest book, 40 years of Chez Panisse. Fittingly, the subtitle of the book is "The Power of Gathering".

The great NE get-together

In honor of the great MN get-together, tonight's main feature was meatloaf on a stick! Tonight was also an all-time high for guest count at 13, which I guess is also fitting for the fair theme. It was a lot of energy and a lot of fun!



The menu:
- meatloaf on a stick
- oven fries
- grilled green beans
- fruit smoothies


You can even use the stick to eat your meatloaf, arm in arm if that's your style.


The guests: Josh(er), Stef, Matt, Britta, Oliver, Naomi, Clara, Josh, Jen, Brock, Rayna, Jake, Dustin



Clara drew a picture while the food was finishing in the oven. It's a picture of all the happy people coming to eat dinner at my house. Thanks, Clara!


To save Lou from all the kiddos tonight, I shipped him two doors down to hang out with Caity and Nash. Thank you so much, Caity! And sorry, Ella - no Lou pic tonight.

Family specialties

Tonight's dinner was a delicious mix of cuisine: veggie gyoza (potstickers), tortilla espanola, and pan con tomate. Great food, great company, great stories.


The menu:
- veggie gyoza (the Christensen family specialty)
- tortilla espanola and pan con tomate (Laurie and Josep Maria specialties)


The guests: Anna, Brian, Em, Mod, Laurie, Josep Maria, Rina, Shai, Yuval


Em tried and tried to get a nice photo of Lou and me together. We finally got a keeper, but only after several bad shots.



Unfortunately, the only way we could get Lou to sit still was to allow him on the couch which is normally not allowed. This set a new, unintended precedent.


Here's how I found him after saying goodbye to everyone.

You can grill anything, part 3

What did I grill tonight? Grilled cheese! Grilled grilled cheese! The tomato soup was heated conventionally, on the stove top.


The menu:
- grilled grilled cheese with smoked cheddar, jalapeno cheddar, and/or white cheddar
-tomato soup

The guest: Ellen, Melissa, Laura, Justin



For Ella: