Sunday Culinary Play Date

There are several culinary projects going on in our household: project pan asia wherein we try to expand our culinary chops, project short ribs wherein in we attempt to perfect the preparation of this succulent cut of beef, and project entertainment wherein we try our mightiest to regain some semblance of party-heartiness as a household. We’re 5.5 years into throwing kids birthday parites, playdates, what have you, but have yet to regain control of our dinner parties, cocktail parties, and otherwise grownup-focused gatherings. This past Sunday we attempted to integrate the playdate with the tapas party. We invited equal numbers of kids and grownups to a Sunday afternoon shindig (about 12 total in attendance), complete with quesadillas, veggie booty, and fruit for the kids; spanish tortilla, roasted chickpea bruschetta, and bacon-wrapped, parmesan-stuffed dates for the adults. We served a full bar, wines by the glass, beer (for the grownups of course). A friend brought blinis, creme fraiche, and domestic sturgeon caviar. Others brought crisp pinot gris and Chilean carmenere. The kids ran around, the adults sat around (70 degree SoCal weather didn’t hurt; but I hear it hit 70 in New York, too, so I’m not feeling so special). And, beyond that, nothing much special to report other than it was a success and that, as Matthew in his UK-ish way would say, I’m knackered (am I spelling that right, Matthew? Rough translation: exhausted). The one finding of this experiment was that my daughter continues to love cheese, favoring the Sebastapol goat cheese and the Brillat Savarin over the aged Manchego. And the other finding was: we all had a ball. There was a judiciously applied dose of televison for the kids around post-dinner cocktail hour, which and allowed the adults a much-deserved respite in which to enjoy each others company. About 27 or so minutes total.
—Hugh