It’s been a while since we’ve all gotten together to hang out and cook dinner together. We used to try to make it a weekly thing but around the holidays things got hectic and schedules went awry.

Didn’t have anything special planned for once this weekend, but luckily it turned into something fun and we all got to catch up and enjoy each other’s company again. John chose a chicken cacciatore recipe he found in my recipe book, and I chose to make a Mustard Crusted Salmon Filet. Taking the skin off of the salmon was definitely a new experience and it became apparent very quickly that I didn’t know what I was doing. Almost comically, but we got it made. I made a Chocolate Mousse for dessert, and I wanted to experiment with making Panna Cotta. John was in charge of that recipe, but after some pretty funny errors that required a restart, we ended up with something resembling Panna Cotta. I still have to make it again to see what it is like when you make it following the instructions correctly. Afterwards we watched Masterchef Junior while eating, and kept talking. Was a very pleasant evening. I love my new kitchen, can you tell?

Here’s hoping there’s more dinner parties this year and all the years to come! And hopefully there’s more people to come and join us or host.

-Evilmanta