Thursday Dinner Date 

Fiesta Time! 

Some old girlfriends and I decided to have a dinner date last night since it is so rare that we are all back in our hometown at the same time. Generally we all want to go out to eat and not have the hassle of cooking (OR cleaning), but it was the perfect evening to spend outdoors because it was not too hot or too cold. Since I have a love for entertaining and planning get togethers I said that everyone could join me at my place. 

I thought hmm... I'll throw a fiesta! My family has the best mexican rice recipe and my guacamole was sounding more enticing the more I thought about it. 

When having an outdoor get together though you need to think of a few things. The first is the lighting. While the nighttime is beautiful, you don't want your guests searching for their food with their fork. I kept it light with adding some retro bulbs to the roof over my patio and lit some candles around the area on the ground. It was just enough and made the space feel at ease. 

The second thing is the sound. Now at first you may think.. wait a minute why on earth is that such a big deal? Well, usually I live in a small apartment in the city, so I have grown to love the simple outdoor noises in my hometown instead of having to put up with the honking and horns of the city streets. I turned on our electric fountain in the backyard to give a serene trickling water sound. I also made a fire in the bonfire pit so the girls would hear the soothing crackle of an evening fire. Finally I had a speaker hung in one of the corners of the overhang and put on some summer time country; of course it was on very low because we're girls, we would make the most noise of all with all our chit chat! The product was perfection. It felt homy and relaxing; just what we needed before the summer ends. 

Finally the food is probably the most important thing! It is nice to have some sort of theme to stick to, and when you are having a fiesta dinner party that can be pretty simple. If you'd like ask your guests to bring some sort of add on for the meals. I had a fruit plate, cookies and wine, and some tortilla chips brought to the dinner, which really completed the meal. 

Before you figure out your dinner menu make sure it is a-okay with the rest of the guests. I had already known we had a gluten allergy to take into consideration, but other than that everything panned out perfectly. The placement of where the food is can also be crucial. As I am a neat freak about floors I didn't want people going in and out with outdoor shoes getting drink refills so I set up a small bar area outdoors with ice, lemon water, glasses, and of course the wine! Then I set up all the sides and munchies on the main table that we ate at and set up the taco bar in a separate corner, so the table wasn't too crowded.  

The rest was simple: sit, eat, drink, and enjoy. Thats what is so wonderful about seeing old friends, once you are all together nothing really matters but the fact that you are with great company! 

Au Revoir!

Alexis