Last Saturday night I hosted a dinner party for two good friends, for a total of four people for dinner. Not a huge gathering by any means, but it was fun and intimate. I started the day by going to get a table cloth for the dining room table. Simple enough, I thought. But one I got a nice neutral table cloth, I realized that I did not have placemats, napkins, candles or candle sticks. I had a lot of shopping to do and I still had to go to two grocery stores and make the entire menu of food I had planned out. It was a busy day!

I ended up with everything I needed for the dining room and the room came together rather nicely – especially considering it was all done in one stop the morning of said dinner party:

The menu for the dinner party was pretty simple. A spinach and strawberry salad with a homemade (obviously) lemon vinaigrette to start. Grilled chicken and grilled vegetables [summer squash, zucchini, eggplant and red peppers -eggplant was the biggest hit] and my homemade macaroni and cheese for a side dish. I went back and forth with the idea of making corn bread instead – but the mac and cheese is always a big hit, so I went with that. (Secret ingredients: worcestershire sauce and dijon mustard.) But I must say the big hit of the night was something I had never made before but had wanted to make for weeks now that it is officially blueberry season in New England:

Yes, that is a rustic blueberry tart. It was amazing! The blueberries were perfect and adding lemon juice and lemon zest gave it just the right amount of tang. I found the recipe on Chow.com a while back and I am so glad that I finally made it. I even made my pastry dough from scratch – something that I do not always do, I’ll be honest. The recipe was simple and delicious. I highly recommend you give it a try if you live in an area that is in the midst of a good blueberry season. Click here for the recipe!  

It was a great Saturday dinner with lovely friends. I was busy cooking in the kitchen, so I did not take photos except for the tart because I was so excited about it. But the menu worked and we all had a good time. I hope you are taking advantage of the summer and cooking on the grill (charcoal of course!) for your friends and family, too!