Dinner Party!

As most of you know, I am a "tireless hosts of cocktail parties and dinners" (Kundera), and I am having my very first Cambridge-based party on Thursday. Feeling a bit nervous for several reasons:

- I'm throwing the party for the 18 new doctoral students who are here. I don't know most. Eek! First of all, I've never cooked for that many people. Second of all, the fact that I don't know them - but will likely be working with them for the next 4-5 years - makes me extra-anxious. With you people it's easy: if I get you boozed up enough I know you'll applaud prettymuch anything I serve. But NEW people? They're a bit more of a challenge.

- Given the number of invitees, I'll have to do a buffet AND make something people can eat standing up. So cutting is out, as is anything messy or likely to stain (no red wine sauce).

- I am poor now. A shocking development and one that I am not pleased about. Price is going to be a big issue in my ingredient-choice.

- The last, and perhaps most ulcer-inducing (how I wish I were joking) thing to worry about is the fact that two girls I don't know too well are helping me prep. Sounds great, right? Well, yes -- unless you take into account the fact that my love of cooking coupled with my oft-noted tendency to micromanage makes me a bit more of a Gordon Ramsey than a Mario Batali in the kitchen. Or, in Top Chef terms, a bit more Hung than Stephanie. Or in plebeian terms for you non-cooking-show-addicts: I'm a bossy bitch in the kitchen. I will probably spend the whole time trying to make sure I am nice and therefore serve terrible, uncreative food. I also have to factor in the lack-of-I.Z., my tireless, patient, and trusty sous-chef. Sigh.

There are some good things though. I am excited about cooking for an audience wider than my teenage brothers and/or N., who love anything as long as it's meat. Lots and lots of meat. I have also discovered Cambridge farmers markets and am thrilled. It's really a change to live in a place with so many near-by farms: I've picked up some gorgeous bounty lately (tomatoes, summer squash, mint, basil, corn, etc). I'm planning on basing my menu around midsummer harvest goodies and I'm very, very excited about working with these ingredients. (That was a particularly lame sentence).

What I'm thinking of making so far:

To start, mini-pizza slices with different toppings. Sauteed mixed mushrooms, thyme and Asiago; roasted red peppers and goat cheese; maybe something else.

Main courses of oven-baked, herb-crusted chicken (haven't quite worked out this one yet: maybe a slimmed-down, dry version of chicken parm), sliced; oven-roasted garlic and rosemary shrimp.

Side-salads: mixed young potato salad (made it recently with different colors of baby potatoes, including blue - looks pretty/unusual, super-filling, very simple); pan-roasted corn, mint, tomato and feta salad; tomato and watermelon salad.

I'm not in charge of desserts, but have a raspberry-almond pound cake recipe I might have to whip out.

Thoughts/ideas are much appreciated. A. and I.Z., I'd love to hear suggestions. The rest of you have eaten my food: any favorites?

Post-party redux and photos to follow.

Tootles!