Sunday Dinners H1

I didn't do so well this year so far tracking Sunday dinners here on the blog. My intent was to post one a month as they happened. And, well, life. 

I started out strong in January. Then nothing. So let me catch you up. 

February - Italian

February was a wroaming Sunday dinner. We all gathered at Chez Levi out in West Seattle. She's got a beautiful house that has a killer view. It's always weird for me to have Sunday dinner some place else. I both love and hate it. Love it because we get to change it up and I don't have to do dishes. Hate it because I love hosting. 

Dinner was stuffed shells. So delicious. We also had Italian Salad, Deconstructed Tiramasu, and appetizers. It was a small group that was the Braspirs, Claudia/Bob, Janet and I. I like small groups sometimes. 

The view from Chez Pantry Goat

That's not one of my cats, that's Frey.

March - Burger Bar

Mmm burgers. I do love a good burger. I blame my mom for that. She LOVED cheeseburgers. The drippier the better. Homemade burgers are one of my favorite things to make. So easy, so inexpensive and so yummy. 

I did the burgers and cheese. Claudia brought all the veggies, including amazing grilled onions. The Braspirs brought baked beans, Janet brought a beautiful lemon cake, Rose and Graeme brough arancini (risotto balls). So much food. I also provided the condiments that included BBQ sauce and fried onions. 

Poor Graeme. Lucy only wanted to sit on his lap. Poor guy is allergic to cats, and that stinkin' cat kept coming back for more. 

This cake was amazing.

April - Thai

Thai themed is officially not my favorite theme. I like Thai food, but I like Thai food in a restaurant. It's a tricky theme because it requires ingredients most of us don't use (kinda like Indian last year). Still everyone played along. 

I made Thai Beef curry in the crock pot. Mark and Jo made spring rolls. Kathy did Chicken Satay. And Janet did Thai Lettuce Wraps. 

I discovered too late that no one signed up to bring dessert. So I brought out some Cresta bars, and Nutella cookies. Worked like a charm. 

Spring Rolls. It took a couple to get the hang of the rolling.

May - Burrito Bowls

I love me a good burrito bowl. And this dinner was spot on. I made carne asada and Charro beans (so good). Mark and Jo brought guac. Graeme and Rose brough Mexican corn. Janet brought sides for the burrito bowls (sour cream, cheese, onions, salsa, etc). The Braspirs brought Flan. 

We had way too much food again, but we were happy and full. As we always are on Sunday dinner nights.

Kathy made flan.

June - Spanish / Portuguese

Oh boy! What a Sunday dinner. Mark and Jo hosted it at their new house in Gig Harbor. We moved this Sunday dinner to Saturday to make it a little easier to get to Gig Harbor and home again without Monday looming. 

Mark made Paella. He and Jo had taken a class and so they knew the right way to make it. Plus he has this massive Paella pan - so it seemed like we had to break it in. 

We started with appetizers, of course. Rose and Graeme brought jamon and cheese; there was smoked salmon; marinated olives, and I made Garlic Shrimp. 

Making Paella is a process, but it's not difficult. There's a lot of components, but if you're an organized chef, this part is easy. Mark did an excellent job and the Paella was some of the best I've had. 

Best part of the night was when Mark was going to take the Paella pan into the house and we'd serve ourselves from there, only the pan wouldn't fit through the back door. That's one large pan. We ate our paella with a yummy El Senior Caesar Salado (it was just a Caesar salad, but we had to make it Spanish.)

We finished the night with a chocolate tort brought by Janet. 

Our next two Sunday dinners will also be wroaming ones. Next month is our annual Low Country Boil at Janet's. Then August is being hosted by the Pantry Goat.