This weekend we hosted our very first dinner party in Madison Park! It called for us to pull out the dining room table from the wall and use all of our matching chairs, and to polish the silverware that is my family’s. My boyfriend got the silverware polishing job since he has had many years of training from his childhood when his grandma invites all her grandkids over to polish silverware once a year… so he definitely knew what he was doing. 
Our menu theme was fall food, so mostly squash and root vegetables. I really wanted to make something pumpkin but making a pumpkin dessert seemed so cliché, instead I found a wonderful recipe for a savory pumpkin soup. This recipe is from scratch and has you boil the pumpkin instead of baking it, pretty easy to make too.
Next I wanted to make a dessert that still represents fall but isn’t ordinary, I made a pear tart. It was also super simple and came out great! Can be served hot or cold, I refrigerated the tart after baking, then served it cold. For the main course I made zucchini boats and Finnish rosoli, beet/potato salad, and my boyfriend made Icelandic potato/sweet potato baked dish. The rosoli was turned out great, I have no recipe for this since I learned how to make it watching my mom make it growing up. It’s an art in creating the right balance of colors in the beet salad. The zucchini boats are another story however, I got that recipe from the Trader Joe’s cooking book. The idea is pretty simple; slice zucchinis in half, carve them out, fry the carvings with a shredded carrot and some onions, add a little coconut milk and put the vegetable stuffing back into the zucchini boats, then bake for 30min. I was not involved with making my boyfriend’s Icelandic dish…but to be honest it’s the simplest of all and I’m just guessing here. Cut both kinds of potatoes into wedges, put in a dish, pour olive oil over them and bake for 40min.
So there is a brief description of the food we made for the dinner party. Our guests brought wine to match each course and we had a great evening visiting with them. Next dinner party will be at their house! 
After working at the toy store this morning I finally got around to buying a hand shovel and planting the rest of the tulips around the house. In the process I found many kinds of bulbs in the ground, so I’ll be excited to see what flowers pop up next spring!
Oh, and tonight will be my first Icelandic class at the Nordic Heritage Museum. Wish me luck!
Until next time,
-Julia
Pumpkin Soup: http://thediaryofsugarandspice.wordpress.com/2012/09/19/german-hokkaido-pumpkin-soup-a-taste-of-autumn/
Pear Tart: http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/09/pear-tart-recipe.html
Life After College 