Party Recipe: Holiday Dinner

I brought a bag home from Trader Joe’s last night full of all that is good and holy in the world: smoked salmon, Neiman Ranch bacon, brie, blue cheese, pork loin, champagne and blackberries. It’s time for a dinner party! Three friends are joining us tonight to celebrate the holidays, here’s the recipe:

• Start with champagne paired with a smoked salmon roulade and water crackers.
• Follow that with a dinner of a mesclun and pear salad, bacon wrapped & cranberry stuffed pork loin and new potatoes paired with some good red wine.
• Set the table in red and white. I didn’t have any red vases so I covered some glass versions with red tissue paper instead. I’ll reuse the flowers (freshened up with a few new buds) for the open house on Sunday.
• Turn on classic holiday tunes like “Baby it’s Cold Outside” and “the Christmas Waltz.”
• Finish with coffee and New York Cheesecake topped with blackberries.

Between this and our office party on Saturday, I think I will gain at least five pounds this weekend!