Dinner Party!

It's been a very full weekend and I have lots to post about.. but I think I will break them into a few separate posts..so I'll work backwards and start with last nights dinner party! As I have mentioned before my entire family, (Mom & Dad, brothers and sister) are moving to NYC..and it is fast approaching...the siblings leave in 6 days and mom and dad in 10. I decided to host a small dinner party at our house as a farewell dinner for my parents and invite Mr. Joneses parents over as well. Our apt. is not huge by any means so I kept it to just the parents and will be spending time with my siblings this next week, as well as seeing them in NC before they finally end their travels in NYC.

Now...there is something you should definitely know about me... I cannot cook... like at all. Ok maybe eggs but that's about it. I love baking and am usually much more successful in that dept. but meal planning, prep, and the end product have never been my area. That is all left in the very capable hands of Mr. Jones. However....for whatever reason I decide that I can cook whenever there is the need to actually impress people..which is just nuts and I think I have finally learned my lesson.

In my defense we had a very busy day yesterday.. we spent most of the afternoon looking at and measuring our possible new apt. ( more on that later) and got consumed with moving details that by the time we actually bought everything we needed for dinner, came home, unloaded, cleaned the house and set the table...my parents were at the door before I had even thought to review my recipes!

Table Set & Ready....

Snacks set and waiting for hungry guests....

I chose what I assumed would be a no fail and relatively easy meal of homemade fried chicken tenders, mashed sweet potatoes, slaw, and corn on the cob ( can you tell I'm dreaming of the south! ... Only a few more weeks!) Well without having any time to prep anything before my parents arrived it just sort of turned into my mother basically helping/ making most of the meal with me in the kitchen, Mr. Jones furiously making homemade bread crumbs and me having a panic attack just about every five seconds. Awesome.

The calm before the storm... Mom & I in the kitchen..

About halfway through the cooking my oven decided to explode in smoke.. ( ruining my dessert) and quickly filling the entire place with smoke...so there's me ten seconds away from crying, my dad and the Joneses acting as if everything is just peachy enjoying snacks and wine in the living room, Mr. Jones running around the apt. opening windows and taking down the fire alarms...while my wonderful, amazing, calm, cool, and collected mother tried to keep me from losing my mind. To say the least it was a total disaster.

This photo doesn't do the smoke justice it was bad..real bad..

Luckily the smoke eventually stopped, we sat down and enjoyed an actually fantastic meal..shared tons of great stories, laughed a lot and in the end had an absolutely wonderful evening... Next time though we'll go out to eat and perhaps come back for dessert...I'm thinking cookies...you know the break apart kind...my kind of cooking. ;)

The whole crew... (Left to Right, Mum Jones, Dad Jones, Mr. Jones, my Daddy, me and Mom)