New stuff!

Check out my new melamine dishes - I am very excited about them! They are part of my plan to buy and travel with the right stuff. When I left the DR, I found myself spending too long trying to decide which serving dishes and other kitchen stuff should come with us to VA and then to post. Weight was a big issue, but I also wanted my own things. I really find that having my own, brightly colored dishes makes a new place feel like home more quickly, so from now on, I'll send these items in my UAB (unaccompanied air baggage- the shipment that gets to post first) without having to worry about the weight and without having to think about it. Fun and easy!

 

Brunch

When I joined the Foreign Service, I heard that I would be doing a lot of entertaining, and I have found this prediction to be true. Of course, you don't have to host. There are plenty of restaurants and places to meet here. But I enjoy hosting newcomers within their first month of arrival, as I remember how much I appreciated those early invitations. And I feel tremendously accomplished when I pull off a meal that is both delicious and relatively simple. Put simply, I am learning to be a better host and cook in Santo Domingo, and I am pretty proud of it.

We hosted two brunches recently, and I think I have found an ideal menu.

Last time (with just 4 adults and 5 kids), this was my menu:

• Spinach and cheese strata (made the night before, so in the morning I only had to pop it in the oven)
• Sausages (only needed browning in the morning)
• Waffles (this item was a little time-intensive and took me away from my guests)
• Fruit salad (it would be a crime to host a brunch in the DR w/o fruit salad!)

This week, we were a group of 9 adults (ok, 2 were adolescents) and 3 kids. Here is my menu:

• Baked brunch eggs  (this one is prepared partly the night before, and partly the morning of. I think I liked it better than the strata.)
• Bakery blueberry muffins  (I made these when I first woke up. I figured they would be good for kids as well as adults. However, they were only ok. I think my oven temp is a bit off, and they burned on the bottom. I want to keep perfecting my muffin recipe, though, because I think this is a great make-ahead item.)
• Roasted potatoes (I chopped the potatoes and onions the night before, and cooked them in the same oven as the eggs)
• Scrambled eggs (for the kids, and because I was worried there wouldn't be enough baked eggs for everyone, but there were!)
• Sausages again
• Fruit salad of course
• Bloody Marys!

I would say today's menu was pretty perfect, in terms of managing time and resources. D made the fruit salad and washed dishes while I prepared a drink station and finalized the meal. The other thing I did that saved time this morning was to set the table the night before. Usually I am crazed on the morning of a brunch, and today I was calm.

I liked this list of easy brunch items quite a bit.

Tell me, what are your favorite brunch menus or time-saving tips?