Last Friday night I tried the dinner party/recipe swap idea I’d gotten from BooMama with a few ladies from church; there were five of us in attendance. My nine-year-old daughter did a lovely job setting the table. She had been waiting all week for the opportunity. When she finished, she must have lit every candle in the house. Then my husband loaded up the kids for a night at CiCi’s and a trip through Wal-Mart. What more could a kid want? Thank you, honey, for giving me some big-girl time!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures earlier, when my aunt was here, too.

Having a small crowd was great for conversational purposes! Highlights included jury duty stories and pronunciation oddities (not unusual, considering Melissa and Lynne both have backgrounds in speech therapy). Did you know that people from Texas, Georgia, and Arkansas will all pronounce Ponce de Leon differently? And that this is actually relevant since it is the name of a major street in downtown Atlanta? And that people from Arkansas will think that native Georgians (this includes news anchors and traffic reporters) sound really stupid odd when they pronounce it? But that people from Arkansas who feel superior to people from Georgia when pronouncing “Ponce de Leon” may themselves feel somewhat foolish when they hear someone from Texas pronounce it? Or that people from Texas have a really strange very unique pronunciation for the words Colorado and Nevada (or maybe that’s just Lynne)? Or that Tina’s husband pronounces “loin” (as in pork loin) “low-in”? And that I just have to hear him say it with my own two ears?

Or that Tina is highly photogenic?

And did I mention the food? Or the fact that I never start sentences with conjunctions but seem to be making a huge exception for this post? The food was OUT.OF.THIS.WORLD, topped off by my fudge truffle cheesecake and Melissa’s mystery brownies, whose ingredients were not divulged until after they’d been tasted. (Curious, aren’t you?)

Although it took me out of my usual comfort zone entertaining-wise (I’m much more casual – in over twenty-one years of marriage I had NEVER used my good china), this is an idea which I highly recommend. You can read the synopsis on BooMama’s blog. The only thing we did differently is that the recipes are being emailed to me so that I can compile them into one document and send them to everyone, including ladies who were unable to attend but want to share in the recipe exchange. It will be nice to have them all in one place and be able to print extra copies as needed.

Thanks, sweet sisters, for the food and the fellowship!