What country do you want to go to?

I decided I want to write a cookbook. That seems to be up there with gee, you’re a good cook, you should open a restaurant! Sure I want 80 hour weeks with a business that fails 90% of the time.

I know it’s unlikely to:

1. Ever get it finished or

2. Ever be professionally published.

So I decided, what the heck, I am writing it anyway and at the very least I will love it. It took a while to figure out a theme. There are millions of cookbooks and billions of recipes on the Internet. There was a time that I would buy lot and lots of cookbooks. I have almost quit the books. I have to be truly inspired by the book itself (or at least the food porn in it) to purchase a cookbook these days.

I scour the Internet when I am looking for something new to cook or am researching further a food topic. However, I always look through the cookbooks I have and usually add to my knowledge from the book source as well. Plus there is still the allure of actually touching the printed page and reading a book. So I have my big cookbook case in the

dining room and my small built in over the counter with my Julia Child & favorite books all together.

 

With all the cookbooks, food blogs and food sites out there with every topic imaginable how does one decide on a theme?

I love to have a dinner party. There doesn’t have to be a particular reason. Just a group of good friends sharing a meal. I have found the perfect number of guests to be 6-10.  Enough for a lively time and not so many that you wish you had hired a caterer. Also, I did a cookbook search on entertaining and dinner parties. There aren’t that many really. Martha Stewart did a couple (1982 & 1994).

That brought me to the title: Party of Eight. Okay so what did that mean? After more thought and discussion with a good friend, I decided on various cuisines for each chapter. My rationale being that a person knows they want Italian or Greek or Southern but they are not sure what dishes to serve. What’s the menu?

My thought is to have each section have drinks, appetizers, bread, main dish, side dish and dessert; all made from scratch. So I came up with 13 different cuisines and 170 recipes. then one has to test the recipes.

My first foray was to be a birthday party for my boyfriend. I asked him what country do you want to eat? His first choice: Scotland. Uh, what, no I am not doing that country (haggis, really, no offense to Scottish food). Then, Japan. No not doing Japan. Then, India? Yes, I am doing India. A feast was prepared for eight. Photos were taken and the food was awesome (comment by guests not my self-evaluation).

Here is the menu for a Party of Eight:

Pomegranate Cooler

Naan

Coriander Chutney    Tamarind Chutney

Apricot Chutney        Fried Chickpeas

Indian Lamb Curry     Biryani Rice

Tadka Dal                 Zucchini & Tomato Curry

Pistachio Kulfi (an Indian frozen dessert)

And here is the food porn: