Summer Dinner Party

Nothing is better than good friends and family, great weather and superb wine! 

Last night, my fiance and I hosted our first summer dinner party and we cooked up a few recipes from the June MS Living.  Although I completely forgot to take photos (except for the awesome wine!), here is what we sampled:

Green Salad w/ Chickpeas & White Balsamic Dressing
Rating: 7
Comments: The dressing was good but I thought it could have used more vinegar and less oil. The dressing had a slight sweetness from the honey and was a nice, summery dressing. 

Grilled Buttermilk Chicken
Rating: 9
Comments: I used some of the fresh herbs we were growing outside. Even our pickiest eaters enjoyed this recipe and I'm looking forward to making it again!
Tweaks: We used chicken breast in lieu of whole chicken

Spicy Grilled Shrimp
Rating: 7
Comments: I was really scared of some the ingredients in the recipe, especially its use "fish sauce." However, after I realized that fish sauce sounds way worse than it actually looks, I'm glad we gave it a try. 

Vermont Burgers - Turkey & Beef
Rating: 7
Comments: Although I don't eat meat, I heard that the beef burgers were pretty good. As for the turkey burgers, I didn't hear anything about them. I'm going to take that as a sign that they were edible, but not memorable!

Roasted Asparagus w/ Capers & Lemon
Rating: 5
Comments: I guess I expected more from this recipe since I was using capers and lemon. However, the asparagus tasted, well... just like asparagus. Nothing real special about it but it was still good. 

Overall, we had a great dinner! I just wish I would have more time to prepare dessert! Maybe next time.