I hosted a small party to thank some of my friends for truly
extraordinary acts of kindness. =) Calum, James, Steve and Yeow-Tong
have been absolutely amazing, and I wanted to do something special for
them, having invited myself over to their homes, roused them out of
bed, dragged them out on adventures, and raided their larders
(respectively).

So: my first real party.

I splurged on flowers, buying pink-and-white carnations and a small
African violet. The guys probably didn't notice it, but it made me
feel wonderful. =)

For appetizers, I arranged prosciutto ham on a large plate and
drizzled olive oil over it. I then surrounded it with insalata
tricolore (halved cherry tomatoes interleaved with soft mozzarella and
sprinkled with fresh basil). I also served bacon and cheese potato
soup.

For the main course, I baked an extra-cheesy lasagna. Minor whoops: I
boiled the entire lasagna package in my excitement, not realizing that
I was supposed to boil only twelve noodles. Duh. That's okay, I can
have mini-lasagna rolls tomorrow, although I've run out of ground beef
so that might take a little magic.

For dessert, I served the apple pie that Calum taught me how to bake.
Calum was surprised at how flaky it turned out. Apparently, flakiness
is a good thing.

I also wrote them thank-you notes on monogrammed Crane cards. =)

Everything was very well-received, and James' parting compliment was:
“Sacha, you're a domestic goddess.” =) I had a lot of fun preparing
everything for them, and I greatly enjoyed the conversation
afterwards. I'm thrilled to see that they get along, although some are
still a little nervous in company.

James remembered the deal I made two dinner parties ago, and insisted
on doing the dishes this time. Aww! =)

How to make things better: ditch store-bought garlic bread and make my
own. Also, improve timing of bread so that bread and pasta are out of
the oven at the same time.

Random Japanese sentence: