Dinner Party Heaven

So we stopped the dinner parties for about a month and started them up again 2 weeks ago. We're only having them now about every other week because, basically, half my paycheck felt like it was going to these things. Last week, I felt super disappointed with the effort. Just sad. I was trying to cook steak that was supposed to be pan-seared on the grill because every time we pan-sear something it smokes up the kitchen like a mother. Then I tried to get the steak juices off the foil from the grill. That was a disaster. And Brad didn't buy the Chianti wine for the sauce (the horror, I know), so I tried to use grapes and it looked like it was going to be a very small amount and very terrible so I waited until no one was looking and poured in a bunch of some dessert wine I had bought and then boiled the crap out of it for like 10 minutes so that all the alcohol would be gone. And wow, did everyone think the sauce was amazing. Because it was pretty dang good.
I did, unfortunately, totally overcook the steaks. And it's not like everyone didn't eat them and say they were fine, because they did, but mine was well done and that means way too done for this med.rare girl. I was so mad..And I forgot the veggies. We had mashed potatoes (that were great) but we needed green. And Brad made a Swiss Cake Roll that looked amazing in the recipe, but was pretty dry (which my mom now says is par-for-the-course with Swiss Rolls). With ice cream, it would have been great, but overall, just kind of not our best effort.
Today, however, was divine.
Thank, you, Naked Chef. That's Jamie, from the cookbook. Not Brad. Dirty minds.
We had for an appetizer Linguine with Lemon Zest, parsley, and Pecorino Cheese slices that we served on the cheese board I got Brad-o for Christmas. Our main meal was Lamb with eggplant, onion, and tomatoes, and it was seriously to die for. It was cooked PERFECT. Like 


tender, cut it with a fork perfect. It did char the garlic bread a bit when I left it in the oven too long and the smoke came billowing out of the oven, but it was somewhat salvageable still with the edges cut off. :o)
And for dessert we had brownies- this is an update- I think I accidentally deleted this earlier- that were made with 73% cocoa dark chocolate bars from Trader Joe's double boiled with butter. Yum. Topped with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. It doesn't get any better than that.

So so good.
And the conversation was great. The best story of the evening came from Jeff, who is hilarious (and, who, in a sweet coincidence, just commented on my blog in the Juno section quite recently). Anyways, he went on this date once with a girl who aspired to be Miss America. A few minutes after this announcement, they were discussing what they had wanted to be when they were kids.
"I wanted to be a Barbie." she said.
"Oh, so it's still kind of like what you want to do now!" he said. hahahahaha. She was apparently pissed. I can't really think of anything funnier.