This past Saturday, I threw perhaps my favorite dinner party to date. And it wasn’t because the food came out pretty good or that the rain held off and we are got to break in our new outdoor sectional, but because of the company. At the end of the night, Jamie and I both commented on just how truly lucky we are to have such a great group of friends in our lives. Something we don’t take for granted. And each of them made for quite a memorable night (and a not so memorable Sunday).

The dinner party came together on behalf of Calphalon. Calphalon reached out to food bloggers nationwide and invited them to host a dinner party, which included a set of pans (unison nonstick griddle and grill pan), a box of goodies from Williams-Sonoma, a copy of Michael Symon’s Live to Cook and a $100 gift card to help offset part of the cost. Now truth be told, we were planning on throwing this exact same party in late July. But when Calphalon came to me with this opportunity, I said yes – mostly because I was admittedly curious as to how their agency would handle this event (working in PR and social media, I couldn’t resist). The only drawback was that we had to hold the party on June 5 – fine except I just got back in town from Houston that morning. But luckily, I have the world’s greatest husband who helped get everything together without even being asked (Natalie’s 2.5 hr nap helped, too!).

Since we had 18 people over, we opted against a sit down dinner and instead went with heavy tapas and light starters.

The menu:

• Assorted cheese, crackers and mortadella
• Prosciutto-wrapped melon
• Chickpea bruschetta
• Guacamole (smoked trout, plain and blue Chevre)
• Smoky glazed asparagus
• Grilled shrimp and andouille with smoky paprika glaze
  
• Santa Fe quinoa salad
• Michael Symon’s pork belly with watermelon and grilled haloumi
• Whipped ricotta with honey and berries
  

Everything we served I’ve made before – except the pork belly. I love a version of this dish at Lola and wanted to try. Now, thank goodness for Heidi Robb who walked me through everything from buying the belly to frying it up (and even sacrificed her shirt in the process!). It wasn’t nearly as good as Lola’s, but being the first time I’ve ever made pork belly, I think it was ok. I made this dish as is, except I used reduced balsamic instead of Symon’s red wine vinaigrette. I’ve made his vinaigrette before and I just didn’t care for it.

As far as Calphalon goes, I was already a fan prior to. We cook a ton, so I have a nice assortment of pots and pans, including Calphalon, a few Fissler (former client), Mario Batali Dutch over (my absolute favorite pot) and Le Creuset. I have to say, I probably use my Calphalon the most, but they are also the only pans that I’ve had problems with. The bottom of two pots become so scraped up (I use a wooden spoon 99% of the time) that I was nervous to use. Crate & Barrel replaced one, but not the other. I tried going through Calphalon’s customer service and it was not a pleasant experience so I just gave up. But aside from this, I like cooking with their pans and so far have really been enjoying my new ones.

So there you have it – that was Saturday night at our house. And it was perfect. Good food, good wine and even better friends.

**Big thanks to Amelia and Kyle for bringing a camera and taking pics. See more here.