Thursday Night "Dish"

We would like to start off by apologizing to our loyal readers - all five of them (three, of course, being our mothers and evil step-mommy dearest). Since being recognized by the local newspaper, we have stepped up our game by hosting multiple dinner parties. While this has not helped our single status and has had a detrimental effect on our broke status (and our livers), we are now the most popular friends ever!

Because we are such overachievers, we decided our first dinner guest should be none other than a locally renowned chef, one who actually attended culinary school. Like, for real (unlike us who were informed that the Food Network does not count as formal training, that one cannot be an apprentice in one's parents' kitchens, and that stealing recipes does not constitute chef-dom).

After much debate over the menu, we decided to do what one shouldn't do when entertaining a guest: prepare a meal that we had never before attempted. (Please see above: overachievers.) This debate continued well throughout the day via email and text across the city, until we finally decided the menu two hours before the dinner was to commence. The final decision was coconut-crusted snapper with a mango salsa and Caribbean black beans over white rice, followed by a homemade Key Lime pie for dessert.

The lesson we took away from all of this was not one from the kitchen: make sure to invite people from the restaurant industry to dinner parties on Friday nights, as 6:00 comes awfully early after seven bottles of wine (good wine, not the kind from the bargain bin).

While we may not be his next sous chefs, we will wear our sunglasses inside and expect the best seat in the house.