Afternoon Get Together

Spring is in the air! The days are getting longer, flowers and trees are blooming all around, and the temperature is starting to warm up. In my personal circle of friends it's time for us to begin planning our annual film festival. I volunteered to hold last month's planning meeting, so I thought I'd share it with you.

It was a Sunday afternoon event, and I was planning for six women, including myself. I wanted it to be simple but special too. The first thing I needed to plan was the food. I decided on finger foods, like deviled eggs, bowls of nuts and chips, and chocolate fondue with fruits and lemon poppy seed pound cake to dip into it. Fondue is fun for a party, it's fairly easy to prepare, and practicaly becomes an activity for your guests. Fondue pots themselves are pretty inexpensive, and there are probably lots of people out there who have one somewhere on a shelf that never sees the light of day. Dig 'em out! They're great, not only for fondue, but for any hot dip. I always use mine to keep nacho dip warm.

I started early in the week with the grocery shopping. Thursday night I baked the pound cake. The recipe I use is better when it's make a couple days in advance, so all the flavors have a chance to sink in and the cake gets a firm but moist and tender texture.

Sunday morning dawned bright and early, and my agenda started off with house cleaning. I was going to lay out all of the food on the dining room table, and since it was a sunny afternoon I wanted the blinds open to let in the sunshine. Unfortunately, that meant the window needed cleaned--a job I don't enjoy. In fact, I recently bought a window squeegie just like the ones at the gas station, just to make the job easier. It really goes quickly now!

After the house was clean and bright, I made the deviled eggs and a pitcher of iced tea. I set a stack of desert plates, silverware, and a basket of napkins on the table. I washed and stemmed strawberries, and arranged them on a small platter with bunches of seedless grapes, dried apricots, and cubes of the pound cake. I changed my clothes, stacked the stereo with CDs, and lit a few candles around the house. Lastly, I put together the fondue. By the time it was ready to put into the pot on the table, my friends were starting to arrive.

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