Our Neighborhood Progressive Dinner Party

l-r: Shelley Hovind, Mike Ridgeway, Lauren Williams,
Dave Stark, Colleen Gilbert, Ken Hatch at Hatch home

Last night, Ken and I participated in a progressive dinner party in the cul-de-sac in our neighborhood.  Our neighbors, Shelley Hovind and Sandy Stark proposed the idea and organized us for what turned out to be a very fun evening together.

l-r: Lauren Ridgeway, David Hovind (hidden),
Sandy Stark, Al Williams, Christine Gilbert at Hatch home

We began at next door neighbors, Brenda & Al Williams' home for hors d'oeuvres and cocktails.  The hors d'oeuvres included dates wrapped in crisp bacon, goat cheese tartlets and caprese salad.  Mike and Lauren Ridgeway brought special wines for the get-together including a wine I especially liked, the Yakima Valley Ramseyer Vineyards Vintage Five Red Wine, a Columbia Valley L'Ecole No. 41 2008 Syrah and a Napa Valley Nickel & Nickel 2010 Truchard Vineyard Chardonnay.

l-r: Al Williams, Cathi Hatch, Mike Ridgeway at
Stark home

Our turn was next as we were slated for the salad/soup course.  Thankfully, David Hovind came over early with me and lit candles and helped me with some last minute preparation until his wife Shelley arrived and stepped into his place.  It was fun to work with her and it was apparent that she has a restaurant background since we organize in the kitchen similarly.  Mike Ridgeway also jumped in to serve as designated sommelier and kept everyone's glass filled with the great wines he brought with him for the cocktail party.

l-r: Ken Hatch, Sandy Stark, Colleen Gilbert at Stark home

In addition to the crystal trees and reindeer running down the middle of the table, I had taken great glee in setting the table with my red crystal water goblets and my green crystal Champagne glasses (how often can you use both red and green glasses on the same table!?) along with some of my gold-edged Saint Louis Thistle crystal wine glasses so we began our interlude with Veuve Clicquot Champagne paired with an amuse course which included a warm roasted garlic head served with bacon jam, cranberry-orange relish, Cambazola cheese, a Belgian endive leaf filled with Dungeness crab dip and numerous thyme pita crisps.  The soup course was Black Tie Tomato Soup, recipe out of the original Junior League of Seattle Classic Cookbook, that has been a holiday tradition for many years in our family.

l-r: Shelley Hovind, Dave Stark, Colleen Gilbert
at Gilbert home

It was now time to head across the street to Dave and Sandy Stark's  home for the entree course which was in partnership with the Hovinds.  Dave Stark opened and shared one of their favorite wines, The Prisoner from Napa Valley, which is a ripe luscious red wine blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet and Syrah.  It was fantastic!  Sandy and Shelley served a beautiful beef tenderloin accompanied with a twice baked potato (my favorite!), green beans and a smooth horseradish cream sauce which were all delicious.

Next and final stop was the Gilbert's home next door to the Stark's home where Colleen, Christine and Michael Gilbert hosted us for after-dinner drinks and an amazing non-flour chocolate torte with homemade gelato accompanying it.  I loved seeing their new reindeer collection which included whimsical versions of Prancer, Dancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Blitzen, Dasher and Donner.

Incredible chocolate torte at the Gilbert home.

In our table conversation, we decided that we are all very lucky to live in such a wonderful place with such wonderful neighbors!  After we had devoured every morsel, it was finally time for our party to come to an end and Dave Stark kindly helped us navigate the slippery, rain-soaked walkways and street to get us back to our house safely.  When I opened our door the next morning, I found a lovely bottle of Ramseyer Vineyards Red Wine on the doorstep courtesy of Mike Ridgeway.

Thank you to all our neighbors for what was a wonderful evening together!  Happy holidays to all!

l-r: Colleen Gilbert, David Hovind, Dave Stark
at Gilbert home