1 teaspoon love: so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu

I leave for France tomorrow and last Friday I had some friends over to have one last hoorah before I'm out the door. Of course, I had been planning the menu for weeks because to me the food really sets the tone for the party. For this night, I wanted the food to be relaxed but delicous. Even though it was a very small get together, it was a sort of mixed bag of guests: family, friends, coworkers from my summer job, etc. so I wanted to create a menu that would be customizable to different tastes, but full-flavored from every angle.

I settled on simple chicken served with three different sauces, a cheese plate, and a variety of salads that all had different flavor bases. It was probably the most interesting meal I've ever put together, considering how many different flavors I tried to incorporate in one spread. With the help of my mother (for the first time she was helping me in the kitchen...), the cooking took only a couple hours and I could kick back, relax, and say goodbye with all my favorite people.