The third challenge for the Project Food Blog contest is to host a luxurious dinner party for at least four people (yourself included). In addition, you are to share your party hosting tips/secrets with readers.

Well, I brainstormed a lot of new tastes and flavors I wanted to impress my dinner guests with. I made a list of “fancy” recipes and dishes I wanted to research for my dinner party.

Then, I realized two things:

1. This challenge is due on Sunday and I really only have 24 hours to plan, shop, prepare, cook and host. I am super crazy busy right now and didn’t have a chance to even review the challenge before the last round winners were announced!

2. I am not fancy.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to be fancy. Especially when I hear Drake ask if I am…

But, I refuse to pretend to be anything but myself on Run, Eat, Repeat. I am fully open and honest with my flaws (probably a little too much, but I digress).

If I am being real – this is how I do dinner parties.

You can take the girl out of Pico Rivera, but you can’t take the Pico Rivera out of the girl…

For my dinner party menu I started at my local market. Their carneceria has the best carne asada around. They don’t have “Specials” here they have “Especials”

You know it’s authentic when the Spanish names are first and English is second. And when you take a number at the carneceria they call them out in Spanish.

Sure, we all learned 1 through 10 in Spanish from Sesame Street, but you better know “67” or no carne for you!

They also have a bull’s head up in the store. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but I’m just here to get some comida and be on my way. I kept yelling “Toro!” When I passed by the bull and getting weird looks. They should just be happy I didn’t bust out my red cape.

Even though trying fancy new dishes is fun, you really can’t beat good, homemade Mexican food. I stuck with the basics –  

My mom has two avocado trees in her backyard and I went in search of some fresh, organic ones for guacamole.

They’re organic because we don’t spray them with pesticides and we overcharge middle / upper-class Americans for the privilege of not eating poison. Well, we would if we sold them.   My cat was climbing around the tree trying to help. Or catch birds – I’m not sure, but he’s got to eat too so I’m not judging.

I pride myself on making some of the best guacamole this side of the border.

In the mix: avocados, squeeze of lime, salt, pepper, garlic powder, pico de gallo, cilantro.

Served with chips and beerIrony = Me wearing my “Vegetarian” shirt while cooking carne asada.   Life is complicated. Food and my shirts are not. Don’t read too much into it.

  And what kind of luxurious dinner party would this be if I didn’t offer a wine beer pairing to go with each course?Fact: Coronas require limes.  

The main course was carne asada, pinto beans, salad and corn tortillas. My family only makes pinto beans for some reason. Sure, we’ll get black beans from a can, but pintos are cooked fresh

Random Fact: I used to be 99% vegetarian, but ate carne asada on Fourth of July most years. It was like my Thanksgiving or something. The smell was so amazing I wouldn’t be able to resist. I wasn’t all about it today though. Hmmm.

My Nino and Nina were two of my guests for this fiesta.

You can eat outside in SoCal basically year ‘round. And there was maybe one or two flies that bothered us over the course of the night. Ben, (who is from Florida) always says – “There are no bugs in California and it never rains.” I guess compared to FL that’s true

My dad showed up right after dinner. He was at a funeral and running late. Hi dad  

Since I wanted to make sure my personal touch was on this meal I made my signature Pico Pineapple Bundt Cake for dessert. Served it with whipped cream and more beer.

My Dinner Party Tips:

1. Trying new recipes with no cushion time in case it doesn’t come out the way you want is not a good idea. If you have a limited amount of time, like I did – Do what you know and do it well.

So, I embraced my specialty, my hometown, my family and did a Mexican bar-b-que.

2. The real secret to a good dinner party is alcohol and lots of it 3. “No stressing about impressing!” Dinner parties are supposed to be fun (for the host too!). The people you are inviting are friends or family – not food critics. Unless you invite food bloggers, who are kinda like critics, in which case you’ve got your work cut out for you.

Hope you appreciated my real-but-not-necessarily-super-fancy-dinner party!

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I came across two crazy new food finds today. I love trying new food

Can you guess what the first one is? Here is a picture:

Did you guess Salt & Pepper Fava Beans? If so, you’re right!

The other find isn’t as crazy, but I’m crazy about it!

Kashi has a new cereal out – Go Lean Crisp. I am obsessed with most things Kashi, so even though I left my Kashi cereal coupon at home (I thought I brought my coupons, but forgot them) I had to have it! I seriously ripped into this box as soon as I got into the car.

This is similar to the Kashi Crunch – but better. It’s not as hard and deadly to your mouth (c’mon we all know Go Lean Crunch is killer hard!). I.Love.It. New obsession all the way. Thank you Kashi

The only negative is the high calorie count for 3/4c serving. Their other Go Lean Crunch cereals have a 1 cup serving size with the same calorie count. My other eats for the day included a fabulous salad bar run. I think this container is meant as a party tray. Ha.

And cookies Cookies are a necessary evil in my life lately… I had super high expectations for these cookies because I’ve been eyeing them for weeks and they were on sale today. But, they were just okay.

In other news, my case of seltzer managed to rip open on the way into my apartment and fall everywhere. I only lost one though

Random Monica Fact: Lately I’ve been completely loving your comments. So many times in the last few days I’ve read your comments and loudly said “Ha!” (when they’re funny) or “Awwww! That’s so sweet!!” (when they’re sweet and supportive).

Thank you

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My bridal shower is tomorrow! My mom is throwing it and I volunteered to make fruit salad and a broccoli salad, mainly because I wanted to eat these specific things, Ha.

So, I went to Costco on my lunch to get fruit and broccoli. While there I ate samples of:

- Hawaiian sweet bread

- Muenster Cheese

- Cracker w/ cream cheese and smoked salmon

- Some Indian Spinach dish (that I purchased)

- Curry potatoes (also purchased)

I also bought some of the amazing Food Should Taste Good Multi-Grain Chips. I love these things. I had to crack them open in the car. I don’t normally crave salty things, but these chips are so good I do crave them!

Before I left for Costco I ate my watermelon part of lunch. My pics of watermelon never do it justice! 

When I got back I was pretty full from all the samples and chips on car ride back to work (oops!), but knew I should eat now because I had a lot of work to do. I made a PB&PB on raisin Ez bread. Love it. 

Now I have to be sure to put the Food Should Taste Good chips out of my reach for my long drive home! I could do some damage with that huge Costco bag!!!!

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I didn’t eat soup for breakfast, but it’s coming stay with me here folks…

My day started with a long walk with the dogs and some egg whites plus an english muffin. Nice so far right? It gets better…
Watermelon, because I love it when I got to work mid-morning.

This was my planned lunch – a wrap with turkey and stuff.
But there was a change of plans and I had to do a business lunch. I didn’t want to go because I was looking forward to my wrap and because I’m going to be eating out ALL WEEKEND, but I had no choice.

I had a couple bites of the panini type bread and the lemon stick thingy – they weren’t good.

Now here’s where it gets good…Butternut Squash soup with cinnamon croutons. This is the best soup EVER!

It was creamy and rich without being heavy. It was amazing. Seriously, the best soup ever and I want everyone to taste it. I could eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner.

I also got a salad on the side, but that was ignored in favor of devouring the soup. I packed it up for later.
I got a little hungry around 4:30 and busted out my H2H and yogurt. This yogurt is really good. Has anyone tried it?

Now I am eating my planned lunch (wrap) and salad. They are good, but nothing will beat that soup. I kind of want to stop there on the way home for more, but I won’t not because I it’s not good for me,but because the people at the restaurant will think I’m creepy.

I’m off for my cruise tomorrow! I don’t know if I will have Internet access on the ship – if I do I will post! If not, I will see you all Monday with a recap of how I had a great time and stayed on track!

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Food Fav – Organic Morning Lite
This is a Trader Joes Cereal that has some similarities to Kashi Go Lean. It has the same fiber twigs (but these are thinner), puffed corn and rice and those tiny square pieces that I always assumed were part of the soy grits. All of this cereal is coated in a sweet honey-like glaze making it much sweeter than KGL. The individual cereal pieces are small so it is not easy (or graceful) to eat this cereal straight out of the box by the handful – although that never stops me. I prefer this cereal with soy milk more than yogurt. I like the cereals I eat with yogurt to be heartier, and more granola-y. I do feel like this is a nice treat while still being very healthy. It is pretty low in calories for a 1 cup serving – and I do appreciate that the servings are 1 cup for this cereal. Why do companies insist on making 3/4cup a serving? What is that?
The one drawback of this cereal is that it does not have as much protein as Kashi.
Overall I give it 4 chilies ,,,,

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I tried TJ“s Chocolate European Style yogurt today. It was pretty good. The consistency is thick and custardy, which is different from most name brand light yogurts that are very watery. I wanted to savor the custard-ness so I didn’t stir it. When I got to the bottom of the container I found out there is chocolate on the bottom that can be stirred up to make it even more rich. That’s what I love, chocolate under chocolate. Even without stirring it up it was sweet enough. It’s more dark chocolate bittersweet than milk chocolate sugar sweet. They are $.99 and also have a coffee flavor of some kind. The nutrition information: 5.3oz., 130 calories, 2g fat, 0g fiber, 8g protein.

I also like TJ’s Orange & Bergamot Green Tea. It is unsweetened, but still takes so good because of the added orange essence. This is best ice cold even though the label says you can enjoy it hot or cold. The nutrition information: 0 everything, no calories or fat. It does have 50% Vitamin C per 8 oz. serving. (Sorry, I forgot how much these cost.)

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