I'm cooking dinner for 8-10 people tonight and this is the menu →[More:]I'm so glad after the weeks of absolute hassel at work to finally get into the kitchen for the whole day. It's not a traditional set up, (3 courses and coffee) but then not much about my life is. Guests 2 English, 2 Irish, 1 German, 1 Russian, 1 spaniard, and a couple of mongrels, Gerish I guess you could call them. 2 vegetarians in the mix to make things more interesting.
Starters (some on tables when they come in)
Antipasti, flavoured olives, marinated feta, chorizo, youghert mezze (three types, tzatziki, one with sour cherries and walnuts, and almond and raisin) with ciabatta bread (I have to cut corners somwhere!) The mezze will go onto the table for later if its not finished.
Round 2: Spicey Irish Stew (don't laugh it really works!), small portions cos second part of this is small bowls of lentil and chorizo soup.
Round three: Conejo al ajillio (I won't translate to spare the feelings of many people on this site)
Thyme, oregano & citrus roasted chicken,
grilled Aubergines with mint,
Slow roasted mediterranean veg with labneh & zhug.
Shirin Polo (sp? sweet Persian wedding rice dish)
Pan of rosemary and garlic roast potatoes (this turns out so much better since I watched Heston Blumenthals BBC series on the basics)
Dessert will be bought cos I don't have enough time to make something up but with the coffee I have some amazing homemade chocolate from Italy (90%) with cinnamon.
They'll bring the wines so it'll be pot luck but they know it's mostly strongly flavoured med & North african so I'll be interested to see what they come up with

I've managed to set up the laptop in the kitchen so if any of you have tips, tricks, suggestions let me know!
I'm just going to step out and buy the last few ingredients....