It's raining, on Prom Night...

Patrick, Rachel, Claire, and Joel

Last night, I had the pleasure of hosting two of my yearbook editors and their dates for a Prom night feast. I prepared a 5 course meal and while it was a lot of work, it was also a lot of fun!

Our Prom dinner began around 5:30 when the girls, their dates, their parents, and a few siblings showed up to take pictures at our house. It was crazy, but fun! (FYI: We locked the cats in the basement for the evening...)

I ordered flowers and worked all afternoon to assure that the table, the setting and the food would be just right! Mandy made the menus and the place cards! This year's Prom theme was "A Night in the Bayou" (don't ask, it's Southern Illinois...) and we played on the theme with a frog hidden in the flowers and alligator eyes on the menu and place cards.

I had hors d-oeuvres out as a starter. I made a cheese tray and a veggie plate. It wasn't too fancy but they just picked at it anyway. :) Leftovers are my friend!

Then we began the "real food".

First course: Shrimp cocktail with Mike's special homemade cocktail sauce!

Second course: Chilled Strawberry Soup (Rachel commented that it tasted like a smoothie in a bowl! I'm not sure if that is good or bad...)

Third course: Salad and rolls (generously provided by the girls' Moms)

Fourth course: Fillet (girls), Chicken Cordon Bleu (boys), garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus with cream sauce

Fifth course: Chocolate cheesecake and Lemon-raspberry souffles (No pictures of the souffles -- I was upstairs putting Bo to bed when they were served!) :(

Needless to say, I was exhausted and they were stuffed by the time the meal was over!

All I could think of all night (besides how beautiful the girls looked!) was how much fun (and stressful!) it would be to be a chef on Top Chef!!

Rachel laughing.

Btw: that's sparkling grape juice. I'm not crazy enough to give my students wine!

Claire and Joel.

Rachel, me, Mandy, and Claire.

It's hard standing next to girls that could be supermodels! Especially when you've been cooking in a hot kitchen all day! haha!