Dinner for 17

…and 33 weeks pregnant!

Last night we successfully hosted a dinner for 17 at our place.  Henry did his team meeting locally so we decided it would be a nice touch to have everyone over to our place for dinner.  The best part about this idea was that Henry had each region (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and so on) prepare a favorite dish of theirs.  What this meant is that everyone sent us their lists of ingredients and all we had to do was the shopping – brilliant!

It was a beautiful night (in the high 50s) so we were able to open the house up and use all of our balcony space as well.  We had a babysitter for the boys and they were excellent with all the ‘strangers’ being in their house.

The Belgiums prepared the appetizers which consisted of roasted parma ham, melon, and pineapple to pick on.  Along with this they made a puff pastry stuffed with smoked salmon – which was AMAZING!  I was a little upset when we had to buy the smoked salmon, but after I saw that it was being cooked I was delighted!  One of the US guys that lives here in Lausanne, his wife brought over guacamole which was awesome as well for a starter.  For our main dish we had salmon, grilled pancetta wrapped chicken, rice made with coconut milk and a medley of vegetables – most was made by Damien who is from Bordeaux, France.  For dessert the Germans made what looked like an apple funnel cake, and it as well was heavenly.  Another one of the guys who lives here now but is from Paris brought all the wines and the US guys supplied the beer.

It was such a great night and by the time they left at 9pm, they had my kitchen cleaned up, trash taken out and you almost couldn’t tell we had 17 people wandering throughout our house!

Here are a few photos that we captured during the night:

Thomas helping one of the Belgium’s chose a beer

The newest member of Henry’s team who are relocating from Arizona

Playing puzzles with the Belgiums

The entire group

So excited for Rachel to move over here

More of the team

The clean up crew

And yes…today I’m 33 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty well!  Sleep has been a little difficult for me lately, but I blame the fact that my body is just preparing for what’s ahead.  I have a doctor’s appointment this Friday so stay tuned for more details!