Chinese New Year dinner party

Where have the last couple of weeks gone? Life has been bright around here – solo steps being taken (the little one), a new job started, friends seen, projects organised, muffins baked, a new game…

So I thought I’d pop by today to share a quick project I did on Saturday morning. We had invited friends over for a Chinese new year dinner party. I visited the oriental food shop in our town for the first time and it was the loveliest experience, the lady was so friendly and helpful. We served duck and pancakes for starters, followed by slow cooker Honey Sesame Chicken, and then finished up with some sweet nibbles from the shop, mainly picked up because I thought it would be fun to get people to guess their names and what was in them – “Peanut Dainties” and “Green Tea Mochi”.

Each course was followed by a quick (sometimes tenuously) Chinese themed game. It was so lovely to squeeze eight of us around the table and spend the evening enjoying ourselves. Something to build on if I remember my one little word!

To make it a Dinner Party rather than just a dinner, I put out some candles, napkins and these place cards. I already had the cards from a family gathering last year, and used my new watercolours to do some little pictures on each one. It took about an hour to do all eight, and some people took theirs home (no higher compliment!), so I just had these five left to photograph this morning. It was such a fun little project, and I am filled with respect for the people who did the originals – after a few failed attempts at replicating these I decided plants were easier than fish!