Success!

Well, the first You Pick Two is in the books. And based on the response of the guests and my partner, it was a resounding success. That’s not to say everything went perfectly—one of our cats managed to get on the counter and threaten a bowl of dip at one point—but my nerves about entertaining strangers were completely unnecessary. Our guests were not only fantastic people, but they seemed to enjoy themselves. For this post, I wanted to give some background on our guests and why we asked them to come.

Our dining space.

When we approached our friends Amanda and Jeff to be the first guests, we did so knowing that they love great food and good company. Amanda worked on Capitol Hill before attending law school with my partner and then becoming a successful big firm lawyer. Jeff has worked in the information technology field for such venerable establishments as the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and good ol’AOL (back when it was flourishing). They have a large network of contacts and friends in the area. So that connectivity, combined with their love of great food and wine, made them our first choice to “pick two” people we did not know to join us at our table.

And they did not disappoint. Their “pick twos” turned out to be a congressman, Patrick McHenry, and his wife, Giulia. Amanda works with Giulia at her law firm, where she consults as an expert economist for their telecom issues. Patrick, in a twist of fate, is a congressman that represents the part of North Carolina where my partner grew up and where his entire immediate family still lives. It’s a fairly conservative corner of the world that includes a portion of Charlotte’s suburbs and extends to the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. I was a little nervous because I thought Patrick would adhere to a much more conservative ideology than I, but ideology was completely irrelevant as the night unfolded.

In fact, in some ways, I found that I had more in common with Patrick and Giulia than I do with some of my friends here in DC. They have had very similar life experiences, have traveled extensively, have enjoyed remodeling their homes, and have worked to maintain lives outside their professions (much like my partner and I). They also face similar challenges in getting family members to fully accept their relationship, which is never good to hear, but I can certainly relate to that.

Amanda and Jeff lounge after dinner with our dog Buck (blue tick coonhound) and their dog Charlotte (lemon hound).

But what about the food? How did it turn out? Judging by the response of everyone, all courses were successful. There was very little food leftover and my game plan left me with plenty of time to talk and socialize with the guests. A couple unexpected items cropped up, but they ended up not being significant—I will speak to those when I get to the recipes for each course over the next few weeks. I will post every few days since there is a decent amount to get through and show you (I took lots of photos). But I was thrilled that the concept was solid, everyone enjoyed themselves, and I didn’t feel completely burned out at the end of it. I can’t wait until the next one.