By Adam Stewart
From the Newsroom
This weekend’s snowy weather was enough to set back my wife and my social plans, but not stop them entirely. But first, let’s start from the beginning.
It started maybe a year or more ago. Michelle likes to go on treasure hunts at thrift and antique stores, and during one excursion, she found a handmade glazed ceramic salsa dish that she just had to give a good home. It was a great find: well made, cute, and at a great price.
The only question was, “What will we use it for?” When it’s just us, we serve salsa right out of the jar, so the dish is the sort of thing we would save for dinner parties. Good news, though, we like hosting. Our large dining room was a major selling point when we found our house.
I knew right away what the right dinner would be to use it for: carnitas. We like eating them, and I enjoy making them, but the recipe I have takes long enough and makes so much that it’s best for when we have company.
And over the rest of the year, Michelle found other stuff for the table that paired really well. A smaller, pepper-shaped dish, so we could serve red and green salsas. Yellow, Fiesta-adjacent ramekins, colorful placemats. But we were still missing the biggest piece of the puzzle: a set of plates, a platter, and serving bowls for side dishes. Michelle knew she wanted cobalt blue Fiestaware, but modern pieces rather than vintage.
She took her time looking, because it wasn’t urgent. We didn’t have a party on the calendar to use it.
But the breakthrough came when neither of us was looking. We were spending Christmas at my sister-in-law’s home in Minnesota. Almost offhandedly, my sister-in-law told Michelle that she had some of their grandmothers’ dishes that her family never used and asked whether Michelle wanted them. In fact, they were exactly what Michelle had in mind. So the morning of Dec. 26, we went to the local big box store to get some medium-size boxes and bubble wrap to bring the dishes home.
About a week later we had a date set and invitations to some friends for carnitas at our house on Saturday, Jan. 24. So of course we woke up to snow on Saturday. Folks had to cancel because of road conditions, but we were flexible and rescheduled for Sunday evening.
In hindsight, the extra day worked out well for us. It gave me time to recover from shoveling the sidewalk and let us take our time finishing the dinner. The pork was already braising in the oven when we pushed the dinner back, and that’s the time-consuming part of the recipe.
We were able to time things so the first pan of carnitas were coming out from under the broiler right as our first guests arrived.
It was a really nice evening. I was happy with how the dinner turned out, and some folks who hadn’t met before learned about connections they have and opportunities they may find to work together. Things didn’t run very late, since it was a Sunday night and all, but it was still time well spent.
All because we let a $4 salsa dish inspire us to start making plans. You don’t have to have a great big special occasion to spend time with friends. Any reason to share a meal with people is a good one.
Adam Stewart is the assistant news editor of The Hutchinson Tribune. He can be reached at adam@hutchtribune.com.