I'm not sure we make good guests at a dinner party

Recently we went for dinner with friends from the village. It was quite simply the best meal I have ever eaten at a dinner party. Our hostess I now know is an amazing cook, her husband very attentive, especially when it comes to ensuring your glass is never empty. To top this they were great fun, and didn't seem to mind when some of us got rather loud and silly.

To start we had a choice of
Hot Garlic Prawns with Chilli Lime Mayo or Homemade Pate.
I went for the prawns, the chilli lime mayo was something I then dreamed of eating for the next two weeks. So much so I'll be making it tonight for a kitchen supper we're having with old friends. I also tasted the pate which was smooth and packed full of flavour. Absolutely spot on.

The main course was Rack of Lamb, served with Roasted Veggies and a Red-Hot Sweet Potato Gratin. All delicious! Also I'm not normally a fan of sweet potato but this changed my mind.

We were then given a choice of pudding and being the greedy pig that I am I needed to have some of each : Baked cheesecake with butterscotch sauce, followed by Chocolate Meringue with Cherries... Both of them superb!

EDIT: I forgot the cheese board.... silly me...

It was a raucous evening, which saw my husband drink champage, red wine, dessert wine, port and several B52's...You can imagine what a joy he was the following day. Don't get me wrong I drank my fair share but I think I've learned my limit, it's been hard and it took a LOT of practice but I got there in the end. (Quickly crosses fingers and hopes she doesn't let herself down anytime soon.)

I spent days dreaming about the food and eventually begged our lovely hostess for the recipes. Not only is she an amazing cook, she's also very gracious. I'll be repeating two of the things we ate this evening:

The Red-Hot Sweet Potato Gratin can be found here at Times online.
The Hot Garlic Prawns with Chlli Lime Mayo can be found here at All About You, though I'll probably only make the mayo as I plan to serve it with something else, I have prawns in reserve in case I change my mind, which wouldn't be unusual.

If you're entertaining and don't know what to cook, these two things alone would ensure your guests speak kindly of you afterwards... Do a good job with the other stuff and they'll be day dreaming for weeks...

Thanks C & N, we had a top evening and it really was the best food I've ever eaten at a dinner party!