Weekly Dinner Party: A Casual Roasted Salmon Menu

This week's dinner party was a pretty informal, impromptu affair. The guests were a former colleague of mine, Lauren, and my good friends Jackie and Pierre who just moved back from Atlanta to California.

Menu: 

• Purple Haze goat cheese with crackers, nuts and dried fruit to start
• Wild caught coho salmon baked with champagne and lemon
• Kale and white beans
• Garlic sourdough bread
• Orange almond cake and coffee for dessert

I decorated the table with a blue and white tablecloth, low arrangements of white statice and vintage mint green napkins. They're all good friends, so no need to iron the tablecloth. 

Each place was set with a walking tour card for conversation with the newly returned Californians. 

I didn't prepare anything ahead for this dinner. Just got the salmon ready to bake and washed and ripped the kale. 

There's nothing better than buttery hot garlic bread. 

Guests arrived between 7:00 and 7:30 and we sat down to eat at 8:00. 

The salmon was quite a challenge to fit on a platter!

For dessert, decaf coffee and Lauren's beautiful almond citrus cake with plenty of hearty conversation.