Hospitality

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Here at the cottage we are committed to hospitality. We do not practice it as we should, but we do enjoy it.

My husband loves to have people over and has asked that we do this as much as possible. So Saturday, we had a couple over that both work with him. They do not have children living at home any longer, so we wondered whether our kids would seem too chaotic for them, however this was not the case.

We all had a delightful time, the wife even had a ride on our horse! Our youngest girl, is very outgoing and I think she made it her special responsibility to make sure the wife was entertained. She talked to her and showed her everything, gave her kitties to hold...

When planning my menu for the evening, I wondered if I should plan something fancy or more simple. I decided I would make something that I had made many times, but is unusual and delicious. This way, I wouldn't be stressing over the food.

Here is what I served:

Kedougou Chicken (poulet yassa)

Sweet Corn (off the cob)

French Bread

Trifle

Homemade Ice Cream

The Kedougou Chicken recipe comes from Senegal West Africa where my husband grew up. His parents were missionaries there and his sister got this recipe from a woman who had a restaurant in the small town of Kedougou. His sister lived there when she and her family were serving as missionaries there. I don't have the exact amounts for everything anymore, as I have made this recipe so many times.

Here are the directions:

Make a marinade of vinegar, dijon mustard, oil, garlic, beef boullion, salt, pepper and sliced onions. Place chicken in marinade for at least 1 hour.

Remove the onions and sautee them in a small amount of oil, add chicken to brown it, the pour in the marinade. Turn the temp down place a tight fitting lid on pan and cook 1 hour.

You serve this over rice, I use long grain brown rice.

This dish is delicious and our guests loved it!

I was very proud of our children as well, who did not demand all the attention, participated in the conversation at the table, were polite and respectful. The girls, with out being told, cleared the table and cleaned up, quietly and efficiently. The weather was lovely, so we sat out on the deck until dark.

We definately need to do this more often!