August Dinner Party
(with guest food blogger Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack!)
Having dinner with friends more often is something we all want to do!
What we fear: I have to clean the house, cook a stellar meal, and make everything perfect.
What it can be: the house is “clean enough,” peeps can wear loungewear and flip-flops, and nothing is perfect, but we have a great time. I like to call that California-casual!
Once a month, paid subscribers receive a dinner party playbook with recipes, conversation-starting questions, and even a music playlist.
Hosting a casual dinner party just became super-duper easy!
Hello and welcome! If you like tacos, kimchi, seasonal produce, and bright flavors, you’re in the right place. For those who are new, I’m Betty, a food writer, recipe developer, home cook, and Southern California gal.
Every Friday in this newsletter, I help you plan meals with California Cuisine recipes to inspire you, no matter where you live in the world. California is the most ethnically diverse state in the U.S. and is home to many peeps from Asia, South America, and the Mediterranean. The cuisine here reflects that and is a beautiful mash-up of flavors!
Other places to find me: my food blog, podcast, YouTube, and Instagram.
Want to close your eyes for a moment? I read the post to you in the audio link above.
2 Cooks 1 Table
Welcome to the table! Because I am a fan of so many talented food writers (and I know you are too!), each monthly dinner party includes recipes from a guest cook.
This month, I’m super excited to be collaborating with Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack!
She is a long-time, award-winning food blogger, Emmy-winning producer, three-time cookbook author, and home cook. Yvette has been sharing Mexican food recipes and family stories on her blog Muy Bueno for 15 years.
And have you heard the big news? She is working on her fourth cookbook!
Yvette’s newsletter, Cocina to Career, is where she pulls back the curtain on building a career in the food world and gives a behind-the-scenes look. This is where she gets real with readers, and it is one of my favorite Substack newsletters!
You saw several of her deliciously authentic recipes earlier this month in the August Menu Plan.
Learn more about Yvette, her mission to preserve family heritage through recipes, her Mexican food expertise, and where she finds her recipe inspiration in the podcast interview I did with her, linked below.
Yvette and I had fun coming up with today’s dinner party plan!
In this month’s menu, you’ll find Yvette’s ooey-gooey fundido cheese dip plus her beautiful grilled shrimp and corn dinner salad. My contributions include chips and fruit salsa for dessert and a low-alcohol cocktail. You are going to love this summertime menu!
Don’t feel like making every recipe? Make it a community effort by having guests prepare and bring one (or more) of the dishes. As the saying goes, many hands make light work!
**If you are already a Paid Subscriber to Yvette’s newsletter, Cocina to Career, I am happy to comp you a one-month paid subscription to my newsletter so you can also enjoy this dinner party menu. Please send me a DM through Substack or email me at bettyeatz@substack.com, and I will take care of it!
Spotify Playlist
And of course I’ve put together a playlist for you! In line with today’s menu items, this one is two hours of Latin-influenced tunes that you can enjoy while prepping dinner or as guests arrive. It will get you and your guests dancing, for sure! I love the free version of Spotify for all my playlists.
Conversation Starters
Usually, no one is at a loss for words when it’s a gathering with good friends. But! It is fun to throw out a question or two, either before the meal or as dessert is served.
A few questions that Yvette and I thought would spark some fun conversation:
The rest of today’s post is for paid subscribers. You know I’m fond of you all, but once a month, I treat my paid subscribers to a post that is just for them. Won’t you join us?
Paid Subscribers have access to live cooking classes (including my Kimchi workshop next week!), a new menu plan each month, and a monthly dinner party playbook like today’s. See the complete list of goodies in my Premium Content Library.
