Dinner for Seven

Tonight at 7pm, dinner for 7, us included. Audrey arrived last week for her 12 day stay with us. She is amazingly helpful in all manner of things, quick runs to the store to get last minute loaves of bread and the all-important potatoes, vacuuming the guest room where she is staying, general straightening out of the mess that this house becomes after such an event as tonight. We have Will and Dawn, a Scottish couple who real really DO owe a dinner, it's been two years! The last trip over the pond we didn't accomplish the deed for some reason or the other and barely had any formal dinners for either ex-pats or our French friends. This time has been different and we have had 4 dinners so far but no French friends, tonight that all changes, the French are coming, the french are coming! I'm cooking a braised pork roast with apricot/onion coolis, carrots with orange and thyme, roast potatoes as the main course. The pork roast has been marinating in onion, salt, sugar and white white since 1 am last night. It will be braised in the marinade with the addition of apricot conserve, it'll take about 2 hrs to get up to 150 degrees (my current target temp for French pork) then I'll let it rest for about 20 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute. this won't be much of a problem as the thing is braising anyway. Kelly is doing a compressa of fresh (our own!) tomatos, buffalo mozerella, and parma ham as a first. The wine will be a white, Poully Fume. Cheese course of french cheeses, a blue, a hard cheese and a goat and another white wine a Quincy (fabulous local white). A green salad with olive oil and basalmic vinegar followed by desert, Peach ice cream with sliced peaches. Liquorosas to follow from our amazing liquor cabinet (the talk of Lignieres we hear!)(Oh those Americans!)