Dr. Phil Does Italy

Our Great 8 dinner date was quickly approaching and for the first time my husband Tim and I were lost as to what our theme should be. The goal is to try and create a unique theme, something that has never been done before. After 17 years of incredibly creative dinners this is quite a feat! But then one day we were watching the Dr. Phil show and the theme came to mind!

Since one of our couples, Debbie and Phil, was going to Italy to celebrate Phil's milestone birthday, the thought came to us that we should center our theme around our friend’s birthday (Phil is a dentist) and the theme was created "Dr. Phil Does Italy"!

Next we had to create the invitation. For us this is always the fun part! After a lengthy discussion Tim and I thought it would be funny for us to superimpose our friend's face onto Dr. Phil's from the TV show using Photoshop. With the help of our son Daniel, we enlarged a photo containing our Phil's face and the details of the event and mounted it on foam board to create the appearance of a flat screen TV. The foam board remote control separately displayed the menu. This invitation was so much fun to do and we knew that Phil would get a kick out of it!

Planning the menu was easy. There are so many incredible Italian dishes to choose from but we wanted to surprise Phil with his favorites. Since we also wanted it to be a surprise for his wife, Debbie, we consulted with their daughter, Bela, who gave us some insight into Phil’s favorite Italian foods: assorted charcuterie meats and cheeses, homemade Focaccia, Arugula Salad with a light vinaigrette, Linguine con Vongole (Linguine and Clams), and Tiramisu.

I assigned the bread to Debbie, she is the resident bread expert; the salad to Kyle, and Anna was given the dessert to bring. That left the appetizers and the main course for me. The appetizers in this case were easy since I just had to make a trip to our local Italian grocery for the various meats and cheeses and olives.

The sauce for the clams was prepped ahead of time and I added the clams just before serving to cook and open, this takes about 5-10 minutes depending on the size and quantity of clams.

The decor for the table was a simple and casual Italian setting with grapes, breadsticks, lots of candles and the classic red and white checkered tablecloth. I made the place cards out of wine corks making a slit for the name card. All of these items were readily available and not expensive. Arrivederci!