Back in March, we had the Viaggio crew to dinner, and while it went well, our dining room was feeling a bit cramped.
After the dinner, Ann had an idea: move the dining room table to the living room/kitchen and convert the dining room to a wine room. It's certainly an unusual idea, but I like having the dining table in the same room with the kitchen and some comfortable space in what used to be the dining room. "Not the worst idea I have ever heard," I believe I said.
It was a bit more complicated that this, requiring relocating our morning coffee space upstairs to the TV room and creating a coffee station upstairs in the laundry room. I moved the wine cabinet from the former dining room to the TV space in the former living room in preparation for building more wine storage into the new wine room. I will finish that over the next few weeks. Then I reoriented the chandelier (once over the dining room table) to accomodate a seating area.
Before I could build and install the wine racks, we had a functional enough space that we invited Rob and Dyce over to christen it with Champagne, charcuterie, bread, and butter. This is my kind of dinner: one that I do not have to cook.
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| Lardo on Crostini |
While I was out picking up charcuterie, I had them slice some lardo as a surprise for everyone. Hint: if you do not like lardo, you probably will not fit in well here. Dyce had texted Ann earlier in the day saying he was bringing a surprise. When he arrived, he pulled out a tiny packet of—you guessed it—more lardo! The more the merrier and great minds think alike.
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| Three Types of Beurre de Baratte (Churn) Damn, the French Put a Lot of Salt in Their Butter! |
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| Mortadella is a Must! |
