I love having friends over and celebrating, particularly after a long week. For this party I had two reasons to celebrate; my partner of 20 years was turning 44, and after an exhausting week of 12-hour workdays, neither of us had seen any of our friends. Being that it was Stuart’s birthday gave us all the more reason to have some fun.

Every year the scenario is the same: Stuart says he doesn’t want a party and that it’s like any other day. Of course I always insisted on doing a “little” something, and this year we compromised by settling on 16 friends for a seated dinner. Any more and it becomes a production and we’d need to rent chairs, an extra table, extra cloths, etc., etc., etc. The list goes on and on, and since our table only holds 16, 16 it was. Just by chance, most of our friends happened to be out of town on vacation that weekend. It worked out perfectly; we kept it to 16 and no one was left out. What a relief!

The table looked exceptionally fabulous; two stainless steel square dining tables were pushed side-by-side into one rectangle and then boxed in with white linens. A few flashlights placed underneath the tables created a glamorous light box effect that seemed to make the table float. The table was anchored with geometric glass vases stuffed abundantly with green and white parrot tulips, and to that was added a variety of glass spheres punctuated with dozens of lime green votives. At each place setting was a square white charger, a green linen napkin stiffly starched, an olive green water goblet, and Riedel white and red wine tumblers. Guests’ names written on fresh limes let them know who was seated where, balanced the energy at the table, and also avoided last-minute confusion when it was time to sit down.

Invitation time was 9:00 pm, a little later than usual so I’d have time to come home from work and get ready without feeling rushed. Delicious chilled flutes of iced vintage Veuve Clicquot Champagne made their way around the room. We did some quick catching up and before the last drop was down, the smell of chili and prawns coming from the kitchen got us quickly seated for dinner. After several oohs and aahs over how gorgeous the table looked, the wine was poured and dinner began. It was a short list of Stuart’s favorite Cape Malay cuisine; an ethnic style of South African cooking inspired by the Dutch, Indian, and Portuguese kitchens. The combination of flavors is quite unique, and lucky as I was growing up in South Africa, we enjoy Cape Malay cuisine often.

Never one to be shy, I made the first toast followed by Stuart’s heartwarming welcome. Everyone was clearly very happy and dinner was in full swing by the time our first course of Mozambiquan chicken wings with a crispy okra salad made it to the table. The wings are made from a spicy peri-peri chili grown in Mozambique, and although fiery hot with a strong initial zap on the tongue, peri-peri doesn’t have a long after bite, and when splashed with lemon juice, cuts the burn immediately. The next course of curried lamb samoosas is definitely a staple in our house, but I reinterpreted it with a Vietnamese twist by wrapping each samoosa in a lettuce cup along with a sprig of cilantro and a generous amount chili sauce. For the main course, we enjoyed a lamb potjie [stew] with basmati rice topped with toasted almond slivers. Taking it completely over the top, and to finish our meal on a sweet note, I served chocolate pot au crème with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream, and to anyone that still had room, I offered cup cakes baked by a friend.

What made the evening so special was a combination of so many things; it was not only the beautiful table and delicious food, but more so our special group of friends who love and adore one another, the relaxed environment of being in our own home, and a celebration of life made all the more meaningful by our all being together honoring someone important in our lives and letting him know he’s the rock-star of the day!

Life is about memories and moments. Seize them all, one at a time, and celebrate with gusto.