The other day, my friend Jillian asked if I wanted to co-host a girls-only dinner party. I would provide the venue and dessert, and she would provide the dinner. How could I say no? Jillian is an amazing cook who prides herself on presentation as well. Look at how divine these dishes look! They were yummy, too, of course.

Jillian's mostly vegetarian meal for our girls-only dinner party.

With some guests being vegetarian, Jillian came up with two of the three dishes to be friendly to the vegetarians. This would be a challenge for me, since we mostly eat meat dishes, but Jillian handled it like a pro. She made an heirloom tomato tart on puff pastry, paella (rice dish) with roasted peppers and, for us meaties, lemony shrimp ceviche. Jealous yet? If anyone is interested in the recipes, let me know and I can post them. That is, if Jillian wants to reveal her magic to the world wide web.

I didn’t want to be so selfish that I would just eat dinner and leave my guests without sweet after-dinner sustenance. Having been on another ice cream-making kick – must be the heat wave we just had – I made strawberry ice cream and handmade edible cups. The thing is, something must have been wrong with the cone recipe I followed, since they never really hardened. They still tasted great, so I just put them in little dessert cups that I had around the house.

Homemade strawberry ice cream with an unsuccessful edible cup. Edible yes, strong enough to hold the ice cream on its own? No.

It was a fun night to hang out with the girls. We ended up watching a silly movie – Legally Blonde, if you must know – and then ended the night laughing at YouTube videos. Some of our favorites: Total Eclipse of the Heart, the literal version, the sleep running dog and dramatic hamster.

All in all, a fun and relaxing time with the girls. What’s your go-to dinner party dish?