I just hosted my first Underground Dinner Party! Sounds so illicit doesn’t it? Bootleg whiskey and gangsters (more on them later) is what comes to mind when I think underground.  But that wasn’t really the case at all!

This Underground Dinner Party was hosted by Foods From Chile, and took place in five cities across the United State at the same time. Along with my little soiree in Pasadena, there were other dinners in Los Angeles, as well as New York, Washington DC, Miami and Chicago. The best part was getting to invite some of my blogger friends to enjoy some of the fantastic foods grown by the Chilean people.

Jackie from Domestic Fits, Greg from Sippity Sup, Chef Louise from Geez Louise, Lana of Bibberche, Cathy the ShowFood Chef and Allison, who has one of the coolest new food porn sites Fridgg came to enjoy the food. And last but certainly not least Phu Son Nguyen, Allison’s boyfriend, who tirelessly took incredible photographs of the entire party.

I love this picture of Greg because he has a glass of wine in one hand and a spoon in the other. Why? Because he’s a food blogger! We do that kind of thing! And no, I am not wearing shoes.  I am not a big shoe wearer at home, even when I am hosting a party!

I love Allison’s smile. So open and beautiful. She is a gem. Unless she is flashing gang signs. . .

That’s actually Cathy flashing the gang signs, the Fridgg gang that is!  If you love to look at pictures of food, which I assume you do since you read food blogs, head over to Fridgg. You’ll find lots of food porn over there!

Chile is located at the bottom of South America, in the Southern Hemisphere. While we are enjoying our winters here in North America, Chile is experiencing their summer. That is why they are able to import fresh summer fruits and vegetables, so we can enjoy them year round.  Our dinners featured fresh raspberries, clementines, blueberries, cherries, avocados, almonds, walnuts and Chilean olive oil.  All these items are now being harvested in Chile.  The salmon fillets I cooked for dinner were flown overnight from Chile right to my doorstep. Talk about fresh!

The Endive Salad, made by my sous chef for the evening, Chef Louise, was so pretty, with endive leaves filled with fresh clementine pieces, raspberries, Chilean goat cheese and micro kale. It was then drizzled with Chilean olive oil.

That’s Chef Louise serving her lovely salad to Lana and Cathy below.

The Chilled Avocado Soup was one of the favorite dishes of the evening.  Avocados are always in my fridge, though I usually just slice, salt and eat them. Now, I will be making this chilled soup with them.

The fresh fruit salsa was colorful and bright with flavor, the perfect compliment to the rich salmon.

The salmon was served on top of the black rice, which made for a beautiful presentation! Almond accented bread crumbs covered the intense pinkness of the salmon covering the intense blackness of the rice. And it was good.

My guests enjoyed Chilean wines along with their dinners.  I am a casual kind of hostess, so I made the dinner buffet style, instead of a formal sit down dinner. Everyone served themselves, and we ate, drank and were merry as could be!

See the lovely lady in the cool skirt above? That’s my friend Michelle, who I have known since we were 12. We met a music camp, were I played violin and she played clarinet. Yes, I embrace my geekiness, and wear my nerdette hat proudly! She doesn’t write a food blog, but is a very talented interior designer. Next to Michelle, in the lovely rose blouse is Jackie, who has this recipe for candied bacon on her blog that makes me cry tears of joy. Seriously.

We even had entertainment during dinner. She isn’t exactly Alicia Keys, but my baby girl played a piano composition for us! She was so proud of herself when she heard the applause! She even took a bow!

We enjoyed our sweetly juicy Cherry Berry Crisp along with more Chilean wine and conversation. The good people at Food From Chile provided my guests with lovely parting gifts stuffed with Chilean goodies, including wine, olive oil and Chilean Merken spice.

A good time was had by all, though that could have been all the Chilean wine.

If you would like the recipe for the Avocado Soup, Endive Salad or Cherry Berry Crisp, please visit the Foods From Chile website.  I’ll give you the salmon recipe in my next blog post, so stay tuned!