Bueno Festo

Anybody else love the Olive Garden?  My friends and I used to make weekly trips there in high school for bread sticks, salad, and pasta galore.  Although I don't go often (or really at all...sad) anymore, every time I eat Italian food I can't help but sing their fun little birthday jingle in my head...do you know it too?  Please tell me you do!
Anyhow the point of all this is that this weekend I hosted my own Italian feast of sorts.  My parents had their housewarming party Saturday night and my family from Florida was kind enough to come in town for it.  They were still here Sunday night, so we had everyone over to our humble abode.  Usually when I'm cooking for a big crowd (this was 12 people), we opt for the cookout route, but I'm a little over that quite frankly (and am going to be doing it in just over a week for our big Gender Reveal party).  I was worried about serving pasta in such hot weather, so I purposely chose pretty light dishes.  Everything was homemade, but only took a little bit of work really!  The whole meal turned out pretty delish (if I do say so myself...actually, everyone said so, and I have to assume they were telling me the truth!).
Here's the menu breakdown:

Appetizer

Sorpressata and Asiago Baguettes

Sides

Roquefort Pear Salad

Garlic Bread

Pastas

Brie Pasta

Pasta Ponzo

Four Cheese Pasta with Chicken

Dessert

Chocolate Eclair

***Sorry for the terrible pictures...I was so busy socializing/eating I totally forgot to snap some pictures until clean up time!***

I share our menu with you in case you are in search of an Italian dinner party (or a recipe for a party for one!) yourself.  I linked to the recipes I've already shared, but would be happy to share any others if you are interested.  Feel free to leave me a comment or shoot me an email: vbhousewife@gmail.com.