At a large conference in DC and had invited a few I knew were attending to a small dinner. After a night at Minibar (highly recommend) I took a few hours, went shopping and combined it with a few things I brought.
Started with trying to blend into the decor at the small apt I had rented (airbnb) and made a veggie and earth/gribiche dip to sit on top of the glass coffee table for when they arrived. They were hesitant at first then dug in. Next I had brought some fresh pasta and made unripe espellete romesco ravioli. The main was a bit of a mishmash (pun intended). Had one vegetarian, so I ended up using portabello mushrooms and everything requiring a stock was cooked with a veg stock I brought (made it easier). Ended up with sauteed salsify, salsify puree, pommes puree, truffled celery root envise (used parchment) and puree, mushroom puree topped with beetroot mushroom quinoa and mushroom infused seared watermelon and rib-eye with red wine glaze. For desert, I bought some waffle cookies and made a gelato sandwich using the caramelized banana/hazelnut praline gelato I brought (no pic). The salad, watermelon and gelato sandwiches were the biggest surprises apparently, but all seemed well accepted.
