How To Plan an Italian Theme Night - Part One

I had my first appraisal at work several weeks ago and during my chat with my boss I put forward a suggestion of starting up a monthly supper club at The Nook. She liked the idea so I set to work looking into an Italian Night.

My first point of call, as always these days, was Pinterest.
I set up a new board and searched for ideas,and inspiration, for food, drink and decorations for the event.
If you want to see my board, and things I found, follow this link
https://www.pinterest.com/cottonsandreams/italian-evening/

Next thing was to put together a menu. It needed to be simple as the kitchen is small, preparation time short and only me in the kitchen!
                                                            An Italian Evening At
                                                          The Nook On The Square

                                                  Bread, Olives and Oil On The Table
                                                        Lemon Basil Water on Table

                                                           Primo Piatto - (Starters)
                                                                 Minestrone Soup
                                                                   Caprese Salad

                                                       Secondo Piatto - (Main Course)
                                                  Italian Lamb Stew & Potato Gnocchi
                                        Chicken Marsala with Pasta or Mixed, Roasted Vegetables
                                                       Mushroom & Spinach Lasagne

                                                               Dolci - (Desserts)
                                 (Served with LEMONCELLO - an alcoholic Italian dessert drink)
                                                           Traditional Tiramisu
                                    Lemon & Lime Panna Cotta served with Berry Compote

                                                                      Caffe -
                                           Coffee served with Lemon & Almond Biscotti

                                                                   Bevanda - (Drinks)
                                                            Italian Red or White Wine

The menu was approved by my boss and the date set for October 3rd.
Next thing was to announce on social media and put flyers around the café.

 Now the day is fast approaching so next job is to go through the menu and make lists, and lots of them!!!
Lists for how many plates, glasses, cups, saucers and water jugs we need. Shopping lists, vegetable lists, recipe lists!
At this point I realised I had made a bit of a mistake with the minestrone soup and lamb stew as the ingredient list for both recipes was more or less the same. Good job it was noticed at this point!
Decision was made to add another starter for more choice. So now we also have meatballs!

Five days to go!
Follow my journey each day in my blog diary. Feel free to put forward any ideas in the comments box.
Thanks for popping by.