Book Club Dinner Party

Up to 2 Months Before

• Bake Triple-Chocolate Cake; freeze cooled and unglazed cake tightly covered.
• Make Bread Machine Pumpernickel Bread; completely cool, wrap tightly and freeze.

The Day Before

• Remove cake from freezer; glaze completely thawed cake.
• Remove bread from freezer.
• Toast almonds for Brie with Almonds.

The Morning Of

• Make Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing; store in refrigerator. Prepare romaine, onion and pomegranate seeds for salad; refrigerate tightly covered in separate containers.
• Prepare fruit; refrigerate.

 About 2 Hours Before Serving

• Make Burgundy Beef.

 Just Before Guests Arrive

• Broil cheese for Brie with Almonds; make nut topping and spoon over cheese.

Just Before Serving Dinner

• Toss salad.

• Create bookmarks with the date of your first book club meeting, the charter members and the first book read and discussed, and place them at each place setting.
• Arrange a book collection in the center of the table, and embellish with ribbons, stringed baubles and beads or votive candles.
• Ask guests to come prepared to talk about a favorite book or to make a suggestion for a good read for the club.
• Fold dinner napkins in the shape of a book, and slip a bookmark into the napkin for a take-home treasure.
• Set a tiny book at each place setting for a take-home memento.