Dinner party on a hot day

I invited some people over for dinner tomorrow night - there'll be 10 at the table- and now the weather forecast says highs in the 90s.

But I think the menu will hold up; the plan is a pea shoot (or sugarsnap peas) & mint risotto to start, then Picnic Chicken from Cook's Illustrated - it has a spice rub, and then is roasted but served at room temperature, so I can cook it early in the day when it's cooler, with a big salad (as Elaine on Seinfeld says) with a Patricia Wells bistro, mustard-y vinaigrette and crispy prosciutto and croutons, and rolls - I have some wheat ones in the freezer, and a batch of Patricia Wells' slow-rise, flaxseed & sesame bread rising in the fridge (although I discovered that I had finally thrown out all the more-than-10-year-old flaxseeds I had bought because I liked the recipe so much the first time I made it in 1994 ... it uses a whole half cup ... so I put in a King Arthur Flour multi-grain mix, with flaxseed & cracked wheat & millet). And then do it yourself berry dessert, with meringues and berries and amaretti and pastry cream and whipped cream.

And I might make those dates that I never made for Alane's buffet, for starters, because I could make them a little earlier when it cooler, too.

These peas in the picture are from an Australian recipe for risotto with peas, with 3 TBLS of butter to the amount of rice where the Simon Hopkinson recipe I have been planning to use uses 2 sticks ... I may opt for richness, it's a party.