By Chuck Martin
Enquirer staff writer

Sarah and Rob Schroeder prepare vegetable quesadillas in their Cheviot kitchen. Photos by CRAIG RUTTLE/The Enquirer

Their light dinner included black bean taco salad, quesadillas and black bean salsa.

Despite all we put them through, Rob and Sarah Schroeder are still cooking - for themselves and others. They're the Cheviot newlyweds we followed for four months last year, as they learned basic cooking skills from chef Meg Galvin, an instructor at Cincinnati State's Midwest Culinary Institute.

Our "Countdown to Dinner Party" series ended with the Schroeders hosting a four-course meal in November for family and friends - without help from the chef.

Rob and Sarah remember the dinner party as a little stressful - something they won't try again for a while - but still a "fun adventure."

Since November, they've had guests for dinner more than half a dozen times. And they have cooked several of the menu items again - the roasted red pepper soup and apple tart with cider-bourbon sauce - but not the more labor-intensive chicken roulade, stuffed with spinach, gruyere and herbs.

So a year after getting married and beginning their cooking lessons, we asked Rob and Sarah to prepare a simple meal for us.

While we ate, they talked about the joys of home entertaining, sharing kitchen chores and marriage.

Did your notoriety from being in the newspaper cause any problems? Did you feel any extra pressure when cooking for guests?

THE MENU

For our simple weeknight meal, Rob and Sarah Schroeder prepared the following dishes. Recipes came from their favorite food magazine, Cooking Light. • Black Bean Taco Salad with Lime Vinaigrette • Corn and Sun-Dried Tomato Quesadillas with Smoked Mozzarella • Black Bean Salsa • Chocolate Chunk Bread Pudding • Dinner recipes • The newlyweds' tips for novices

Sarah: Our friends would joke about it, and we still run into people who ask: So when are you going to cook for us?

Rob: Yeah, it's funny how some people jokingly invite themselves over.

What did you learn from the dinner party experience?

Sarah: After the dinner party, I think we've decided 10 people is too many for us to have over at one time So we're having four or six people over instead.

Rob: I think one of the other lessons we learned is we need to cook something we can prepare and distribute in a timely fashion.

Sarah: You can use a lot of ingredients, but you don't need as many steps (to make it) ... Once people get here, I don't like to be in the kitchen at all. I think that was the hardest part of the dinner party: Not getting really to visit with people until it was almost over ... I also learned that things should look pretty when you bring them to the table. And that no matter what you make, if it looks pretty and you make it look fancy, people tend to think you've spent more time on it than you have.

Is it true that Sarah still does most of the cooking?

Rob: Cooking isn't necessarily my favorite thing. Typically, it works best, I've found, if I just take direction from her as to what to do (laughs) ... She's really a good cook. She makes it look really easy. Everything is really difficult for me - even if I have the recipe.

Sarah: We do like to cook together when we have time.

So can I tell Meg (Galvin, the chef) you're using some of those skills she taught you?

Sarah: I'll tell you what. I use those knife skills almost every day.

Rob: So do I. We make salads and stuff every day where we use the knife skills.

Sarah: I also use some of the tips she taught us at the grocery store for buying vegetables.

So how's marriage?

Rob: It's great. The first year flew by. We're having a good time. What do you think, Sweetie? Marriage all right for you?

Sarah: (From the kitchen.) Marriage rocks.

E-mail cmartin@enquirer.com