Greetings and Happy Tuesday everyone! Today is kind of my "Monday" as I took yesterday off as a study day. Don't be jealous, though. I spent 6 hours studying for the CFA so it wasn't exactly a day of leisure... I did fit in a movie night with Phil, though, so at least it ended on fun note!
On Saturday night, I had a little dinner party at my place. It had been well over a year since I had friends over for dinner and I really wanted one last hurrah at my place before the big move ahead of me. At the end of the night, we got to talking about what kind of hosts we are, mostly as it pertained to our approach to doing dishes, so I thought it would be a fun post topic to talk about the kind of host I am/have become over the years!
I'm the kind of host...
- that fails to take pictures of what I made to share because I get too caught up in getting everything on the table.
- that prefers to serve things that can be mostly made ahead of time - like the lasagna that I served on Saturday. I had assembled it and froze it ahead of time so that I would just have to bake it that night.
- that is totally ok with having people bring things to share instead of taking on the whole meal on my own. On Saturday, I provided the appetizer (olive tapenade, assorted olives, crackers, and cheese), the main dish (lasagna), and the dessert (baked apples with a rum sauce + vanilla ice cream). My guests brought wine/beer, salad, bread, and the rum for the dessert sauce as I didn't have any rum!
- that has to do the dishes when the meal is over. In other words, I am not a soaker. I know that this is not optimal host behavior because it sort of takes me out of the hub of conversations, etc, but I just can't handle having dirty dishes piled up on my counter or a dirty lasagna pan soaking in my sink. Luckily my condo has an open floor plan so I can still be part of the conversations.
It was kind of bittersweet to gather in my condo one last time. I know there will be dinner parties in the future as I do really think I will move back eventually, but I am not sure how soon that will happen, so I tried to savor the time as much as possible on Saturday night.
Do you enjoy hosting dinners? What kind of dinner host are you? I LOVE having people over for dinner, I just don't do it as often as I would like!
21 comments:
I know you are a wonderful hostess! I always forget the pictures too!
This is a journey, and your journey will surely lead you back to where you love!
So glad you had a fun dinner party! I'm the kind of host that does not pre-make things (that's really smart actually), and the kind of host who can leave dishes sitting. (I'm a "deal with it later" kind of person). Ha!
First off, I would love your olive tapenade recipe :)
Second, I am defn a "leave the dishes soak" host----though I wish I wasn't!!!!
I think it's great you hosted a dinner party before the big move! And lasagna was a good choice :) Always a crowd pleaser!!!!
It sounds like a fun night and a delicious meal! Eric and I often use paper plates if we are having people over haha so we do the dishes immediately too but it's not enough to take us out of the conversation for more than five minutes... Haha clearly we are not the classiest people. We are having friends over tonight for turkey tacos!
I love hosting and I am learning to let the dishes just sit in the sick until everyone leaves. I always time my dinners wrong and have them ready too soon, but its a process and I am learning.
How many questions will be on your test? I am in awe of how much you study! I will be taking my RN nursing boards at the end of the year and I hope I have your drive. Right now, I am just ready to be done with school!
I just cannot let dishes sit. Cannot. The minute I finish eating I want to jump up and clean them!
I know where you got the "dirty dishes in the sink" practice! I just can't stand to leave dirty dishes, expecially overnight! And that came from my Mom, so it just passes down the pike! Sounds like you had a lovely evening! What movie did you see last night? Glad you had a good study day!
I don't host very many dinner parties. Just holiday meals! We're definitely the kind of family that cleans up and gets dishes taken care of right away. I think it's a good ritual!
I love hosting dinners and used to do it a lot in the previous places I lived. So far here I've mainly hosted brunches, but I hope that starts to change in the next year or so.
Sweets and I have an ongoing battle over cleaning up immediately versus soaking. And it's not just with guests. He prefers to soak all our pots and pans, even though, HELLO, THEY'RE NON-STICK and rarely need to soak. It drives me crazy. Long story short, I wind up doing the hand-washed dishes 75% of the time and the other 25% of the time, I'm breathing down his neck to just get it done! =)
I approve of food that is easy to make on the day of! When I have friends over for dinner, we usually make a whole event out of it and cook all together, because that's just half the fun of girls' nights. But I can definitely see myself having dinners a lot like yours when I move out on my own and have more people over!
I love to host as well! I'm with you, I can't stand to let dishes sit/soak. (You probably noticed this last October/September!) I tend to bite off more than i can chew and make everything myself, but I do love it when people bring things to share, as well. If people don't ask, though, I'll do it myself.
Ah, your party sounds fun! I love the idea of prepping the meal ahead of time and I think guests like bringing something to feel like they're helping out.
I think we're pretty much the same kind of host! And that people have fun at our parties and so do we!
I love hosting dinner parties, or parties of any kind!! I'm the kind of host who doesn't like guest to help in the kitchen ... or at all!
I love hosting as well. However, I can let dishes pile up. Bonus points if others offer to do them. ;) I like making everything or having trustworthy people bring some items. I will always let people bring dessert as I hate to bake.
Oh my, I haven't had people over for dinner in... forever.
I think we are mostly the same kind of host! I had girls night at home last Sunday and guess what we had? Lasagna! I provided appetizers, Lasagna, wine and Salad; the guests brought beers and snacks! It worked out great. I also have to do the dishes (and clean up) right away. I also always send my guests home with a little mini meal for their lunch the next day!
I've never had a dinner party, but I really want to. It's the type of thing my parents used to do when I was growing up. They actually belong to a gourmet group of 12 families, where each month they would have a dinner at someones house. The host would be responsible for the main dish, and setting a theme, where the others would bring side dishes. Definitely a tradition I'd love to pull off someday.
I wish we had friends over for dinner more often as well! I do really enjoy hosting we just don't ever do it enough.
I'm the kind of host that prefers to do a potluck type of thing rather than taking care of the whole meal. I'm also the kind of host who prefers to host people in the summer so we can grill and eat on the deck. I'm working on being the kind of host who doesn't need to clean up immediately and I'm getting better at letting things soak without bothering me - though it still needs to be cleaned up before I go to bed!
Glad your dinner party went so well!
Post a Comment