<p>MilkandSugar-Are our mother’s related? My mother will have 5 different appetizers, 2 main course, because there is always someone that doesn’t eat one of the dishes, 2-3 vegetables, and at least 3 desserts. How can I compete with that menu!</p>
<p>We tend to grill when company is over and everyone enjoys that. Like VeryHappy, I don’t entertain at home like I did before kids and I would like to get in the habit again. It is so much more relaxing than going to a restaurant with friends (and cheaper!) We did it for New Years Eve and had such a good time.</p>
<p>snowball, we might be. It is tough when the standard is so high, but then again my mom didn’t work until I was 16 and then only worked partime for about 6 yrs.
I have worked fulltime for past 30 years.</p>
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<p>Someone once told me that she likes to invite standing room only types so that people are forced to mingle and talk with drinks and a lot of finger foods, not sit down, sets the table up with plates, food, drinks, not too many chairs around. It works for her.</p>
<p>VeryHappy–I made that my new years’ resolution, too! (invite people over for casual dinners, stop worrying that the house is not decorated in a fancy fashion or that I cook something ‘cool.’). I just took the plunge and invited a couple w/children over who invited us several times (delaying on the reciprocation). Plus I invited a bunch of hub’s friends over for ‘sometime’ in Feb.</p>
<p>Hence…would love those app recipes, North Minnesota!! The make your own pizzas sounded very fun also.</p>
<p>Does anyone ever play a board game when adults come over? Would that be totally nerdy?</p>
<p>Here’s to less stress & more social fun in the new year! :-)</p>
<p>Maineparent, I’d say the most important criteria in not being scared to host is having easy going friends who will be appreciative, regardless of what you do. And then just plunge in. Having food cooked ahead of time is essential in my book. Chili, crock pot stews, casseroles. I learned to not do pasta unless baked or anything requiring last minute preparation, as I’d rather spend time with guests. Which is why I hate Thanksgiving turkey-too much last minute pulling things together. </p>
<p>We have singing parties around here-the standard invitation is to bring a drink or snack to share, and then we sing from a book called Rise Up Singing. Lots of friends are guitar players and the like. I make a nice dessert, and sometimes have the fixings for hot buttered rum. Games are good alternative-Gestures and Scatagories are good for a crowd, and sometimes all ages. This is far easier than dinner and great for these long winter nights.</p>
<p>Those are great tips, great lakes mom. Mainemom hit it—just have to figure out how not to be hesitant to host.</p>
<p>Milk&sugar & snowball—I had the opposite situation. My parents rarely entertained & then my mom (casual housekeeper) would run around yelling at us to clean up. I don’t remember what she cooked. And, I find I tend to do that (pre-guest stressing). She & my dad married late, so they were just as happy sitting home watching the kids play as having folks over.</p>
<p>I’d like to get into more of an entertaining routine. It can be fun! We all can do it differently than mom & dad did! :-)</p>
<p>We have friends who give regular game parties - they make them desserts only and start a little later. Certainly is easier.</p>
<p>For years my sister in law did parties where the menus was two soups, fresh bread and salad. She also figured out that for her - as long as she vacuumed and had fresh flowers she could feel party ready.</p>
<p>Our friends often want to bring things to a party with the result that I can really get away with cooking less. I’ve learned I can often skip, desserts and salads because someone (or a few someones) want to bring them. I marinated (in a store bought citrus marinade) grilled chicken on sticks for the last party. They disappeared faster than the beef tenderloin and cost a fraction as much. </p>
<p>A good chili or stew is easy and people really like them. Real garlic bread is also good and easy.</p>
<p>You could go 70’s and make a bunch of different kinds of quiche.</p>
<p>The other saving grace in winter is low lights and candles to avoid visible ‘imperfections’ in housekeeping. Not that we have those issues in my house of course.</p>
<p>Lasagna is a favorite fall back. The one made with turkey sausage in one of the Barefoot Contessa books is quite good. I like to make my own pasta to make it special (not hard if you have the pasta roller), but that’s just me!</p>
<p>I used to have extended family over in December for Minestrone and good bread. </p>
<p>Beef burgundy and other savory stew-like dishes are all make-ahead dinners.</p>
<p>I absolutely love to entertain at my home. In fact, I’m in the midst of starting to plan a 30-person party for the end of this month. I’d be glad to list how I do it, but it would probably bore many lol</p>
<p>I rarely cook my own foods though unless it was a smaller affair which only happens a few times a year.</p>
<p>We do a lot of afternoon and dinner entertaining at home with friends and family and for us the trick to making it easy is to have everyone pitch in on the food. We always take care of the entrees and have our guests take care of side dishes, desserts and salad. We keep a good supply of dishwasher safe plastic dinnerware on hand and use heavy duty throw away paper table cloths.</p>
<p>For food choices, we range from wraps and hoagies from the local hoagie shop, to BBQ to home made lasagna. The lasagna is always the favorite. I make the gravy myself from scratch and use 3 cheeses. The prep time for the lasagna is about 1-1/2 hrs from gravy pot to oven and I assemble the lasagna with the pasta uncooked and let it cook in the oven. I throw it in a half hour before the guest arrive which then frees me up to socialize as it cooks on its own. My only problem is that I taught my self to make it when I was in college and my entire dorm floor would have monthly “pasta pig outs” so I tend to go overboard and make batches for 30 - 40 people regardless of the size of our party! Makes for lots of great left overs.</p>
<p>This thread makes entertaining sound so manageable! Love the idea of casual suppers as most of our friends lean toward casual evenings rather than more formal affairs.</p>
<p>If I stayed away from my grandmother’s china (not dishwasher-safe, her wedding china circa 1905) and sterling, everything goes in the DW and cleanup is pretty simple. </p>
<p>MichaelNKat, want to share the recipe for your lasagna?? Sounds great!</p>
<p>ScottZ,
I would love your prep list for your 30 person party…</p>
<p>I can only confess that logically I know I can entertain, but emotionally, I always feel hesitant. For me, my standards are too high… my H always acts like a guest… and my house is too small. But, as evidenced from even participating in this thread, I remain an optimist and I believe I can overcome this “fear” and that I will get a grip and get organized so I can entertain more readily. </p>
<p>My girlfriends laugh and ask me if I am a closet caterer at times…I have so many different sets of dishes and all sorts of platters and serving pieces…I also know that one of my “faults” is that I always try and cook/serve too much… that alone is one of the things I notice with my girlfriends who do this easily…I have 5 cooked appetizers, they put out pretzels with mustard… I have 3 desserts, they have 1… perhaps it is because I am a picky eater myself, that I always overcompensate? For better or worse, I know that I am the limiting factor… maybe that is why it is easier to rally and entertain for a purpose, takes the focus off of us and highlights the positive event etc? </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for sharing and the empathy … I do know the recipes that I have always had the most luck with are ones I copy from others… or take from Cooks Illustrated…or Fine Cooking…those last two help me understand why certain approaches or techniques are the best…so then I find it easier to repeat, because it makes sense? vs all those great “intuitive” chefs… one of the best cooks I know can “taste” a recipe when she reads it… she knows if it will be good or not… I do not have that ability…</p>
<p>maineparent, I do share your pain. I would love to entertain more, there are my own high expectations, but yes my house is too small, it is hard to enlist the help of hubby, even though he would be willing, but I have to make appointments with him, not very spontaneous.LOL And we both work fulltime, so sometimes we just like our alone time and a visit to our favorite restaurant. I guess it would be nice to have someone do this all for me…</p>
<p>I second the “Barefoot Contessa”–she has a great cookbook with simple, few-ingredient recipes which are great for entertaining.</p>
<p>One of our empty nester goals is to entertain more, which we used to do, and we also are lowering our standards. When DH and I first married, he was a very good cook and I didn’t know anything about cooking–but he was incapable of getting everything ready at the same time!</p>
<p>Slowly, I took over the scheduling of different items, then I did the “prep” (cutting, washing, chopping) and finally I started cooking from recipes and he slowly became the consultant.</p>
<p>When we entertained before kids, we would literally spend all day Saturday cooking and preparing for our Sat night dinner guests–and everything had to be from Julia Childs or similar. Now our standards are MUCH lower–but we both still have a tendency to get over-ambitious.</p>
<p>Maineparent, I find that people are thrilled just to be invited to dinner–if they’re your friends, they don’t look at everything so critically–and if there are people that WOULD look so critically at your efforts–DON’T INVITE THEM!</p>
<p>maineparent…These are some random things from my notes and other various memories. Sorry about the length.</p>
<p>First thing I do is decide on the type of party I want and about how many guests I will invite. This is important because the more guests there are, the longer planning I will need. I will the start to write down a first draft of the sequence of events from beginning to end. </p>
<p>With an estimated date and approx. number of guests, I sit down and work on a theme. I have a lot of liberty here. It could drawn from a favorite color, piece of art, painting, movie, song, book, etc. For this party, I choose the theme “Love Story.”</p>
<p>With a theme in place, I now work on a color pallet. This will affect table fabrics, runners, plates, goblets, centerpieces, flowers, candles, even the card stock and ink used on the invitations.</p>
<p>At this point I start to sketch out a table setting and general d</p>
<p>In case you didn’t notice, ScottZ, the OP asked about EASY ENTERTAINING!!! Personally, after reading your post, I feel the need to lie down and take a nap!</p>
<p>ScottZ, yeah, my original post was about easy entertaining, so I’m not likely to go quite as far as you. But one thing you hinted at was finding an “occasion” to use as an excuse for a party. I have one friend who always has a party on Halloween and on New Years Eve; another friend who always has a Super Bowl party. I guess I need to look for an “occasion,” like Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Day (not likely), or – I don’t know – the first day of spring?!</p>
:-)</p>