Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Move over Martha



I love to entertain. That is one area where I truly feel that I have my game on. Our house is always open to drop-ins, the kettle is never cold and I am generally up for making tea or a latte. But give me some warning, even an hour and you can be enjoying your latte with an amazing slice of Banana bread, recipe compliments of Bill Granger. More notice and this is where I get ramped up. Come for dinner, honestly the whole idea for me is just exhilarating.

I really enjoy cooking, I follow Chef Heidi Fink, smittenkitchen and 101cookbooks.com. I own nearly 101 cookbooks!!! I love the inspiration I get from all these sources. I am not super great at following recipes, not much a stickler for measuring. Savoury is more my forte than baking (mainly due to my lack of measuring, baking really is a science). The funny thing is, it's the day to day cooking where I seriously want to just go back to bed and hope there really is a kitchen fairy who will whip up something delicious and nutritious that everyone will eat, and then of course, clean up the kitchen too.

I guess dinner parties, the people are alot more open to eating what you serve. Is it because they are adults or just other people who are looking at me like I am the kitchen fairy? I don't really care, it is just so great to have someone truly appreciate what you have just served. Don't get me wrong, I know my family is grateful for me cooking for them. Even if it does mean pizza every friday, three sisters burritos, pasta, wraps or one of the other 6 staple menus I rotate week after week. It definitely cuts my shopping time down, I just buy the same thing week in and week out. I could almost autopilot myself around the grocery store.

Today was great, we had some out of town friends coming by for coffee, I baked banana bread. We invited them to stay for lunch. My kitchen ROCKS! I seriously love it. It has the perfect combo of country comfort and good appliances. It has the most wonderful feel, it is so welcoming and relaxed, it truly is the heart of our home. I do feel at ease there, I just breeze around, peeling, slicing, blending, roasting, sauteing and on and on. I love to eat, perhaps that is it. And I love to feed people. So if they are willing to eat, I will get creative.


Later, I spent my afternoon preparing for some friends to come for dinner. I made my little pies, lentils and vegetables in filo pastry. I grilled asparagus, roasted potatoes and made a very delicious kale salad with avacado dressing. I made some oriental eggplant dip but forgot it in the fridge, until I was cleaning up after dinner. After dinner we ate some divine chocolate brownies that my friend had made, we cleared the table and played spoons with our children.

It was such a great evening, I just couldn't see myself going to bed, I stayed up and watched a movie by myself. I know I will regret the lack of sleep tomorrow, but I just felt I was too excited after such a great evening of food and friends.

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