OK, so I need to admit that I’m a bit of a nana (my significant other for Christmas because it’s pretty much my life story), but hosting a dinner party at home is one of my favourite things to do – and not just because I’d rather lounge around in my giraffe onesie than go out.
Here’s why inviting the same friendly folk you’d normally go out with over to your place instead could be the start of something beautiful.
Dinner tastes so much better with a bit of homemade love sprinkled on top.
If love was packaged, it would definitely look like hundreds and thousands on speed. Unfortunately, the addition of so much pink to anything home-cooked has the likelihood of killing off all deliciousness, in much the same way that Weetbix and tomato sauce just do not go together.
But the fact that you’ve made the effort to put together something from scratch will give your favourite people so many warm fuzzies they won’t know what to do with them. Yes, footing the bill at a flash restaurant could also prove your undying love and admiration, but there’s just something about presenting a dish you made with your own phalanges to the people you heart.
Inviting pals over to eat will keep your piggy bank topped up.
It’s a fact* that eating at home will save you at least triple the amount you’d spend going out, especially if alcohol features on the menu too. If you’re really tight, ask everyone to bring a plate. The camaraderie created by plonking a whole lot of food in the centre of a room and your guests dive-bombing it with their forks is a sight to behold (and an action that would get you booted out of a nice restaurant anyway).
You will look like a flash guy.
Once upon a time my brother bought me a Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook. It looks pretty flash. Jerusalem is a beautifully-bound book filled with simple hearty fresh Israeli dishes that make me drool just reading them. Plus it makes me look like I’m a dab hand in the kitchen. I’m a great believer of faking it ‘til you make it.
So when I invited some pals over for dinner I thought it would be criminal if I didn’t at least attempt something that looked far flasher than the effort required to prepare it. Introducing: roasted potatoes with caramel and prunes. It’s definitely not the most complicated dish, but it produced the perfect combination of sweet and savoury. When I served it alongside Watties baby beans with Meadowlea butter and Pams sliced almonds on top … Yep, I looked totes flash.
Home-cooked dinners equal Cards Against Humanity for afters.
If you invite people over for dinner, you need to provide after-dinner entertainment. It’s a rule. Fear not, though; we’re not talking tacky Come Dine with Me-esque ego-stroking here; think something that’s going to get more raucous the more vino that’s consumed, and will leave you all wanting to high five and/or hug it out afterwards.
Great game options include Articulate, Cranium and of course Cards Against Humanity for those who love a solid dose of vulgarity. If ensuing hilarity is interrupted by banging on the walls from your neighbours’ side, you know you’d get a 10 out of 10 if your guests were keeping score.
There’s so much choice that I’d rather just not.
Auckland is filled to overflowing with hip-with-the-kids eateries, and just about every other day another opens to rave reviews. That’s awesome, but I’ve never been able to make a solid decision between Wendy’s and KFC, let alone actual restaurants. When the ability to choose one good dining destination out of a billion becomes impossible because they’re actually all so good, just come to my house where you’ll eat what you’re served up, thank you very much.
*Yeah, it’s not a fact.
Love this!