Purely Random

The more people that end up being invited to a dinner party, the less manageable that party becomes. It’s inevitable: as you invite more people, the amount of food required grows. Even the variety of food required expands as guests with what I’ll call “limited flavor tolerances” become involved. The result: lots of running around doing prep work and trying to please too many different people instead of bringing a close group of friends together for an enjoyable meal. I’m guilty of these sins, and they must stop.

Last night, I hosted an event that should have been amazing for everyone. Instead, it was decent for everybody and not really worth it for me. I was inspired to make Grilled Split Kielbasa Reubens based on a recipe I saw on the Food Network earlier in the week. Much of what I tend to cook doesn’t have a wide appeal: it’s often vegetarian or involves strange ingredients that don’t generate much enthusiasm among my friends. I had a feeling the kielbasa Reubens would would be better accepted, and I was right. As a result, I had too many people over and delivered a mediocre event to a large group of people. Live and learn.

The event wasn’t a total wash, and I’m just a little wiser after pondering the outcome. From now on, my dinner parties will better target precisely those people who ought to come: the ones who are thrilled to be invited, will be enamored by the planned dish, and (most importantly) will contribute to the goodness of the evening. Stated differently, they will be gracious and sociable. The next time I plan to host an event, I need to carefully consider these qualities and assemble a good group. Then I need to work with that group to schedule a time when they can all participate. There will be no more mass broadcasts and probabilistic attendee lists.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 at 6:29 pm and is filed under Ongoings, Realizations, Cuisine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.