Dinner at our House!

Dinner at our house. I love saying these words. Especially for an informal get-together and friendly dinner. In addition to using guests as an excuse for having wine and dessert, I really get something out of having someone over for dinner. This is one of the few things I do in life where I enjoy what I am doing, feel like a socially functional person, and we are giving someone something they like – almost everyone likes home cooked food, especially relatively simple food. I get great jot from very informal entertaining.

We had a friend over on Friday and the MIL over tonight. I made hot winter borsht and mix brownies last night, enough for both nights, and bought a loaf of French sourdough bread from Whole Foods. Great sour dough bread is one advantage of living in Northern California. It almost balances the disadvantage of having to share our state with Southern California, well maybe sourdough and the Sierras together make a fair trade. The redwoods and north coast are a bonus.

It’s pretty easy for us to have small informal dinners, possibly because I’m around the house a lot during the days and I love to cook, especially soup. I tend to grill the summer, since it’s too hot to enjoy cooking indoors in these parts. Sacramento definitely has a short soup and baking season. We are already getting showered with azalea and camellia blooms, just as oranges and lemons are disappearing from trees.

I love making dinner for guests. I think that’s the only area where I reach true total woman/Betty Crocker status.

That’s the truth and I’m sticking to it.