Now that summer is practically here, it seems like everyone in Minnesota is coming out of hibernation and getting outside after a very long winter being stuck indoors. We put our stamped concrete patio in late last summer, so we’re dying to put it to good use this year. It’s amazing how much bigger our house feels when we have an outdoor space that we love.
For the longest time after college, the idea of entertaining sent me into a tizzy, feeling like I had to cook a gourmet meal every time we had friends over. Consequently, I avoided having people over very often because it was so time consuming and stressful! But after Joe and I got married, my extrovert hubby pushed me to entertain more and more frequently, having friends over for dinner, drinks, the NFL draft and for the BCS championship and any matter of other small events. Getting into a regular rhythm of having people over forced me to find a way to entertain without breaking the bank or losing my mind.
I’m still working on setting a beautiful, casual table. That’s something my mom currently helps me with to a great degree. Perhaps she should do a guest post sometime soon? But I do feel pretty comfortable having people over regularly without going crazy. In fact, I have actually grown to enjoy it.
Last weekend we had our friends Ben and Jen over on Sunday night for wine and snacks on the patio. I’ve found that having people over on Sunday night is one of my favorite things because it seems to prolong the weekend a little bit, giving me something to look forward to on Sunday night rather than just thinking about how sad I am that the weekend is over and has gone by so fast.
I didn’t really plan much in advance, but my mom and I did pick up a few items at Whole Foods on Sunday afternoon. The following was included in our spread:
1. 1 bottle of red wine from our wine rack
2. A couple different beers we had in our fridge for the guys
3. “Edamame Caviar” purchased from the Whole Foods deli section (must recreate at home!)
4. Two types of cheese (one hard, one soft; served at room temperature for best flavor)
5. Grapes (cut into small clusters for easy eating)
6. Roasted, salted almonds
7. Chips and crackers (a mix of crackers and blue corn tortilla chips)
It was the perfect combination of sweet, salty and hearty foods that also served as a light dinner. And although we used small white plates from Pier 1, you could make clean-up even easier by keeping a stash of pretty disposable plates on hand. There is nothing nicer than throwing the plates away at the end of a night when you just don’t feel like washing dishes, is there?
How do you like to entertain? Are you comfortable entertaining casually and more frequently? Or do you prefer to do one big party every now and again?
Madison