Entertaining with Wine and Cheese

I grew up in a large family.  My mother was one of 8 and my father was one 10.  Aunts,  uncles and cousins were part of our regular scene.  People were always dropping over for food, drinks and conversation. We did our share of visiting  too.  My parents always seemed extra happy when  together with family, and seeing my parents happy made me happy.  I suppose it's because of this early exposure to socializing in the home that I've grown to  love entertaining.  If  I don't host a tea, dinner, or small party regularly I feel  like something's missing, and it is -- the voices of happy people filling my rooms with smiles and sparkling conversation... filling my rooms with life!

And so, though anytime is a good time for entertaining as far as I'm concerned, with my Patrick home from college, it was the perfect time.  It was time for a party, a wine and cheese party.  By the end of December any party more ambitious was too much for me to handle, but this sort of party would be easy to pull off.  I would've liked to invite throngs of guests, but I find small parties work best for me.  They offer a sort of intimacy and they're more manageable.  My friends and relatives know if they aren't included in one party they'll be invited to another, or to a sharing tea, or to my next dinner soirée.

I set out  a selection of cheeses



and  baked some brie topped with apricots and sliced almonds.  (The brie was a big hit too, and so easy - just set it in a pan with the topping and bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes).  We put out 3 bottles of wine to start, adding more as needed.  One was a cranberry ice wine made right here  in an Ohio winery near Lake Erie.  It won a prize at a recent San Francisco wine competition.  All our guests brought more wine and soon the table was overflowing with wines of every kind.  One  cousin brought a delicious champagne and our French friends came with a  delicious French Bordeaux --  very nice indeed.  Other friends from Belgium brought an Australian wine sent to them by relatives who lived in Australia right beside that Australian winery.  How fun!

The wine flowed, the cheeses were nibbled, the candles twinkled,  and  my rooms were filled with smiles and sparkling conversation.  By the end of the evening some new friendships developed between our guests and  I was left with the  sort of satisfaction I remember having as a child  when people came to call in my parent's home.  And though my parents passed on years ago I had the distinct feeling  they were with me in spirit, especially my father, and I have a special reason for feeling his presence  which I'll explain in my next post.

So till then why not think about having some company.  Sharing doubles the joy you know.  I've sure enjoyed sharing my wine and cheese party with you and with my guests.

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Take Joy

This is the day which the Lord hath made

we will rejoice and be glad in it

With these words the psalmist greeted the dawning of a day in the spirit of new adventure.  I direct a children's church choir and here they are.

 

 The kids and I sing these words frequently as we lead our congregation in song, but I wonder how many people really give much thought to what we're all singing.  How many reflect on what the words mean?

To reflect:  to think deeply, to consider.   My "dead friend" Lord Byron said  "A  life without reflection is a sad affair".   I so agree.  That's probably why I love letter writing and blogging so much.  Writing about ideas helps me focus on them and focusing on wise and positive ideas helps me feel somewhat wise and  definitely more positive.

So what's that psalmist trying to tell us?  I think he's saying  we should be mindful that life is amazing,  a precious gift not to be taken for granted.   We shouldn't waste the day on silly things, and the  modern world is full of silly things.  Instead we should be developing  our talents and appreciations, turning them into healthy passions and  then sharing ourselves  with others any way we can.  It's only then that I think we can  feel fully alive.

Work and worry are sturdy weeds, but joy requires cultivation.  This day and every day we should rejoice in the gift of life and take full advantage of it.  Use the day to cultivate our joy and then share the joy we cultivate.  When we give good things come back to us.

What's your purpose for living?  Mine is threefold:  to try to know God, to be of service to others and to do my work with joy.  As I work at these things on this day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it.

A powerful difference in living results when we approach our days, our tasks, our loved ones and acquaintances rejoicing in them, and expecting the best of them.

Take Joy

Resolutions for the New Year

.New Years Day is coming and that means lots of us will be making New Years resolutions. One of my resolutions is to get around to my writing projects each and every day. You may have resolutions, things you want to change about your life too. Some things are hard because they're no fun, but I love writing. Still, so many things can pop up distracting me away from this work. What to do? Let's get some advice from a great American psychologist, William James.

William James, one of my "dead friends", suggests that to change one's life we must start immediately, do it flamboyantly, and make no exceptions. I'm thinking this is a good way to handle New Years resolutions too. Make the resolution and implement it immediately, adding a little snazz just for fun, to spice things up.

As I think of my resolution, writing, I reflect on the fact that most writers who amounted to anything at all saw to it that they wrote every day, no matter what. That is, after all, the way to get things done. We have to make the important things in our life a priority. Laundry can't get in the way, nor phone calls, errands, or anything else.

One of my favorite writers, Edith Wharton, created more than 50 works -- novels, short stories, poetry and non-fiction. She had to be very disciplined in order to accomplish so much work.  Consistent daily writing was part of  her secret for success. I did find it interesting though that she did most of that writing from  bed. Servants would bring in a breakfast tray each morning and there, in bed, Edith would write till noon every single day-- comfy-cozy, enjoying the morning light from her East window, she worked. (She was very particular about her bed facing East and we should be particular about the details in our rituals too.)  It goes without saying Edith's bedroom was a gorgeous setting in which to work. Mansions are like that and Edith lived in a grand mansion. I saw Edith's bedroom for myself when I was passing through western Massachusetts a few years ago. I visited her home,  The Mount, and I wouldn't mind having a Mount of my own , a few servants too, servants who could refresh my coffee and bring me treats as I worked, but this probably won't be happening soon... or ever.

Still, I could try her approach, for I have a nice enough bedroom  and a breakfast tray too, and if I'm to take William James' advice about flamboyancy, well, writing in bed till noon each day would do it.The most important thing though is to identify what would make us happy and work toward achieving those ends. Making  solid resolutions is a positive first step toward  achieving any goal, and having goals will help us make our dreams come true. You do have dreams, don't you?  I hope so.  As another "dead friend", Oscar Hammerstein II, wrote - "You've got to have a dream. If you don't have a dream how you gonna have a dream come true?"

Start backwards.  Identify your dreams and then turn those dreams into resolutions. Once the resolutions are created begin working at them immediately and add a little flamboyance just for fun. Finally, once you plot your course, make no exceptions.

Let's do it!

We can check in with each other a year from now to celebrate our success. Deal? Deal!

Dinner Time

Home again and it's time to make dinner. Luckily, I love to cook! Tonight I'll be making skillet-roasted chicken breasts with lavender and red wine butter sauce. I got the recipe from a book purchased last Summer in Napa Valley. The book is called 100 Main Dishes to Enjoy with Wines You Love. It's written by Jill Silverman Hough. The dish is paired with merlot wine. Luckily I grew lavender in my herb garden last Summer so I actually had some dried lavender blossoms on hand. Along with this main dish I'll be making wild rice with mushrooms. This recipe comes from another of my new cookbooks, This book purchased at the Williams Sonoma store in Union Square, San Francisco is called San Francisco Entertains.  It's a cookbook celebrating the centennial of the Junior League of San Francisco. Whenever I'm off on vacation I love to collect cookbooks of the region and as I prepare their recipes I have the feeling I'm back in those fun places. Besides, the food is yummy.

If the new recipes are good they get copied and placed in my tested recipe notebooks. Every week I create a menu using 90% new recipes, but 10% tested recipes. My system keeps daily meals interesting and when it's time to entertain I have a wealth of tested recipes ready to serve to my guests.

We have to eat so why not make mealtime and cooking an adventure in experimentation and fine dining? Get yourself a chef's coat, hat, and a few good cookbooks. Dig out the bowls, copper pots and frying pans. ( I got an iron frying pan for Christmas that must weigh at least 10 pounds. I needed it for tonight's chicken recipe that started on the stove but ended up in the oven.) Set a lovely table with candles and linen. Julia Child will be proud of you and so will your family when you serve them meals fit for a king, queen, prince or princess You'll be proud of yourself too and you'll have a lot of fun.. Cooking is an art, a delicious art. Don't you want to be an artist? Aren't you hungry? I am.

Day at the coffee shop

Here I am in my favorite coffee shop, a Caribou in downtown Hudson, Ohio, on a very snowy, blustery day.  I could be home , snug as a bug in my home library, with my pink fuzzy slippers on and a fire blazing in the fireplace, but some things  pulled  me here as they often do —   One of those things is really a person – my wonderful son Patrick, home from UCLA on Winter break.  The other thing is an idea, the idea of solitude and society experienced simultaneously.  Lord Byron, one of my “dead friends”,  first mentioned solitude and society to me.  He said only in letter writing do we have solitude and society simultaneously,  but  he was only half right.   Though it does exist every time I write a letter, I guess Byron never popped into his neighborhood coffee shop to work on his poetry.  If  he had he would know  solitude and society exist in a coffee shop too.  Patrick and I share a table, but we are lost in our own work.  And there’s more.  There’s the possibility  of running into friends, and strangers too, chance meetings  which can make our day.

A  little while ago I experienced one of those meetings.  I noticed a fellow at the next table who looked familiar.  He was actually sitting with  two women, one was a lady I knew, a mother of two of my former piano students.  Could this fellow really be one of the handsome male singers in the group Straight No Chaser?  No.  What are the chances?  But I did hear him mention singing,  and a little later I heard him mention Indiana and I knew the singer who he looked so much like was truly from Indiana.  Well, I couldn’t stand the mystery so I  approached  him and sure enough, he was who I thought he was.  So fun!  And because I carry a camera with me at all times, ( you never know when a picture wants to be taken)  well, here we are:

Ryan Ahhlwardt, his wife who happened to be my former piano student, my son, and little ole me.  What a very nice fellow he was  and what a nice conversation we had.  Running into these people really made my day.  If I stayed home in my fuzzy slippers I’d have had the solitude, but not the society, and society is fun!  Here at the coffee shop I have it all – society, solitude, letter writing and of course, coffee.

Have you enjoyed any or all of these pleasures today?  Well, it’s not too late.  Seize the day and enjoy!