the entertaining posts

How about a theme week?

Are you up for it?

Fresh from a wonderful weekend filled with some of our favourite friends,

and one which we were at their houses, not ours,

my thoughts today are all about entertaining.

Of course, the company always makes or breaks the evening,

but I love to go over to a friends home and try out a new gem of a recipe,

or enjoy an old favourite,

to relax, inevitably, around the kitchen table,

and catch up over a bottle of wine...

It makes our family happy to have our home filled with the laughter of those we love,

and so we have company almost every weekend.

I think that D and I tend to be attracted to people who, like ourselves, are very relaxed about entertaining.

Are you the same?

Even at holidays, while the table may be a bit more spiffy,

the atmosphere in our home is always one of relax, eat (I am half-italian, after all!), and be merry.

It's all about the food and the company.

That said :) I'd like to know how you all entertain.

This week I am going to open discussions about what type of kitchen you prefer, where you entertain in your home, what's on your table, the cocktail area,

and entertaining with children, and see where you stand.

Sound good?

Let's start with the kitchen.

Are you an open kitchen or closed kitchen sort?

Do you choose to serve food that can be prepared in advance and left to roast away in the oven,

 while you are off somewhere else?

Or too you chop merrily away while chatting with your guests?

I tend to do quite a lot of prep ahead of time, and always try to have some appetizers ready to go,

but no matter who comes over, we always settle in at our kitchen table,

or if the kids have claimed that space,

our dining room table, which is also open to the kitchen.

The country style kitchen, with the table literally at the centre of it all,

is the most intimate type of dining.

As a bit of a klutz, I love an open kitchen, but one where the cooking are is clearly delineated,

so that you don't end up with major traffic while you whirl around with pots of boiling water

and enormous, sharp knives.

And in smaller spaces, the galley kitchen is perfection.

and of course, somewhere comfortable to sit is an absolute must - entrer dans la banquette.

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Now let's hear about your kitchens -

do you spend a lot of time there when you have company?

What do you love about your space?

What would you change?