Luncheon

What is it about old people being excellent hosts?

Last weekend I went to a luncheon with my parents, husband and Shorty at my Great Aunt & Uncles house, and it was most excellent.

She made stroganoff over rice, baked sweet carrots, lime jell-o with half pears in the bottom, fresh rolls, and candied fruit bread for the meal. Not the most fancy of meals, but for a simple lunch, this was tops. Then the dessert was a choice of two different kinds of from-scratch cakes, warmed, and with ice cream. She even had candles going on the table. The thing is, I never heard a pan rattle, I never even saw her in the kitchen, it's almost like the meal cooked itself. I want to know how she pulled that off. I want to be like that. Every time I have people for a meal, people notice that I am cooking and come in and check on me.

This is what I suspect happens: I think she waits till her husband has the group of visitors entranced with an old war story, then she ever so sneakily slips into the kitchen for a couple of minutes so that she isn't missed, and slips back into her chair before we notice she was even gone. Another thing she did was have the table set, and the candles lit before anyone arrived, so there wasn't this mad dash to get the table set as the food was ready. That's just smart.

All in all, she was the best hostess I have ever seen. It was just the smoothest entertaining. And she did it with grace. I have to practice so I can pull something like that off, because that was just great.