If you’ve lost the habit of entertaining people at home, liberate yourself from perfection in the kitchen with ‘scruffy hospitality’
mail newsletters aren’t really my thing. I’m overwhelmed enough by the thought of all I desperately want, and need, to read - I was going to say before I die, but let us not be too melodramatic - without adding to the pile. But I do like to see Oliver Burkeman’sland in my inbox every month, a missive that has been known to work on me as a cool palm might work on a fevered brow.
Like most people, entertaining-wise, I’ve struggled to get back into the groove post-lockdowns. Having lost the habit of having friends over, even the idea of doing so is exhausting now: the planning, the shopping, the cooking. Sometimes, I get as far as drawing up a list of names, and looking in my diary for a date. But like icing that refuses to set, things never get … concrete. Thoughts whirl, as if in a food processor.
It prioritises people and jokes, warmth and connection, over performance and whatever it is you usually serve with drinks . It is impulsive, reflexive and generous, and in the end it will make everyone very happy, and no one more so than you, the host. To sum up: don’t worry if things aren’t perfect. The best is the enemy of the good. You are not starring inSomething about this advice hit home for me, and in recent days I’ve acted on it more than once.
Now I’ve started this, I can’t stop. Or at any rate, I don’t feel like stopping. I’m dying to see people – ‘What about tonight? Is tonight good?’ – and I’m hell bent on making sure that, when I do, things are pared down. Yesterday, for instance, I was looking through a new favourite cookbook,by Debora Robertson, in search of ideas for something chic to give people with drinks . A recipe appeared before me for gruyere and anchovy puffs, which sounded right up my strasse, until I realised. Sigh.
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