DW Community Catch-up Thread
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I love cooking and I love hosting! I’m actually planning my birthday party this year (won’t be until early December because my birthday is on Thanksgiving) and I’m planning a charcuterie board along with several dips: spinach artichoke, bean dip, pizza dip, maybe buffalo chicken dip if I feel up to making it. Maybe also deviled eggs – also a pain in the butt but a real crowd-pleaser. Then a fruit/veggie tray as well. Last year I was in the hospital for my 40th birthday (ugh) so this year is going to be better and I get to turn 40 a second time. I almost died last year so I am making that a ruling. I want my year back!
I love a cheese board when I’m hosting (and when I’m a guest), and make really good ones.
For sit-down meals, I like build-your-own tacos, baked chicken tenders and pasta salad, a cold noodle salad, a nice soup and good bread, or bagels and lox or an egg bake for brunch.
I don’t have a go-to for sit-down meals or potluck dishes, but I’m also someone who varies what I/we make or bring seasonally and it may vary by crowd. Some of our friends and fam are vegetarian or vegan and I’m happy to accommodate.
My mom has been in town for several days and over the weekend we had her over for dinner. We made a flatbread with pesto, grilled peaches, tomato, burrata, arugula, and a drizzle of olive oil and hot honey. And a kale, apple, and walnut salad. And I made cocktails. So good!
@Wendy, a cheese/charcuterie + a delicious soup + bread would be such a lovely meal! I wasn’t a big soup person as a kid, but now I effing love it.
I have The Publican’s first cookbook and I’ve made their mussels when a vegetarian friend came over. Who doesn’t love sopping up the broth (it’s beer-based with some shallots, butter and celery) with a good baguette?!? My sis does the walking taco bar for her kids b-days. It’s fun. And my mom started doing a baked potato bar for our Christmas Eve lunch.
Oh, and if anyone is looking to use up some end of the season tomatoes, this recipe is so, so easy and so, so good. https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/08/angel-hair-pasta-with-raw-tomato-sauce/
The key is getting really good tomatoes so I recommend only when they’re in season. I also substitute w/ spaghetti or linguini because I don’t like angel hair.
I made it last night.
That looks so good ktfran! We have a ton of cherry tomatoes. Maybe we can roughly chop them instead of grating.
Everything sounds so good! Loooove grilled peaches. I like the idea of entertaining but get “stressed” about timing dishes. But I like the make your own stuff and stuff you do before like cheese boards
Oh that recipe looks really good @ktfran! I love tomatoes but really flavorful ones are hard to find in Colorado. Being from Arkansas I do miss really good tomatoes.
The new site feels new and refreshing! So glad to hear about the uptick in visitors!
On the age thing..I’m 47 and have two grown children, a 28 yo and 23 yo. My parents did get married because they were pregnant with me – mom had me at 18 so she was a really young grandma! I am not yet a grandma. And I’m am good with that! It is weird though that I have a colleague that is only a year older than me and she has a 6th grader. Such different life roads.
I’ve been dreaming of making a roasted tomato and red pepper soup to use up the end of seasons tomatoes. I’m a big soup person, but don’t make it in the summer, so I always celebrate the return of “soup season” once temps cool off a bit.
So many different stages of life at 40! I would say I started noticing it around 37-38. A lot of the people I knew from the small town I grew up in have kids that are teenagers; but I would say an almost equal amount have very young kids or just had babies. Similarly, many of the people my age who I met as coworkers or friends have kids ages 5 and younger. My best friend from college is also childfree, but after years of being single, her twin sister met her now-husband at 35 and had her first baby at 39. He’s now 9 months old. They’ll try for their second within the next year, I think.
I have never been super bothered about having human kids, but getting so sick in the last year has confirmed that I can’t. My heart and lungs won’t sustain carrying a baby. I’m currently trying to just get my mind around that; it’s no longer “maybe someday” but “definitely no.”
Never thought I would be still single at 40, so that is hard, but I have zero emotional or physical bandwidth to date right now and I’d probably be a really crappy wife because I’m just trying to get better…so maybe it’s for the best.
Anyway, sorry, that got grim.
I’m so excited for soup season even though I absolutely hate cold weather. I’m going to make a ton of soups! I’m on a low sodium diet so I have to make them myself. Copa, that roasted red pepper soup sounds amazing!
@Rangerchic, I’m a tomato snob. I totally understand you missing them from Arkansas. The tomatoes in the Chicago-area don’t really cut it for me either. I prefer them from my hometown, which is downstate, and grown directly in the sun on our family farm. My parents brought tomatoes while visiting last weekend. So I got the good ones!!
