Worthy attempt

I like this article from the UK's Telegraph. It embraces many of the qualities I hope to embrace here, including being quick and inexpensive and giving timed instructions. However, it does assume a certain level of experience and falls into the recipe trap a bit by forgetting about the non-food parts of the dinner party.

I'll keep an eye out for any other similar ideas I come across, especially while I'm still working on getting my own up!

101 in 1001

101 in 1001 is an idea that been bouncing around the blogosphere for 5 or 10 years. I started my own 101 list a few years ago and have recently finished the 1001 days, along with many, but not all, of the 101 goals.

One of my goals (successfully completed of course), and a goal common to many other 101'ers' lists, was to host a dinner party. In fact "Host a Dinner Party" is currently the 55th most popular goal for people using the Day Zero site, with 423 people currently working towards it. It's a Bucket List type of goal - something that takes a little effort and a more than a little courage. But somewhere inside, we all have a niggling feeling that it's going to be a lot of fun if only we could just get out there and do it.

I loved ticking it off my list and hope that this blog can help others do the same. For me, completing the goal was just the beginning and I have no intention of stopping entertaining - I can only hope that once is not enough for my fellow bloggers!

So you want to host a dinner party...?

I feel like there are more recipes than a person could feasibly hope to taste, try or read in a lifetime. And plenty of etiquette guides to advise as to which fork goes where and how to compose an evite (more on these later, but I do think most of my friends would disown me if I ever dared). But not much in the way of a how to. A coach. Something to tie it all together.

And so to my humble ambition. To help at least one person out there host a dinner party from start to finish. From buying a cake tin to keeping your mates liquored up and laughing well into the night.

A nation transfixed

I find myself caught up in the Masterchef craze that has Australia in raptures. Yes, we are the country that has rescheduled its one and only prime-ministerial debate for the coming federal election because it clashed with the series final of a reality cooking show. Seriously.

I have gone from a person who relied on my macbook for a fortnightly glance at a TV show to someone who has to weasel out of drinks with an interstate friend because I might miss an episode. And not even on an eviction night.

So it appears we are becoming a nation of cooks. And while it's great fun to cook for oneself, one's flatmate, or one's onederful family, there's something about a dinner party...