Notes

Be scant spending on yourself so you can buy good anchovies for your guests.

You will spend days preparing and at points agonizing.

But when your guests arrive and they cannot conceive why you are so tired or why you had to plan so far out in advance – do not talk about it. You’ll gain nothing detailing the swelling of your feet from 6 hours of standing over your kitchen counter.

The days before receiving guests are little gifts of solitude. Successful hosting will break this period providing you with just the right amount of motivation to prepare for the next time, alone again.

First and foremost are the guests and conversation. The food, much to your dismay, is an afterthought.

“Dinner did not interrupt conversation. They talked of the affair which had occasioned the visit, of the war, of business, of other things which made a bad dinner passably good.”
— Brillat-Savarin

Draw attention away from the food, away from how good it is and how yes, it comes naturally now, but not before having been a studied art of yours.

Convenience is not a dirty word.