Getting one's priorities straight

Recently I had to go to a formal dinner party at a colleagues (not a restaurant colleague, unfortunately) house. It's not the first time I attend events like this, so I know that the odds that 1. edible food will be served and 2. dinner conversation will be pleasant and unembarrassing are very high. In fact, if one of these points happens to occur the other will most surely not. I'm not the only person to employ such tactics as having a pre-dinner snack before leaving home. I do this out of experience. Unfortunately enough, this event was one where I didn't need as much a pre-dinner snack as a pre-dinner dinner and a heavy dose of patience pills. Why?
Well, there are some things which are unacceptable at both restaurants and formal dinner parties, and that is having your guests wait for overly long periods of time for their dinner. I'm of the opinion (and you may differ) that if you book a table - or in this case, insist all guests arrive at 20.00 on the dot - you should serve dinner rather promptly. This is not Spain. As it was, we waited until 22.00 while our hosts scrambled around the kitchen trying to plate up á la fine-dining, resulting in grumpy, hungry guests and very cold food.

I've observed the fine-dining at home phenomenon in several places, and always wondered why. Surely one goes to a restaurant for the whole experience? And it's not that I can't understand the thrill of a home-cooked fine-dining dinner for a few guests - but if you're pushing 15 guests with limited kitchen space, equipment and cooking management skills, you may want to reconsider your choice of menu. I think most people will prefer a warm burger to a gelled, stone-cold scallop. Anyway, I was quietly wondering where people got the idea to pretend to be a home-spun Thomas Keller, when I saw this article in the Wall Street Journal about what Thomas Keller cooks at home. I wish people would just relax about food. As it is, there seems to be a whole new breed of people who have a very anal relationship to cookbooks, celebrity chefs and the art of "dressing" a dish. See, the beautiful thing about Thomas Keller (or any other talented chef) is that their creations are something you as an amateur cook shouldn't be able to produce at home. And here's another small tip: when inviting people who aren't well-acquainted with each other over for dinner, their ability to mingle and forge useful contacts drops in proportion to their blood sugar level. If you're going to showcase your cooking ability and it's going to take hours before you put the food out, at least provide some breadsticks as a prop for the amiable atmosphere.
Or take your guests out to a nice restaurant. A cold, dead scallop is an almost unforgivable waste.