Celebration Fridays - The No-Excuses Dinner Party

We are living in temporary digs right now without benefit of a dining room. 

Gasp!  Horror! 

We could use that as an excuse not to do any entertaining for the short time we're here, but my Scottish boyfriend is in town (no, it's OK, Alan's totally cool with it).

So the other night, we pulled out all the stops and hosted a sit-down dinner for seven.

At the kitchen table.  Which is in the kitchen.  Where all the cooking happens.  Four lovely courses.

Here's how it looked before our guests arrived.  I didn't crop the picture at all because I want to show you exactly what we're working with.

We turned the lights down low, lit a bunch of candles and settled in to have a good time.

Here's the first course.

After that, as happens when you sit down with a tableful of seniors, the drinking got completely out of hand and I forgot to take any more pictures. 

We ate and drank and told scandalous stories and no one seemed to mind that we were sitting in the kitchen of a very temporary rental and not someplace permanent and perfect.

And that, really, is the whole point of this story.  Live, people!  Set up your dinner parties on your scratched and dented kitchen table.  Serve your food off of mismatched china.  Buy the cheap wine if you can't afford better.  But for heaven's sake, don't miss the opportunity to spend time enjoying food and conversation with the people you love. 

End of sermon.

You say you want to know more about my Scottish boyfriend?  He's 98 years old and knows a thing or two about living every moment to its full potential. 

He's also married....