Grrrrr!! Today I shall be mostly.......

lostinrates

jetplane wrote: »

Oh my I am impressed my kitchen looks like a hurricane blew through it when I cook an extended family dinner for 10 - 12 people. :eek:

I'm with lostinrates I put the meat in and mix the yorkshires, then it takes me a while to prep the veg, although it does all go straight in to a compost bag and in the pans or steamer. Then I'm basting the meat, making the gravy and trying to get it out all at the same time

pigpen I think you must be so well practiced and organised hats off to you :T

I'm going to start timing myself :rotfl:

I think one of the key things is I really enjoy the cooking

Tbh it's very rare we have a traditional roast. But what ever we cook for a crowd the kitchen tends to be where I want to be and I find it relaxing and enjoyable. I don't really WANt to get the prep done in twenty minutes, and we enjoy the 'palaver' of the food. We are probably the boring relatives above who talk about food all day:rotfl: sometimes because its genuinely interesting to us and sometimes because its the least contentious subject :rotfl:.

We used to have dinner parties after work mid week in London a bit, so I'm obviously not phased by prep and getting ready without a sprawling mess or time, but .....I enjoy the time.....usually more than being with my husband relatives (or my own come to think of it).

But some people just don't do things swiftly. My husband doesn't. He'd serve a beautiful meal, but time and motion.....it's not his thing.

notanewuser

Weekends are very previous these days, so I don't want to spend all day in the kitchen (or on the sodding motorways for that matter). I part-steam, part roast new potatoes in their skins, steam tenderstem broccoli and green beans rather than peeling and mashing veg, and roast some butternut squash wedges with herbs and goats cheese for me because the oven is already on. Means we get a delicious meal with very little prep.

lostinrates

notanewuser wrote: »

Weekends are very previous these days, so I don't want to spend all day in the kitchen (or on the sodding motorways for that matter). I part-steam, part roast new potatoes in their skins, steam tenderstem broccoli and green beans rather than peeling and mashing veg, and roast some butternut squash wedges with herbs and goats cheese for me because the oven is already on. Means we get a delicious meal with very little prep.

Our weekends are precious too, only time DH and I are together, but if we are sharing them with friends and food then I want to be in the kitchen. We've only just restored opthe part of the house the kitchen is in and it's probably part of the way we live that we have friends and family we are far from who mean whole days or weekends are lost to and that we like to cook and to garden and to relax (not everybody likes to cook...for example, you seem more outing based....we have animals and I am quite home tied these days, so the action tends to be home based with maybe outings from here)

The kitchen is my day time room. There is a sofa and a fireplace in there. I can look out into my garden but also catch a glimpse of my business and keep an eye on that without feeling overlooked.


With some friends we rarely leave the kitchen. They get up late after DH and I have finished work outside and we brunch, wander out for a bit, head in for tea which merges into supper prep and we might get into the sitting room for coffee later. With other non foodie friends or relatives we might barely go on the kitchen......

We all do things differently, no better or worse necessarily. For me the ideal day with relatives is me in the kitchen with them in the dining room

notanewuser

lostinrates wrote: »

Our weekends are precious too, only time DH and I are together, but if we are sharing them with friends and food then I want to be in the kitchen. We've only just restored opthe part of the house the kitchen is in and it's probably part of the way we live that we have friends and family we are far from who mean whole days or weekends are lost to and that we like to cook and to garden and to relax (not everybody likes to cook...for example, you seem more outing based....we have animals and I am quite home tied these days, so the action tends to be home based with maybe outings from here)

Goodness, no. By the weekend I just want to slouch around in my pyjamas and let DH [STRIKE]do all the hard work[/STRIKE] have some daddy-daughter time.

lostinrates

notanewuser wrote: »

Goodness, no. By the weekend I just want to slouch around in my pyjamas and let DH [STRIKE]do all the hard work[/STRIKE] have some daddy-daughter time.

Ah, we'll, our weekends are precious in a different way. I do get at least one morning off 'work chores' most weekends though.:D

mountainofdebt

I have to admit that I (politely) turned down a family invitation when both I and OH had made other arrangements.

Not because I was feeling mean but because I felt that if the positions were reversed, they would have done exactly the same.