The Season of Entertaining

There is a season of giving.  A season of hope.  We all know about football season and the season of change.  Even Audi has its own event season.  But for us, the most marked season is the season of entertaining, which is just about to kick off in earnest.  And, as it turns out, it happens to coincides with ski season.

Last winter, over the course of 25 weeks, we entertained a total of 26 guests for an average of 3 days each.  We had several guests that stayed for a week.  Besides breakfasts and lunches, think of it as hosting 21 dinner parties in 3 months.

And, according to our calendar, this year will be no different.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  We live for this.  We invite this.  When we built this house, we envisioned this and operated under the mantra “If we build it, they will come.”  We’ve now been here long enough that we have more repeat visitors than new visitors.  They come to ski, they come to eat, they come to drink and they come just to hang out.  In many cases, it’s the adult’s turn at a slumber party.  And with each round of guests, it seems, new laughs are had and new memories are made.

Our guests often request certain meals or call for one of the many adult beverages for which Bartender is famous, which is great.  It’s flattering and frankly simplifies things from a planning perspective.  But we also try and serve different things as well, just to keep ’em guessing.  I keep an entertaining diary to keep it all straight.  What we served, what people liked, what foods people won’t or can’t eat.  I sit down at the beginning of the season and plot out menus.  Last year one of our dear friends opted to celebrate her birthday here, so we asked her wanted she wanted to eat for her celebration dinner. (Her choice was Italian, which was good news.  If she had said “sushi,” since we have no idea how to prepare it,  dinner may have looked more like fish sticks.) But most times the choices are left to us.

We have many, many recipes that we rely on to run what sometimes feels like a B&B,L,D (bed and breakfast, lunch and dinner).  As you know, we don’t post any recipes here that haven’t been road tested at least once.  And entertaining season is where recipes earn their stripes.  One of our recipes, for buttermilk pancakes, has become a standard breakfast offering when entertaining becomes more than just a dinner party.  And it’s one of the reasons I always have a container of buttermilk in the refrigerator.