Foodie Observation

[Stephane]

I'm not claiming to be a "foodie" outside of this forum. To tell the truth, I simply enjoy food. I'm not pretentious about it. I like to try new things and I do.

I also like to cook. I normally don't cook fancy meals, but when I expect some people over, I like to go a little fancy and cook a proper meal.

It's happened several times now that I've overwelmed my guest with the food I've prepared (at least that the lasting impression).

Now, this has been something as simple as a lamb roast with potatoes and a salad, maybe an appetizer and a bottle of wine.

I've also found that in some cases, when they reciprocate, they apologize about the pizza/takeout. It's actually more than some cases, it's more often than not.

Has this occured to you? How do you handle that (aside from ordering pizza next time)?

[silverwhisper]

in korean cuisine, the tradition of setting out a set of small dishes ("bahn- chahn") is expressly to serve the purpose of impressing your guest w/ the degree of respect you accord him or her. therefore, all korean restaurants will give you at least 4, sometimes 6 items as bahn-chahn (more w/ larger parties).

it's actually something that the mrs and i go through regularly. she in turn grew up w/ a similar idea of overdoing it on the food prep simply as a practical matter: how embarrassing to run out!

[marmalade]

I also tend to cook for an army when I have a few people over, but most of my friends also know that I like awful things like microwaved bologna and plastic cheese sandwiches, so they don't apologize for feeding me take-out.