Chronicles of Whistling Duck Cottage — Week Twenty
Egads — 24 People for Dinner!!
Week Forty-Five of 52-Week Writing Challenge
Our Chinese friend Amber arrives Wednesday. The Thanksgiving dinner we planned for, well, Thanksgiving Day got moved to this coming Sunday because Amber wants to go to Savannah with friends on Thanksgiving.
Actually, we don’t much like Thanksgiving foods so our dinner will be an Argentine asado:
Ben will grill six different cuts of meat and prepare enslada rusa:
And sangria:
The grandkids and I will bake polenta medallions, similar to these, for the vegetarians:
Guest are bringing other drinks, salads, and desserts.
Our dinner party of 12 has grown to 24 and I’m not sure that is the final count!
We have a 1400 sq ft townhome with a dining table for six. I am still trying to figure out the logistics of a sit-down dinner for 24 in a house the size of ours.
Fortunately, we live in Florida where outdoor eating is possible in November. The high on Sunday is predicted to be 64 degrees — cool for Floridians but doable if we eat in the mid-afternoon before the sun begins its westward dive.
I will purchase or borrow two folding tables that seat a total of twelve to add to the one I already have. Two, I believe and hope, can fit on our porch, and the other will sit on the patio. We are lacking in chairs, requiring more buying or borrowing.
This house has to be thoroughly cleaned, which is a daunting task with my current back pain situation and a heavy work schedule this week. I’ve tried, unsuccessfully, to hire someone to clean on Saturday. A national cleaning service gave me a quote that made my eyes bug out. More than double what several of my clients pay self-employed house-cleaners for homes two or three times the size of mine. No thanks. I am reluctant to pay almost as much to have my house cleaned as I pay for the monthly mortgage. I will take pain pills, and with the help of my grandchildren, get it done.
I am a worrier. My husband shrugs off my concerns. He does not worry and believes all will work out. As he says, “If someone doesn’t like the meal or our home, they can eat at Taco Bell.” No one has ever left for Taco Bell.
