4 January 2004

Entertaining British Style

When we moved here I felt like I was in debt to our backyard neighbors who also happen to be our landlords.  Catrina and Barry are marvelous.  They magically appeared within three minutes after our arrival with a tray of fresh hot coffee.

Within two days they invited us for a grilled salmon dinner in their beautiful park-like back yard.  They stopped by to offer advice or to help at the drop of a hat.  We could hardly believe our good luck.

I had started feeling guilty about not returning their favor  when I realized that one whole month had passed.  Getting adjusted to England seemed to take up my every waking moment so I had a good excuse.

They were very gracious when I told them I would like for them to come to lunch on a Monday.  I think they were a little worried about what I was going to fix for them to eat since they know I am a vegetarian.  Barry doesn’t like spicy food and Catrina is only eating meat and cheese at the moment.

After a little “thinking” on my part I decided to make a cheese soup and a soufflé for Jay and our guests.  Promptly at 12:15 they showed up with a homemade jar of green plum jam and a bottle of Perrier (making a joke about the water because we don’t drink and they do). 

The table was covered in my French red and white checked tablecloth because there are matching napkins. We ate a big salad from my young garden and then moved on to the soup.  After the soufflé and fried potatoes I offered a dessert of warm chocolate muffins covered with a yummy green applesauce (I found this at the German grocery store, Lidl in Ipswich) and coffee.  At this point they politely told me that the British normally drink coffee after dessert.

For the next two hours we talked, sometimes all at the same time about life in America and Britain.   At the end of two hours I was worn out from laughing so hard.  Life in Hadleigh is definitely not the same as in France, but it was clear to me that life had become a whole lot easier when we crossed the English Channel.

We haven’t entertained much since then because our house is so tiny, but at Thanksgiving we invited our half British, half German neighbors from next door over for a big meal.  I was amazed that none of them had ever tasted a sweet potato, or pumpkin pie.  After trying the dressing, and the expensive turkey I paid $50 for from the butcher, they decided they would also try the things they’d never tasted before.  Everyone agreed that the pie was good, but they were too polite about the sweet potatoes.

For now I have to settle for inviting people to all come on the same day, but at different times.  This way I only have to clean once, and I get to have a party…sort of.  The next party will begin at 4 and end at 10 so that different families will arrive at different times.  This way I can have people here without feeling like we are sardines packed tightly into a tin.

As this way of having company wears on me I am beginning to dream of my garden.  More importantly I am dreaming of the day when it is warm enough, and not raining so that we can have a big party in that darling little green space.  I’m not sure if I am longing more for the garden work, the sunshine or the company.  I can just see the garden becoming a huge room where I can have afternoon tea, or an evening dinner party with little tables covered in the beautiful handmade lace tablecloths I’ve found in charity shops here.

For now I will settle for tea in the living room, and afternoons of dreaming of spring.