Postby HikingGirl » Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:49 am
Oh. Yes, I know how you feel. I have been there. Definitely DON'T cook anything you never did before. I did a roast lamb once -which everyone told me was easy - and followed cooking instructions, only to find it was still frozen on the inside when I served it.
Best solution: just buy starter and desert from the shop. Everyone loves sticky toffee pudding with ice cream, and even I can put that in the oven. As a starter I do a salmon thingy or pate thingy, pop it out of the plastic casing, onto a leave of lettuce, with pate a dollop of cranberry sauce next to it, and looks brilliant. With salmon I do another type of salmon thingy next to it. Main dish is of course harder. Go for e.g. roast potatoes, steamed vegetables (roast vegetables I find much harder to get right) and then a piece of meat. That is the hardest bit, but I find there is very little that can go wrong with a gammon joint (ham) from the oven. But choose something you have done before, ideally from the ready-made section.
Definitely don't fall for any 'keeping up with the Jones' stuff. Do your own thing. I always thought I had to follow what others do and have totally given up now, and people love it when they come over here. We no longer do dinner parties. I serve a cold buffet (all ready made from the super market), or a Sunday brunch with pancakes and orange juice champagne mix (ideal when you have young kids and all are up early anyway), or invite people for a BBQ (it's a bit stereotypical but I find that in that case it's mostly the men cooking, and I am great at salads). Overall I have found in my circle that it really helps if you don't try and outdo the previous person you visited, as everyone is usually relieved, as it means they can do a bit less too!
