Inspired by the tea threads, I was just realizing I no longer invite my friends over for dinner or parties like I used to--I now invite them to High Tea!

This would be a complete meal, mid-to-late afternoon, with foods that are easy to eat in morsels. All of the food, the meal part as well as the dessrts(s), are displayed on the nicely decorated table and people can eat what they want in any order. I make a big pot of tea and have a pot of boiling water ready to replenish the pot after the first pouring. There are also little glasses for a cocktail if people would like one. Sometimes I send my friends hand-written invitations in Victorian style. Some of my friends do the same type of entertaining (especially on Victoria Day)!

What's your favourite type of entertaining you like to do and how do you prepare for it and set it up? Do you like a big party, a formal dinner party, tea time, a hearty family-style informal meal, barbecue, buffet? What are your special creative ideas and preferences for entertaining!

In Northern California, I grew so tired of what sadly passed for mexican food at the local restaurants... Why, they tried to "health" it up, California style!! Nay, nay! It lacked the good stuff, the sine qua nons of true Tex-Mex: lots of salt, tomatillos, fresh handmade tortillas, lots of cumin and cayenne and jalapeno; and lots of yummy lard. Margs-- viscid, beige and translucent-- made with Añejo and Cointreau and fresh Mexican lime juice.... nary a Day-Glo green frozen one in sight.

Mexican is one of those things in life which-- if yer gonna do it at all, ya might as well SIN ALL THE WAY. "Healthy" Mexican is a contradiction in terms.

So, once in San Francisco, I invited all my friends to a Tex-Mex buffet at my house in the Castro. If I do say so myself, the spread I set out was TDF!! My guests were impressed, too. Fiesta-colored crepe streamers, piñatas, the works.

It seems like ages since we had a party. These days it's just the occasional overnight guest. But when we did do parties, my favorite thing to do was brunch/lunch, served buffet-style. I think that's the easiest way to please everybody, not least of all the hostess! Sit-down dinners are anxiety-producing for me, plus you're confronted with the clean-up after everybody leaves at midnight.

Your teas sound delightful, Fiveoaks.

My favorite is a formal, dinner party. With all the trimmings, and the silver, and linens, and chamber music playing on the stereo, and everything made by yours truly. But these affairs take weeks of preparation, and I'm on the verge of collapse, by the time the guests arrive.

Moral of the story: I don't give formal dinner parties too often, anymore . . . which is sad, because now I know just how to 'do' them.

Yes, me, too, the formal dinner party with all the trimmings. But I can only do maybe one a year.

Having people over sends me straight into a tizzy. By the time they show up, I want to say, "Ok, entertain yourselves, I have to lie down."

I get so stressed when I have to cook for people other than family...I usually wind up spending the entire meal in the bathroom, sick to my stomach...
I love inviting friends over for tea or coffee and desserts I have made.
I also like a nice...rather small kind of cocktail party. I'll make some of the foods that I set out, but I usually just have this kind of affair catered.
As for big dinners...I take people out. At least I get to enjoy the meal, too. *LOL*

My favorite is an informal sit-down Saturday or Sunday lunch with bubbly, white and red wines, a dessert wine and various digestifs. Unless I make chicken pate, or serve a bowl of anchovies and bread, I generally don't bother with appetizers. There's always a cheese board. Most recent menu was ham, buttered Spinach, Viennese potato salad and a Mozartorte for dessert. Previous lunches featured blanquette de veau, ossobucco, corned beef brisket, veal heart, oxtail, etc...

Unless I am only cooking for just one or two other people, I generally don't like to do food that takes half an hour or less to prepare, such as steak or pork chops, because those foods are less forgiving than a stew that takes a long time to cook.

If I don't buy pastry from a professional, the desserts I make are pies, a white or dark chocolate mousse or some type of zabaiglone.

One of these days, I will do a buffet. I think the hardest party to do is a Tapas-style party, because of the sheer variety of foods you need to do to make it work.