"They saw no signs and smelled no smells of supper, their faces were long and dismal under all the politeness. Chexbres and I let them suffer until we thought the alcoholic intake was fairly well adjusted to their twelve or fifteen rather jaded bodies. Then, with the smug skill of two magicians, we flicked away the empty glasses and the tired canapés, and slid the salad and the rolls into place on the old dresser. He gave the ragout a few odorous stirs...and the puzzled hungry people, almost tittering with relief and excitement, flocked like children into the kitchen for their suppers. They ate and ate, and talked as they had not dared talk for too many years, and laughed a great deal." -MFK Fisher remembering her tricky dinner parties in Switzerland...
I attended a virtual quiz night last night, which was as close to riotous a time as I've had in isolation. I've been really craving people-full nights. Dinner parties. I wonder if it would be possible to throw a virtual dinner party somehow, everyone making and eating a different part of the meal, or cooking some simple thing all together and sharing in it. I hope when this is all over to have more dinner parties.
[Edit: because someone else just posted a screenshot from their Zoom hangout, I'm going to post my own here, from the virtual quiz night.]
Did two virtual dinner parties this weekend and they were good, better than nothing, but not like the party she describes. I always think of warmth: a Memorial Day party where everyone waits too long and drinks too much and sweats a lot because someone doesn't actually know how to use a grill, or a winter party in a cramped apartment like the one in the story where the house is full of body heat and there's not enough space to put everything and you make something incomprehensibly rich like a ragout that you'd never make for yourself. To the dinner parties of the future, we should have more.
ReplyDeleteAlso this is how it feels to not have dinner parties anymore:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmmN2F9t4fk
Just saw them perform this in June and it was sweaty and post-apocalyptic.
I think you're right to point out an element of discomfort in most dinner parties. I like that about them; MFK writes about it well. Raising my cup of coffee to more dinner parties in the future. They're important.
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