Any suggestions for an apprehensive host, please?

Thanks for that, ehBeth. Lots of different Greek varieties here. My local supermarket & attached deli is exclusively Greek territory. I'll investigate the options this afternoon when I venture out. I do like the idea of tang with a slight edge of sweet! Nice.

in case there's some yogurt left-over (and who knew there were official recipes for honey-yogurt dip?)

http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ciq-yogurt.htm

we always use "plain" yoghurt, really don't like the "fruit-bottom" style or any other flavoured ones. we use a little bit of fruit preserve (home-made is best) on the side, but you can also stir it in - fresh fruit works too. it'll take the edge of the acidity. hbg

How about angel food cake and a strawberry or mixed-berry compote and either whipped cream or mascarpone cheese blended with honey and plain yogurt.

Here is the super easiest cake in the entire universe:

1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon cocoa
1/3 cup melted shortening or oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Sift dry ingredients into a 9 x 9 inch pan. Mix well. Make 3 holes, one for each vinegar, oil and vanilla. Pour water over all. Mix well with fork. Do not beat.

Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

It tastes great - very rich, a tiny slice will do you. It tastes and looks like you spent a long time on it. A dollop of whipped cream and a load of fresh berries and honestly, nobody will belive you spent so little time on this thing.

Oh yeah...

We always make tabouli for cook outs. It uses bulgar wheat, tomatos, cucumbers, onion, olive oil, lemon juice -- whatever. Delicious.

For grilling try eggplant or sweet potato. They're both a little unexpected and grill up very nice.

Thank you hamburger, boomerang & k.

Thinking, thinking ....

I'm sure I'm going to try out quite a few of these recipes at some stage, before too long. Obviously not all are possible on the one occasion! I'm also hoping that others here are taking advantage of the the expertise of our creative A2K cooks. What a bunch of stars!

And hey, anything that's the easiest & tastes like I spent a lot of time on it is right up my alleyway!

I'm sure that whatever you do will be perfect. The most important part of any meal is the company.

Here are a couple of terrific desert cheats that I have seen people swoon over:

Fresh figs and some kind of stinky cheese.

Ginger snap cookies and lemon sorbet.

A thought boommerang: Maybe we should create a sort of "cheat epicure" thread? You know, it tastes complex & brilliant, but it was incredibly simple to produce? I'll be in that!

And yes, I'm sure it will be fine, too. They're all great friends. Besides, they all know me so well, I'm certain they have no illusions! :wink:

It is so easy to cheat on food. All you have to do is pretend you know exactly what you're doing and serve something that people don't eat very often.

I went to a super fancy lunch deal once. Very posh. One of the courses was a poached egg atop some spinach leaves with a slice of grapefruit and some shredded ginger. People acted like they were falling over dead at the deliciousness of the dish.

It was a tasty combination but c'mon already. It was a dressed up three minute egg.

Give me another egg with a side of bacon, some toast, maybe some hashbrowns and we'll be talking my kind of breakfast.

Don't forget the coffee!

Right! Form over content. Gotcha, boomerang! :wink:

Just wanted to report back, following my first ever BBQ. Thank you very much, everyone, for all your recipes & words of encouragement. I now have lots of excellent ideas for future el quicko meals (for when I'm not playing "hostess", even!) & I think others may have gained some inspiration, too.

Anyway, my little event was a success. Yay! It was so hot on Wednesday that I changed a my planned menu at the last minute. We had porterhouse steak, a crunchy green bean salad with toasted pine nuts with a tomato dressing, my tried & true garlicky new potatoes, a fabulous salad brought along by D & F (so I didn't have to make it!), Fresh strawberries with one of those bought "luxury" ice creams, followed up with fresh watermelon & grapes brought along by W & T), and finally, 3 different cheeses from my local deli, a hommus dip with rice crackers & crunchy slices of Italian bread. Phew! That was a lot of food! And the following day, I reckon I had to wash every single plate, dish, bowl & all the cutlery in my little house! Anyway, it was just lovely sitting outside, under the stars at 1 am, while sipping a nice dry white wine!

Thanks, all!

Hooray!



It wasn't so hard, was it?

Well ......

It was more the tidying up beforehand, ehBeth. The decking, the yard, an el quicko house tidy up ... Just to make everything NICE!

But the actual event, nah ...!
Good friends make things very easy!

Thanks.

Sounds wonderful!

Every time I actually entertain I think "that wasn't so bad, we should do this more often!"... and then wait too long yet again.

ahhhhhh the tidying beforehand

yup

my least favourite part of entertaining

there are just not enough places to stash things <I should just throw more things out>

Exactly, soz!

We should do it more often.

But on a smaller scale, maybe?

Smaller scale.

So - don't let them in? Entertain them on the lawn? Tell them to pee beforehand?

<I once went to a bbq where the invite said to use the facilities at home before we came over>

Yes, the tidying! Arghhh! (As if friends don't know how you really live! LOL)

Actually, I did throw quite a bit out. Why am I such a hoarder????

Nice to have such a tidy house & yard now, though!

well....

now that you've worked out how to do it - we'll be back for a home cooked meal!

(the food at the tennis centre is almost universally foul! - I wanted to mug some woman for her fresh watermelon - but Len discouraged me! )