The Gift of Hospitality

Moon over Brooklyn

One of the things I like to do is entertain.  In my younger days, I would spend lots of time milling over menus and recipes deciding what I could cook and serve to my guests.  Nowadays, I prefer to either do a prepare ahead simple meal or simply call the caterer. Either way I get to spend more time with my guests.  I have also hosted dinner or lunch at a local restaurant and had dessert at my place.

When I lived in  New Dorp, the house was large enough for hosting up to twenty two people for Thanksgiving dinner which I did on several occasions.  I can remember my husband and father moving tables around to get the maximum number of seats.

Now that I am in a smaller space, I do most of my entertaining in the milder months when I can utilize my outdoor space which overlooks New York's lower bay and the Verrazano Bridge. It is fun watching the ships sailing by, and when the sun sets the moon rises over Brooklyn makes it seem like a magical place.






After Hurricane Sandy I often hosted volunteer groups who were sleeping at my church for a final "Thank You" dinner. The meal is usually simple: Swedish meatballs, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn and peas, green salad, biscuits and Italian ices and "Black and White" cookies for dessert. If the group is primarily teens, we simply order pizza from the local joint and serve salad and cookies with it...simple and easy to do. Over the past two years I think I have hosted between seven and eight groups from as far as Prince Edward Island in Canada to Texas.  All of them were here to do recovery or restoration work. 

Christ church/New Brighton/ SI, NY

Larger groups, I can only host up to a dozen folks plus my prep and meet crew, usually have a meal at our church prepared by one of our parishioners who is head chef at a local hospital, so they tend to be a bit more upscale than what I do, but the view from here is better than form the church. We will be dong one of those tonight; it should be fun.  The group is from a Lutheran Church in South Carolina, and they have been sleeping in our parish hall for the past week.


At almost the same time, our Second Saturday crew will be preparing a dessert to be served to the guests of the Soup Kitchen in Stapleton. Once a month the parishioners of my church prep, cook and help serve lunch for anywhere between sixty and one hundred patrons.  This week we are welcoming in the summer-like weather with hot dogs, green salad, vegetarian beans and homemade peach cobbler.  The peach cobbler is always a hit with the diners since they usually just get canned fruit doctored up with a squirt of whipped cream.


So, as you can see, hospitality is very much a part of what I do, and I like to extend it to as many as I can. I am always looking for easy meals to prepare, so if you have any suggestions or recipes, shot me an  email and share.