I absolutely love feeding people, which is why I love hosting dinner parties and in fact why I became a caterer. But it always leaves me with the two things I hate most about cooking: leftovers and cleaning.
Why oh why is there always so much food leftover? I get it, it's because I cook like I'm feeding an army, but I honestly have tried to do a better job of estimating how much food I need. As a caterer, this has become super important, but it's still better that I have too much food rather than not enough.
Unfortunately, it just never works out no matter how much I plan. Part of that is because no matter how many people I plan for, the likelihood is that there are at least some who won't be able to make it due to last-minute emergencies. I suppose I could try to love leftovers, but it's much more likely that my friends will continue to enjoy them more than I will.
This brings me to another pet peeve: guests who refuse to confirm one way or the other. Hey, I realize that not everyone is a planner by nature, but doesn't basic consideration for your host insist that you at least reply to an invitation? Yes; no; or maybe, I'll let you know soon, are all acceptable answers. Silence makes me wonder if you still respect me. I suppose it's possible that technology fails and the message was never received (on either side), and perhaps something crazy happened that prevented you from replying, or you could have just forgotten to respond, but those sound like excuses to cover up an uncomfortable truth. I suppose silence can also be interpreted as the no it's meant to be. Either way, it makes it impossible to plan properly.
My other least favorite part about cooking is cleaning. Creating all the food is fun; the mess that's left afterwards is not, and there's just no way to avoid it. I wish I could just learn to love this part too, but it just feels like an unfortunate side effect. Thankfully, when cooking for an event, I have a team who can help make this part easier.
Anyone have any tips on avoiding the leftovers or the cleaning, or learning to love either? I'm all ears!