Dinner Parties Revival

The pandemic is in abeyance but we haven’t gone back to things we used to do before 2020, like dinner parties. Not elaborate affairs, but get-togethers where hosts provide the main meal, and guests come laden with dessert (no brownies please) and what they are going to drink. Have you noticed that people who bring wine from the grocery store, suddenly become whisky and brandy drinkers because they see bottles, brought by other guests?

Get-togethers are about re-kindling friendship we lost because of COVID-19 and phones of course. We text now, instead of meeting to talk about the rise and fall of Donald Trump. His fan base like Tim Scott will be banished to the lounge, while guests that believe in protecting the U.S. Capitol building will congregate in the kitchen where it’s warm and the oven has some little mysteries with French names.

But we live in tiny apartments and small houses. True dat. Not everybody has massive kitchens like Russell Wilson, the famous American quarterback and Ciara, his wife who writes songs and sings. Noted. Wow! Who is talking about moving in such circles? Besides, the more money celebrities have, the less they eat. Poor things!

We’ll make a plan though. Find friends with bigger spaces for get-togethers. I miss the conversation in different rooms. A cluster of people will be discussing sushi and you drift away because you don’t want to admit you don’t know what it is. You find another group talking about the difference between fufu, a favourite dish from Ghana and Nigerian swallow. It all depends on who you are and where you work. I usually don’t talk about my work because of the inevitable question.

“Sure, you are a writer, but where do you work exactly? Your real job?”

I love get-togethers. There’s so much to learn to learn from strangers.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger