Relaxed Hospitality

Today I hosted a little lunch and afternoon tea for my friend J.  She's been fantastic about keeping me fed these last 5 months, generously inviting me over for dinner frequently.  But because I had been embarrassed at how messy my home was getting, I was nervous about having her over.  I've been working diligently to get it cleaned up and organized, but it's slow moving (for obvious reasons... naps, being the main one!).

However, I at least got the common areas tidy enough to have someone over.  In between cleaning I've been baking and cooking and freezing things galore.  And grooming the dogs, which is an exercise routine in itself.

I normally would have stuck to a simple quiche for lunch because it's a one shot meal if you eat it with a side salad, and can be prepared mostly ahead of time.  However, J can't eat pork for health reasons, and other types of quiches are usually made from throwing things together, only I didn't have things to throw together.  Instead I decided to do roasted salmon, roasted potatoes, fresh tomatoes from the CSA as a light lunch.

Of course tea was accompanied by scones with clotted cream and jam.  J had never had clotted cream, fell in love and threatened to kidnap the rest!  We took the dogs out for a walk because the weather was gorgeous and then had some time to chat later.

I enjoyed having her over so much, and hopefully she'll be dropping in again soon!  I needed a nap, so the animals (the dogs passed out before she even left), and I slept until just a bit ago when I woke up to talk to G.

Have you had a friend over recently?  I think that it's nice to be able to have coffee/tea in... particularly when accompanied by scones!