The School of Entertaining is now in session

My friend who recently bought a house is all excited to start entertaining.  Something she felt she couldn't really do in her small apartment.  I for one am excited too. Someone else to throw the parties so I can sit back and enjoy.  I LOVE throwing parties, but lets face it, sometimes a party girl just wants to enjoy someone else's party.

School is now in session. Let the lessons begin.

LESSON #1  Just because you have an apartment and not a house doesn't mean you can't entertain.  I'm all about the mini party.  So all you apartment dwellers, throw a party. It doesn't have to be big. Your guests will have just as much fun.

Now my friend is a newbie to entertaining and will make rookie mistakes.  We all do, don't let any party diva tell you she doesn't make mistakes.  That's like an actress/model with a 10 for a body telling you she never works out.

My friend had been bragging for a month about how amazing her home-made pizza is. She sent out an email to me and another friend and the date was set.  I bet you're thinking the email invite is lesson #2. Nope. For an impromptu mini party, there were 4 of us including her husband and herself,  an email is just fine.

My friend set the time for 1:00 p.m. and said we'd have pizza and watch a movie.  Both of us arrived at 1:00 p.m. -ish but we didn't eat until 3:00 p.m.  My stomach was objecting.

LESSON#2 When you set a time for a party where you'll be cooking food for your guests you want to have it ready within 30 minutes to an an hour of your guests arrival.  Both of us were expecting to eat sooner.  The reason for the delay was my friend was giving a house tour. I had seen the house already. Problem was, it was the long side tracked version of the tour.

The pizza WAS delicious. She used Trader Joe's pizza dough, herb and something I think. We got to choose our ingredients.

This was really good pizza. After we ate pizza and salad we watched the movie. During the movie my friend decided to make cupcakes because it sounded good.

LESSON #3  Don't make cupcakes with an electric mixer while your friends are trying to watch a movie you invited them over to watch.  Neither of us could hear the movie while the mixer was going.
The other guest had to leave before the cupcakes were done because of the late start.  I stayed.

My friend has been trying to perfect this chocolate cupcake recipe from The Joy of Cooking  .  She's been tweaking it trying to make it richer and more chocolatey. Sadly, this batch was on the dry side.

Are you gasping that I would write all this about my friend. Aren't I worried she'll see this, you're thinking. Not at all. I already told my friend all of this.  She asked for advice and appreciates it because she knows without feedback, how else will she be able to perfect her entertaining. Plus all my friends know I'm known for my bluntness and not to ask me my opinion if they can't take it :)