Ain't No Party Like a Finn Party!

Food. Everyone eats it. Everyone needs it. People who say they eat to live I find to be sad people. Food is meant to fill your stomach and your soul. There ain't no party like a Finn dinner party! Some of, no let's be real, the majority of my best memories with friends back home have been at a dinner party at our house. David and I have specific roles at a dinner party. David's is to cook, set the food out, and make cocktails. Mine is to straighten up the house before, be a hostess and open wine. I am super fortunate to be one of those women who married a man who loves to cook. David does not make simple foods. You'll never come over to a dinner party where he has made a casserole or, really, anything processed. It usually involves some kind of protein that has brazed for several hours, buttery goodness or bacon grease on fresh vegetables, and homemade from scratch everything else. Every weekend our friends could count on coming over and having a meal. "What can we bring?" Is a question those new to the circle of friends would only ask the first few times. They quickly learned what to bring, beer/wine, or dessert though we never had much room for dessert. The conversations had at these dinner parties were the kind that would make my stomach muscles hurt the next day due to so much laughing. They would be extremely random and lively. Now that we have moved across the county, we do not have that circle of friends to call over. We are starting from scratch. David invited Mr. Miyagi and his wife over for dinner the other night. The Miyagi's are very healthy people who do not eat red meat and do not eat after 6 pm. Anyone who has ever been a frequent weekend dinner friend is already laughing at this. "They don't eat red meat and don't eat after 6pm and they are going to the Finn's?! Ha! Ha!" Let me shed some light on this hilarity. David only cooks red meat and his meals are never done before 7:30pm. I don't know who was more excited our son or me. We were having people over and we were going to have fun! Since the night's guests live behind us and loves to garden, our son would stand at the window and shout, "Hi, ___!! Are you excited to come over? I am!" Later, "Hi, ___! Is your wife getting ready to come over?" Keep in mind it is only 2 in the afternoon. Well, they finally came over and David, knowing they did not eat red meat, made plenty of shrimp for them. Turns out, his dinner smelled so good, they opted for the meat! *insert wide eyed emoji* We got the semi vegetarians to eat red meat! I feel as though we were Lucifer's tools in the downfall of these fitness gods. We had such fun conversations and when the night was over, they walked out our back door to their own back door. We have only had one other person over for dinner and though it's always a good time, I still feel that void of my Midwest dinner party friends who crack me up into tears or are late night ninjas who quietly do the dishes when I'm not looking or bring over an incredible bottle of wine or outstanding dessert. But, I know that our dinning room and patio will soon be filled with eruption of loud laughter and desserts brought over by new friends!