I came to eat...

If you've ever seen 'The Fisher King', there's a scene where a neurotic outlines her behaviour at parties:

I don't make an impression on people.
At office parties, I rearrange
the hors d'oeuvres...
...while people are eating them,
so that the platters will remain full.

Whilst I don't paw at the food, I do have a compulsion to tidy up. If there's food left half eaten, lying about, I will scoop it up and throw it into the bin and I would never leave my plate on someone's TV or bookcase.

The thing is, I'm not terribly tidy at home. I could leave a frying pan soaking for a few days before I wash it, I can leave a teaspoon lying on the bench thinking I will reuse it at a later stage, I mean, I just stirred tea with it, it doesn't need a soapy wash. I even go so far as to reuse a juice glass by placing it in the fridge between drinks (so it doesn't attract vermin) and using it all week before it gets a little cloudy and suspect looking.

Nope, it's only at parties. Of course, the main reasons are obvious to me.

1. I never got the concept of a party, of letting loose, having too much to drink and sharing varying stories with strangers. I think I'm too controlling for that and I am the cheapest drunk so I can't drink too much without becoming rather foolish. This means I'm hyper-conscious of dirty plates piling up or a glass of wine balanced precariously on an arm rest.
2. I appreciate the host going to so much work inviting and sharing food and drink with us that I want to return the favour as best I know how. Again, pertaining to my lack of experience in knowing how to act at parties, this should be the last thing on my mind, I mean, that's what the gift is for!
3. I like parties where there's lots of food. To me, a party equates to food, endless food. At parties, I am the quiet one, hovering around the food table, eating all the party pies and snapping up the little quiches and sushi rolls. At the latest party I attended, it was a Curry Laksa Party where guests assembled their own Laksas. There was enough to assemble 2-3 bowls each. To top it off, there were three cakes to choose from afterwards. Ahh, such is bliss.

The Welcome Table

I come from a family of hoarders. My parents had a huge garage which they filled with offcut pieces of timber from old furniture as well as shoes, old paint, our old baby clothes, chinese herbs and on occasion, the current rooster of the household. The latter was let out after dawn and his crowing were done for the morning. One time my mother bought 50 tins of Chinese mushrooms (bought for 40 cents/can 'is cheap!') and there they sat over a number of years as a can or two were taken back inside for a meal.

Partly due to lack of space and also a mild dislike of mess I have taken away a relatively dilute form of my parents' love of stuff. But thrown back into the mix is my apathy for most things domestic and we end up with a fine balance between utter chaos and pristine living.

What I have inherited and which has started to manifest itself here with this blog and on various family members' waistlines is that I enjoy home cooked food. This would seem a very peculiar revelation for those who cannot imagine an alternative. It was certainly something my mother always drummed into my head, the virtues of home cooking on our souls and physical well being and on the chances of roping in a kindly husband with 'Doctor' for a title. Alas, none of those things really mattered when I thought my body was invincible and could sustain itself on restaurants, take away places and junk food. I do suppose now that I think about it, the very reason why I took no notice was that I didn't want to be seen as a house frau and my mother's vision of a proud husband looking on at a wife with wonderful culinary skills was a very horrid vision indeed. I should have dispensed with such ridiculous thinking years ago but I suppose the love of cooking is something that can be cultivated without time limits and with a sense that to be able to cook and welcome those you love to share the spoils is wonderful indeed.