I don't know about you, but all of a sudden, my summer calendar went from pretty empty (in a good way) to super-full (also in a good way). It's a lovely combination of hosting friends, being hosted by friends (aka "guesting" -- a new word), and traveling (pretty local). But, now that I've taken a bird's eye view of the calendar, there's some serious planning I need to do! Specifically, I need to figure out what I'll be serving when folks come over, what I'll bring to others when I'm the guest, and -- also importantly -- what I'll be reading!
When I'm a guest, I will bring a host(es) gift: sometimes a homemade treat, sometimes some purchased treats like wine & cheese, and/or pick up something I think the host would enjoy. Here are the two gifts I'm buying most often this summer (other than edible ones).
Anomia: A really fun game -- great for when the weather isn't great and also for your hosts to play when others come over. (If they have it already, they can re-gift it).
Fun cocktail napkins: There is no such thing as too many of these, and there are options which will work for any of your friends/ family members nice enough to host you -- from snarky to pretty.
And, let's not forget the importance of light, summer reading! For some fun beach/ summer reads, here are my three current recommendations (in no particular order). Apologies if you have already read them all (none are very new).
Lessons in Chemistry: you may have seen the Netflix series based on the book (which was fun); the book is even better. Give it a read if you haven't yet.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A fun novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid about a Hollywood star and her life (with seven husbands).
The Heaven And Earth Grocery Store: I'm including this novel by James McBride as it is on my list of summer reads, and has been very highly recommended by quite a number of friends.
Oh, and one tip for hosting: chocolate chip cookies are a nearly-universally appreciated treat, so do yourself a favor and make a double-batch of the dough. Portion the dough into logs or balls and freeze them (well-wrapped/ in freezer bags) so you can bake up fresh cookies each time guests come over. (You can bake the cookies straight from the freezer -- no need to defrost). Seriously, this is one of the smartest things I do. To be honest, I OFTEN have frozen cookie dough on hand for dessert emergencies. Plus, should you have leftover cookies, remember that you can make ice cream sandwiches with them and keep them in the freezer. FYI, frozen chocolate chip cookies are pretty tasty on their own...
That's all for now. Happy summer!!
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