Appetizers

When it comes to appetizers, I flunk. I simply don’t grasp the concept. Eating 1000 calories of delicious little tidbits doesn’t work like an appetite stimulant for me. I get filled up, not appetized.

Appetizers at a party can turn into the equivalent of dinner with great speed. But at a restaurant, they behave much better. I frequently order an appetizer and an a la carte potato and call it an entree……which it is for those of us who can’t handle super sized portions.

I love to cook meals for family and friends, and I do not want them to starve before dinner. I try my best to make some pre-dinner nibbles to assuage hunger pangs. But my lack of culinary imagination here is embarrassing. Guests usually get cheese and crackers. I live near a dairy that sells 100 varieties of Wisconsin cheese. I may lack originality, but I do serve great cheese.

The origins of my appetizer problem can be traced to my parents. They were not snackers. Both relished good food, and my father firmly believed that, “hunger is the best appetizer”.

Fortunately for me, my guilt about appetizer inadequacy has lifted. I recently read a delightful article about being a guest at Julia Child’s house at Thanksgiving:

“Even on Thanksgiving, dinner was served at the big kitchen table, with guests stuffed elbow to elbow around its perimeter. Mrs. Child put out Goldfish crackers, not foie gras or canapés, to nibble on with her favorite ‘reverse martini’ cocktails: vermouth on the rocks with a floater of gin.”

I love that woman.
Chlebicky

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