Be My (Friend’s) Guest (of Honor)

My friend George and his boyfriend came a-callin’ over Memorial Day, and what with it being the start of summer and all, I planned a jam-packed weekend of F.U.N. for us. As previously noted, when a pal comes to town, I tend to go to town with a big ol’ celebration in their honor. But with everything we had going on, there was little time for party prep, and I was so crazed with work before they got here that advance planning wasn’t in the picture neither.

Then my friend Ben said he was having people over for dinner that Saturday, and would my pals like to come too? Fabulous. We got in from a busy day of L.A.-ing, showered, dressed up and went out to dinner–at Ben’s house. Candles were glowing, wine was flowing, jazz was going… And then, of course, there was the meal, including a simple green salad, ceviche (yes, he made freakin’ ceviche), DIY fish tacos and a peach cobbler (made and brought by moi). So. Good.

The ten guests, most of whom were mutual friends whom (if I may use the word “whom” twice in one sentence) George had met before, bantered and giggled and ate and ate and then ate more. It was a stellar evening, and best of all, it gave us all the chance to mix it up a bit–after hanging out with the same couple of people all weekend long, a little fresh company is generally more than welcome–and show off my cool friends to each other. Plus, the evening was more intimate than just another dinner at just another restaurant, not to mention free, save the couple of bottles of wine we brought over.

And with that, I decided to start throwing parties when good friends’ friends were in town. Starting with Ben’s new girlfriend, in town from New York. Stay tuned!

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