To ask for your worst dinner party experiences?

[Smileandtheworldsmileswithyou]

I know there have been threads on this before, I just absolutely love them for some reason. These and the CF ones are the best! I'll start with mine. I had recently moved with my husband to a new country and my new boss invited me and a few other people from work to his house for dinner. When we arrived he was completely pissed, literally stumbling around drunk. He spent ages showing us a lizard on the wall which we all politely commented on, and waited and waited for the food...He then dropped a box of brownies all over the floor that another guest had brought as a gift and laughed about it for ages. Finally we were asked to sit down for dinner, but he said he couldn't carve the chicken so asked me to do it for him. He then came into the tiny kitchen to watch me try and carve it up and told me how I shouldn't worry, he would make sure I passed my probation at the end of the year. He then persuaded my husband to go in and finish off the job with the chicken before asking him if I was happy at work and if I liked him. We finally got to the table and he starts drinking my wine which I just ignore. He then tells everyone that he has made the bread rolls himself, even though I saw them in a packet in the kitchen. He told us a big elaborate tale about where he found the seeds for them. Dessert was finally served at around 1am, by which time everyone was desperate to get the hell out of there. He said we should take it in turns to host, funnily enough no one ever did take him up on that!

Oh God, my DH and I still laugh about this. It was Christmas 2019. BIL & SIL came on holiday for NYE in a touristy spot that happens to be 30-40 mins away from where we live. They were quite a big group & they invited us for dinner (around 6PM). We took wine & Christmas presents for their DC (said dc didn't even say thanks, that word doesn't run in their family).

Ok, so we arrived at about 6. Dinner was peanuts, wine for DH and soda for me (I was driving). We waited until about 8.30, and then decided to leave and have dinner at home. Who the f does that? And ON BOXING DAY!

A fitted dress split on my thigh, resulting in suspender poking through on full view.

@Tooshytoshine definitely wins the thread.

Here is mine, not as exciting as lots of these. I totally ruined the atmosphere of the dinner party by cheerily chiming in when two of them women (I didn't know and one of whom was hammered drunk) were talking about the labour ward. I innocently forgot to mention I was my friend's birthing partner, not in labour myself. Shortly afterwards I mentioned being a childfree person. I was very confused when drunk woman burst into tears, utterly distraught about my baby who died.

I'm in the UK and I've served plenty of cold lunches in the summer.

Sure, in hot weather, like I said. I don't think it's accurate to say that lunch is always a cold meal 365 days a year, or that lunch is never served later than noon.

Family dinner / gathering at in-laws for approximately 15 of us.
DH and I hadn’t been married long, but we’d been together long enough for his family to know I have several food intolerances. MIL was grumbling in advance how much of a pain it was to cater for me which made me feel awkward enough. I offered to have my meal at home and then join them later to save MIL any hassle. She declined and said “no, I’ll make sure there’s lots there for you to eat”.
The day arrives and MIL has made a wonderful meal. Turns out there was nothing I could eat apart from some baguette. MIL sat there smirking at me across the table. I felt hungry and humiliated. I didn’t say anything.
DH’s uncle then got drunk and knocked his glass of wine in my lap.
Had that happened to me now I would have made my excuses and come straight home.

@StarlightLady

A fitted dress split on my thigh, resulting in suspender poking through on full view.

Unlike most of the other anecdotes here, I expect no one minded this.

@TomPinch - I minded. Wearing them can make you feel elegant underneath it all. But certainly wasn’t intended for display 🥵. I popped to the loo and slipped them off.

Admittedly, the dress was very fitted.

I’m in yorkshire, I don’t know anyone who would regularly have a hot meal for lunch unless it was a roast (Sunday Lunch) or eating out, if I was invited for lunch I would expect sandwich or salad type things. The whole lunch, dinner, tea, supper thing is a minefield though!

@SlightlyJaded

Well I'd probably have to say the 'Pom Bears' dinner I had with Mr and Mrs Chopsy... It wasn't awful, but it was bloody bizarre. And then we reciprocated and that was more bizarre...There's a thread in classics if you've got an hour to spare

I remember your thread @SlightlyJaded

Did you ever go to Cornwall with them and have you been to any more of their dinner parties?

So, there are 8 of us in total and as we've not known everyone for that long my husband asks one of the guys what he does for work and then asks what his degree is in

Such a middle class cliche this - what do you do [how much do you earn] and what did you read at university [are you one of us or a technical college mouth breather] in order to work out do we look up to or down at someone. It's the poor wife I feel sorry for here.

@ohforarainyday

What country do you live in, mam0918?

In the UK a roast is usually a lunchtime meal, traditionally served around 1pm or 2pm.

Lunch never means a cold meal, unless you're an office worker eating a sandwich. I might make a cold lunch if I was alone at home pottering around and wasn't hungry, but I would never serve a cold lunch for guests unless it was boiling hot.

Noon is fairly early for lunch. 1pm is pretty standard lunchtime in the UK. If I was invited for lunch at lunchtime I'd certainly expect a proper full meal.

yes the UK... you ever seen the lunch menu in most places? 5-6 days a week the majority eat lunch food - sandwhiches, salads etc...

In fact dictionary discriptions are:

Lunch (noun) - a meal eaten in the middle of the day, typically one that is lighter or less formal than an evening meal.

Dinner (noun) - the main meal of the day, taken either around midday or in the evening.

A roast is NOT lunch lol.

@mam0918 Yes, but if you're inviting people for a meal at lunchtime, you are very likely to cook a 'proper' meal.
Of course you can have a roast for lunch! There is no law against eating hot food at lunchtime 🤨

yes the UK... you ever seen the lunch menu in most places? 5-6 days a week the majority eat lunch food - sandwhiches, salads etc...

Only workers reliant on supermarkets, and only because they have no choice. A sandwich for lunch is a "I don't have time for a proper lunch because I'm rushing about" thing. Sandwiches are only a standard office worker lunch because so many people are overworked and rushing around.

Workplaces with canteens serve hot food at lunchtime. Why would they do that, if eating hot food at lunch is so rare? Everywhere I've ever worked, we've had a hot catered cooked meal provided at lunchtime, with pudding.

Look at the lunch menu of any restaurant, it might be slightly lighter dishes but will all be proper meals and often 2-3 courses. I've certainly never seen a restaurant lunch menu that wasn't proper meals. Why someone would even book a restaurant for lunch if they just wanted to gobble down a cheese and pickle?

Of course most people don't eat a proper lunch every day because most people work and are busy, but we're not talking about an office worker cramming a sandwich down their mouth at their desk, we're talking about a social occasion. If I was invited to someone's house for a meal I'd be pretty shocked if they threw me a Tesco meal deal!

Nothing wrong with a roast for dinner but traditionally a roast is a Sunday afternoon meal.

Yoghurt soup.

(It was 1983 - that I still remember, tells you how vile it was).

The whole lunch /dinner/sups thing is a minefield.

I take on board what people are saying about lunch being a lighter meal and often cold. But in our house that's likely to be true of dinner too. And if I invited people over for Sunday lunch and gave them a salad or soup and a sandwich instead of a roast 'dinner' with meat, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puds and two desserts etc there would be a mass walkout. And even though it's called a roast 'dinner' it would be too heavy to eat at dinner time. Which here in London is probably considered to be between 7 and 8pm - until some of you come along to tell me different!

A work colleague invited the rest of us for supper - not a dinner party, just a nice relaxing evening. We all arrived, sat chatting for a bit with drinks, till host said, well, I'd better start making dinner. She disappeared into the kitchen and produced aubergine parmigiana about an hour and a half later. The rest of us got through a large bag of crisps, trying to be polite about sharing.

@Bloodybridget

A work colleague invited the rest of us for supper - not a dinner party, just a nice relaxing evening. We all arrived, sat chatting for a bit with drinks, till host said, well, I'd better start making dinner. She disappeared into the kitchen and produced aubergine parmigiana about an hour and a half later. The rest of us got through a large bag of crisps, trying to be polite about sharing.

I don't quite understand, did she cook just for herself?

Just the time I undercooked the steak. Had to put them back on the pan while everything else went cold

Loving the stories here! Wish I had more exciting tales to tell

@ohforarainyday

yes the UK... you ever seen the lunch menu in most places? 5-6 days a week the majority eat lunch food - sandwhiches, salads etc...

Only workers reliant on supermarkets, and only because they have no choice. A sandwich for lunch is a "I don't have time for a proper lunch because I'm rushing about" thing. Sandwiches are only a standard office worker lunch because so many people are overworked and rushing around.

Workplaces with canteens serve hot food at lunchtime. Why would they do that, if eating hot food at lunch is so rare? Everywhere I've ever worked, we've had a hot catered cooked meal provided at lunchtime, with pudding.

Look at the lunch menu of any restaurant, it might be slightly lighter dishes but will all be proper meals and often 2-3 courses. I've certainly never seen a restaurant lunch menu that wasn't proper meals. Why someone would even book a restaurant for lunch if they just wanted to gobble down a cheese and pickle?

Of course most people don't eat a proper lunch every day because most people work and are busy, but we're not talking about an office worker cramming a sandwich down their mouth at their desk, we're talking about a social occasion. If I was invited to someone's house for a meal I'd be pretty shocked if they threw me a Tesco meal deal!

Nothing wrong with a roast for dinner but traditionally a roast is a Sunday afternoon meal.

All the men in my family bar DH work in manual labor and ALL take cold pack lunches, its certainly not just an 'office' thing but my DH who works in an office usually has sandwhiches too as do his co-workers.

Just looked a 5 local 'lunch' menus and the majority of the lunch menu is made up of sandwhich options, often with other light options like soup or jacket potatoes (which yes arent 'cold' but are proper cooked meals) and yes Ploughmans (cheese and pickle as you put it) was on every menu.

Do you honestly think its common for the majority to be wolfing down a roast dinner monday-saturday at noon?

If so your seriously misinformed, a roast is never 'lunch' not by discription and certainly not by common usage and its nothing to do with which job you hold.

*arent proper cooked meals

@mam0918 No one is expecting to have a roast dinner every lunch time, but there is a lot between that and a sandwich which could be a hot lunch - bowl of pasta, jacket potato, fish and chips!
Granted, most days I have a sandwich or similar for my own lunch, but if inviting people over I may well want to cook something, probably a lasagne. It doesn't have to be a big formal meal.

Also, if a roast isn't lunch then what are all these carvers places doing? Oh yes, cooking and selling roast dinners at lunchtime - every day 😮

God i love Brits arguing about food timings🤣
Roast dinner is served at lunchtime because its too big to have at dinner time because you don't need breakfast and lunch before it and you would still be full and uncomfortable at bedtime. If you get peckish in the evening you can have leftover sandwiches.

Just the time I undercooked the steak. Had to put them back on the pan while everything else went cold

Is it possible to undercook steak?

@Shade17

Just the time I undercooked the steak. Had to put them back on the pan while everything else went cold

Is it possible to undercook steak?

For some of our family it certainly is. You could put theirs on at breakfast and they wouldn't complain. I put theirs on about 10 minutes before I flash ours in and out of the pan!

One way round the perennial steak issue is to cook a piece of fillet instead of individual steaks. Brown it 10 seconds each side in a super hot pan to get the Maillard reaction that gives flavour. Wrap in foil and put a 240 degree oven for 12 minutes. Then leave to rest. Slice it very thinly when ready to serve and serve on a platter of rocket leaves. . The outer slices will be well done gradually changing to very rare in tthe centre so people can pick their preferred level of doneness. If you end up with too much rare and not enough well done for the guests it only takes 5 seconds a side in a hot, lightly oiled frying pan to cook some of the raw rare slices through. This method also has the advantage of making the same weight of meat serve more people. Good for the arteries, the planet and the bank balance.