Garden supper this evening. Would it be reasonable to suggest that guests might leave the table for the football?

[LemonRoses]

We have a ten people arriving for supper this evening. We plan to eat on the terrace, with a 7pm start to catch the last of any sunshine. Clearly if they arrive at 7.15, have drinks and warm spiced nuts/olives then sit down to a starter of crab, we’re not going to be serving the entree until well past 8pm.

I don’t know two of the couples. My guess would be that three, maybe four, of the men would want to see the match. I don’t think most of the women would be particularly interested.

My problem is I wasn’t aware there was a football match this evening and I rather suspect some guests will want to see it.

Do we;

• open the doors so people can pop in and out?
• suggest those that wish cut their food at table and then eat of their knees with a fork whilst watching the television?
• suggest we watch together later?
• not mention to football and hope nobody else does?
• arrange regular update messages from someone who is watching?

If a match is at 8pm, what time will it finish? Should we defer eating until after the match but add in more substantial canapés?

@LemonRoses

Tombero - my soulmate, perhaps. IOW food is fantastic. Lucky you having it on your doorstep. Liz Earle nuts (thanks to the the thread) Bembridge crab served with an IOW tomato salsa made with Arson Fire dipping sauce. Fennel, lemon and garlic pork with a Gallybagger and Romesco tart and warm green been salad. Minghella Ice cream for affogato or Summer fruit cheescake sundaes IOW blue and soft, and Gallybagger with Quarr Abbey green tomato chutney.

Washed down with Adgestone's Something Blue, Rosemary's vineyard medium red or dry white and a bottle of Kinda Lingers to finish.

Unsubscribed One of the funniest threads for ages

Yep. And then the OP posted the above.

VerticalHorizon It's a parody account isn't it?

Well if its not the OP is certainly having a good go at looking like it is.

@VerticalHorizon

Maybe yellow would have been more appropriate!

Yellow cards are bad enough. Red is taking the joke a little too far imho!

Nobody has mentioned the tennis 🙄

Anyway I'd go for plan A and let people decide if/when they want to deviate.

Menu sound lovely, I'm going to start warming my nuts👀

Fans gathering on LemonRoses' lawn in eager anticipation of goals and ganache...

Live scenes:

I just had to google 'affogato'

I'm such a knuckle dragger!!! 😂

It all sounds very delicious. I was unaware that IOW was such an epicurean epicentre!

I just had to google 'affogato'

Isn't he playing in midfield for Italy?

@VerticalHorizon

I just had to google 'affogato'

Isn't he playing in midfield for Italy?

Only after he's warmed his nuts!

Oh you well jumped the shark trying be an ingenue who thinks England are playing in the World Cup final tonight

Enjoyable Though!

Large but isolated gusts of wind reported from IOW onto the mainland. Early indications - sighs of relief all round as op’s email/text is opened and all right-minded invitees are reassured they can enjoy good food, good company AND the football. Earlier reports of shouted arguments from various parts of the island are no longer being received.

Only after he's warmed his nuts!

Yellow card!

@VerticalHorizon

Only after he's warmed his nuts!

Yellow card!

**
It'll be an early bath for you!

I think that you should tell your guests, that your are quite agreeable to having them watch the crucial football if they wish, Half watching it from a table outside,will just mean a lot of noise,and shouting,and constant analysing of all things, the usual football babble. The food will just have to fit around the football somehow.

I’m a bit worried about mixing hot nuts with the Arson Fire dip.

I would not come if you wouldn't let me watch the football match. I'm a woman.

@JoveWhenHeSawMyFannysFace

I’m a bit worried about mixing hot nuts with the Arson Fire dip.

Nothing a good squirt with the soda syphon can't fix

It sounds like you have put in some considerable effort to host the dinner party and I don’t think you should adapt your menu or your hosting.
If you’re not a football fan, it is not your responsibility to know when the big matches are being held or to plan around them. If any of your guests preferred to watch football then they should have declined your invitation.
I would hope that all your guests show you due respect and be present throughout the sit down meal. Ok, you might find that some people struggle with that but I wouldn’t change your set up as you may find that they push boundaries a little further than you would be comfortable with.
Hope the evening goes well

@MMAMPWGHAP

You’ll be lucky if they all turn up unless you clarify what you‘ll be doing. Suspect right now there are 3/4 households having massive arguments.

Haha this!

In the UK, an entree is not a first course dish. It is a second course dish, just before the main dish. (look up the definition).
In North America, it is the main dish because it is the meat dish served after the potage in the order of classical French gastronomy. My Huguenot ancestors were probably too busy founding New Rochelle, New York, in the 1600s to serve meals in protacted courses. As were the Quebecois and the Acadians and other French peoples of the Americas. There can be interesting stories behind why different peoples do the things they do.

You are a smashing host, Lemon.

Be casual about it; suggest guests can either take their food indoors to watch the TV or you can leave the doors open so they can drift in and out.

Not everyone will be worried about the football. Let's face it, it can be watched on catch up and will be repeated (endlessly).

Could you do a main to eat altogether at the table and then have a selection of sweet and savoury bits to put around that people can help themselves to? Maybe not as your menu sounds already well planned and delicious.

Are you going to provide carriages tonight?