Your strangest dinner party experience?

[Paint]

What has been your strangest dinner-party experience?

When we first moved to the USA 4 years ago, we were invited over to dinner twice during the first month, by our neighbours and by my husband's new work partner. On BOTH occasions we were served ready-made frozen lasagne, along with green bean casserole (made with tinned mushroom soup) and a salad.....of course, we appreciated the hospitality of our hosts, but for sometime afterwards were under the misguided impression that nobody actually cooked over here LOL!

Another strange dinner party occurred many, many years ago, when we invited over a friend and his new girlfriend - and then my husband kindly informed me that the girlfriend was a professional chef.....to say I stressed over that meal was an understatement, as it was one of the very first dinner parties I had ever done! I really went to town by serving a Veal a la creme flambe, and a multi-layered marron-glace pavlova. The girlfriend/chef was very gracious and kind, so I needn't have worried!

What are your dinner-party stories?

Paint.

 

[LEFSElover]

it wasn't really strange, but it was very different
a friend of mine, a client actually, went with her boyfriend to Alaska.
when they came home, they hosted an Alaskan dinner party.
they asked everyone to bring a dish that related to an Alaskan cruise theme, and then we all played Trivial Pursuit. They put up posters all over the house, in the rooms where the part was held. It was a great time.
But very odd. My DH and I didn't know anyone except her and her boyfriend. We had a ball and of course, the girls won the TP game. We had for dinner, smoked salmon, baked Alaska, and other foods that related to the subject.

 

[Pam Leavy]

Paint, how nice to meet you. I am an American ex-pat, from Colorado, currently residing in The Netherlands!

Where abouts are you in Colorado?

Strange dinner parties...this goes back a ways, but when in School we had a dinner party once with only white food. It was strange. (I was a fine Arts student)

Pam

 

[lyndalou]

How is this for strange?
Several years ago, when we moved here, we were invited to join a supper club. Each month a couple would host dinner, provide the entree, and wine and the others would bring side dishes and dessert. Well, we took the first month. Just as we were starting dinner, one of the women, removed her dentures, not so discreetly, and wrapped them in a tissue and put them on the table, saying "I can't eat with my teeth in." I was flabbergasted, but managed to keep my cool...until after everyone left. Then I laughed so hard it hurt.

 

[Pam Leavy]

Lyndalou, that is an incredible story!!

Pam

 

[Paint]

Oh, that's so funny!! Years back, when my brother in law was celebrating his 18th birthday, my Father in Law arranged for a professionally catered BBQ for his party. Now, my Father in Law is reknowned for having eyes bigger than his stomach and for eating way too much food wherever he goes....anyway, he loaded his plate up with an absolute mountainful of food then sat down in one of the fabric-covered folding chairs on the patio to eat....only the fabric couldn't take the weight and his backside tore right through the fabric, folding his body up like a sandwich with his dinner squished all over his chest. He was stuck there, and no-one could help him because we were laughing so hard. He wasn't so happy though LOL!

Pam - that's such a coincidence, I was an Art Student too (way back), now I'm training to be a nurse, but I still love painting these beautiful Colorado mountains in watercolour I see you also love fairies - one of my favourite fairy artists is Amy Brown, her fairies are so cheeky looking! My daughter (14) draws fairies all the time, using coloured pencil - we are going into town tonight because she has some of her artwork on show in the Young Artists Showcase exhibition

Paint.

 

[pdswife]

This isn't really strange... just a nice story.

About a month ago Paul and I were invited to an open house/ engagement party for a good friend of ours. Half way through the evening the hosts went up to the top of their stairs and asked for our attention. We figured that they were just going to welcome us all to their home and say thanks for coming... instead a minister joined them and they said their wedding vows!

It was by far the best wedding I'd ever been too. No presure.. everyone was happy and relaxed and wow.. the bride and groom were SO in love. It was great.!!

 

[GB]

That is VERY cool.

 

[mudbug]

that was a great idea, pdswife. We did something similar for our wedding reception. Had a pig roast about a month after. The invitations told everyone to bring their own lawn chairs. We had a blast.

 

[Bangbang]

Went to a xmas party where Rocky Mountain Oysters were served.

 

[pdswife]

that was a great idea, pdswife. We did something similar for our wedding reception. Had a pig roast about a month after. The invitations told everyone to bring their own lawn chairs. We had a blast.

Wonderful! Much more relaxed and low key than a planned reception right after the wedding.

 

[Claire]

There were so many odd ones. But one stands out. We'd just returned to Hawaii for one of our last military assignments, and were invited over to a freinds' for a last blow-out before they left for the mainland. The hostess was definitely THE Hostess with the Mostest. Always threw great dinner parties of exotic ethnic cuisines, great props and drinks, casual, fun. Well, one of the guests made comments a couple times about parts of my anatomy. Huh? I was dressed very modestly (a polo shirt and pleated shorts), especially by Hawaii standards (heck, that's practically formal there). I sure wasn't anyone's idea of a dream girl. I just put him off, and eventually we sat down to table, and our hostess mentioned her lifetime dream of retiring to a little place in the country in France (you have to understand in this crowd all were well-travelled, all had lived overseas for at least a half-dozen years, many were at least bilingual). This man started yelling at her because she was unpatriotic! This in a crowd where everyone had served at least 15 years in the military! Our hostess was a pistol, though, and collected hats. She had a communist Chinese military cap (given to her husband in exchange for his by a Chinese soldier). She put it on, and proceeded to march around the table singing the Marseilaise (sp). Her guest, instead of seeing that it was a joke, grabbed his wife by the arm and said they were going to leave this hotbed of anti American feeling, and they left. We were laughing so hard we were falling off of our seats. Hubby and I thought it was a huge practical joke (typical for our hosts). It turned out the guy was having a hard time in dealing with his impending retirement, and had gone off the male menaupause edge of the pool. He'd made similar comments about other women's body parts during the party -- simply not normal in our crowd. We were the only couple who didn't know him and they all said it was way out of character. But we've laughed about it for years since!!

 

[Chopstix]

This was my best friend's experience, not mine:

She and her husband attended a group dinner at a colleague's new house. The food was abundant and sumptuous but every dish was so rich and laden with cholesterol. There was absolutely nothing safe to eat. My friend couldn't believe her eyes and ate with so much anxiety for her and her husband's health.

Anyway, a year passed and they got invited to the same house for another group dinner. My friend was dreading the food but went anyway. Guess what? The table was laden with exactly the same dishes as a year ago.

 

[buckytom]

a very ecclectic friend/co-worker of mine invited myself and dw to a party in his apartment down in noho (north of soho) a few years ago. he and i were drinkin buddies, and whenever we got trashed, we would start to talk about really odd philosophy and religion, but that was just between he and i, so i figured a party with lots of our comrades was safe.
when we entered his place, we were immediately whisked in to the living room, where, surrounded by other shocked couples, a girl did a dance to the full moon, mostly undressed, with a 10 foot banana python. it was very suggestive, if you are a cold blooded reptile, or from another planet.
after the "show" we wandered into the rest of the apartment, only to find little groups of his friends, hanging out together in various rooms.
i the kithchen were a gang of lesbian biker chicks (who were really cool and a lot of fun, and were cooking up a storm), and in one of the bedrooms was a mixed group of flamingly gay men, a rabbi and his son, and some members of the nyc hell's angels, all playing a big tournament of chess. we ended up coming in second in the tournament, partly because the "girls" in the kitchen scared dw, and partly because everyone sucked at chess.
i was ok with all of this, but dw was pretty freaked out, and wondered what type of guy i was to have such odd friends.
the whole way home, i tried to explain to her that while it was a bit of a freak show, it was actually a good thing to see so many people letting their freak flags fly, and all getting along and having fun.
we haven't been back since, but i'm looking forward to seeing how much the python grew someday...

 

[Pam Leavy]

Pam - that's such a coincidence, I was an Art Student too (way back), now I'm training to be a nurse, but I still love painting these beautiful Colorado mountains in watercolour I see you also love fairies - one of my favourite fairy artists is Amy Brown, her fairies are so cheeky looking! My daughter (14) draws fairies all the time, using coloured pencil - we are going into town tonight because she has some of her artwork on show in the Young Artists Showcase exhibition

Paint.

My daughter did the fairies for me (14 in March). The exhibition sounds fun. Where do you live? In Denver? I grew up in the Denver area, went to school in Greeley and taught in Lamar.

 

[lyndalou]

I think Buckytom gets the prize. What an evening that must have been.

 

[buckytom]

lol, thanks lyndalou. it was an experience. every time i mention to dw that i'm goin out for a beer with the guys, and my buddy joe (who threw the party) is one of them, i just get that look from her.

 

[Paint]

Pam - I'm out in Falcon, about 10 miles east of Colorado Springs

Paint.