9x things that are incredibly annoying at dinners with friends
We’re nice people here at the FavorFlav editorial team, really! Generous, sociable, always up for a drink here and a dinner there. But that doesn’t mean everything always goes smoothly. There are some things that really get on our nerves. Like when that expensive bottle of wine you bring doesn’t get served, but ends up in their wine collection instead. Or when you see a disgusting yellow cloth hanging in the kitchen. Be honest, do you hate these things too?
And then there’s a Tikkie afterwards
Wieke: “Asking whether you should bring something means nothing is fully arranged. I bring a bunch of flowers, there’s not enough wine, and afterwards I get a €6 Tikkie, even though I brought a €25 bunch of flowers!”
Since when have you been vegan?
Sharon: “Friends who, while you’re just pushing a lemon into the cavity of a chicken, tell you they’ve recently become vegan. ‘Cowspiracy—you really have to watch it sometime!’ they say, while I’m frantically rummaging through the pantry for a few cans of beans to make a Spanish stew. Eat (or don’t eat) whatever you (don’t) want, but why not say so beforehand? And then you just have to hope they don’t ruin the rest of the evening with stories about climate change and CO2 emissions…”
Uh, hello, where’s that wine going?!
Marcus: “The dilemma of that good (read: expensive) bottle of wine… You’re going somewhere for dinner yourself and have carefully chosen a really delicious and fairly expensive wine. You’ve chilled it beforehand—how much clearer can the hint be? Not clear enough, apparently, because after you hand it over, it disappears straight into the local wine collection, only for you to be served some supermarket plonk instead.”
“No, thanks, I’ve just had lunch”
Adeline: “People who don’t understand that you’re not supposed to eat before coming over. I’m making a huge drinks platter because they’re coming between three and four, and they’ve just had lunch? How does that make sense?”
You’re murdering my onion. Thanks.
Lauretta: “I find it incredibly annoying when guests stay in the kitchen the whole time to ‘help’ you—and then you see them chopping an onion and think, ‘oh my god, is this how you chop an onion (read: murder it)?!'”
There I was with my deviled eggs
Sabina: “We went to friends’ house on New Year’s Eve and everyone was supposed to make something to eat. I thought: a buffet, nice and easy, so I brought deviled eggs. Turns out everyone had made incredibly fancy things. Tongue rolls, bisque, something poached, sous vide—oh, give me a break. And there I was with my dish of eggs. They all looked at me like: aren’t you supposed to know something about food? So the annoying thing is: let me know if we’re having a show-off dinner, because then I’ll join in. But I’m not going to spontaneously bring homemade marinated gravlax to a buffet situation, and there I was looking like a complete idiot. And those deviled eggs? They were the first thing to disappear, though…”
The horror of the yellow cloth
Delilah: “I am that guest who would most happily pull up a stool in the kitchen and get involved in everything. Preferably with a good glass of wine, and by all means give me an onion to chop too. (I promise you, Lauretta, I chop very quickly and neatly.) But the moment I most want to run straight out the door is when I see one of those filthy cloths lying on the counter, which is then used to clean the entire worktop before being scrunched up and stuffed against the tap. (Or worse, hung over the tap, including over the end I’m about to pour a glass of water from.) The ultimate horror: when that cloth is also run over the heavy wooden chopping board. Then I’m genuinely crying on the inside.”
Also read:
- 7x things we never buy ready-made #1
- An ode to ready-made garlic baguettes
- How to: make your own pickles
