Sunday, November 15, 2009

dinner party fantasies



i've spent some time today, pondering my thanksgiving menu. we've invited a bunch of family and friends and their expectations are high as to experiencing an authentic american thanksgiving dinner, so i've been planning ahead. (the photo above is from last year, where it was a much smaller affair.) i love to cook and i love to have diverse guests and i love to see what happens when people meet and get to talking. so i'm looking forward to that, although i will undoubtedly be in a horrible panic on the day and forget to put at least one key dish on the table. things kind of spiral from my control at the last minute, but i'm old enough now that i've come to see it as part of my charm. or so i tell myself, as i take a giant swig of wine to calm my nerves.

but in all this planning, i got to thinking about dinner parties and guests. and that classic old question about who you would invite to dinner if you could invite anyone, living or dead.  what group would you put together around your table?

some names sprung immediately to mind. dorothy parker for one. her sharp wit and cynicism would be most welcome. slovenian philosopher and prolific writer slavoj zizek would also be most welcome - he straddles postmodernism and whatever it is that's coming next and i'd like to talk about contemporary politics in that light. for husband, we'd have to invite pierre bourdieu, because nearly all of husband's theories about everything are based on his notion of cultural capital. for husband's sake, we'd also have to invite nytimes columnist thomas friedman. i'd love to see what would happen between him and zizek. and because i would have written my dissertation on their works, i'd have to invite russian writer andrei bitov and yugoslav croatian dubravka ugresic. i think orhan pamuk, turkish nobel literature prize-winner would add something to the group as well. for a bit of glamour, i was thinking about nigella lawson, and she could maybe even help me out a bit in the kitchen. i'd like an artist or two, but can't really settle on one in my mind...matisse, perhaps? or asger jorn?

of course, this isn't to say that i'm not perfectly happy with the guests who are coming. i am, among them are some of the most interesting people i know...art historians, a musician, an actress, a policewoman, a head of entertainment at a t.v. station, and a couple of the most creative, funniest people i know. but i know that those who are coming would get a big kick out of dorothy, slavoj, pierre, thomas, andrei, dubravka and orhan and they would ADORE nigella. for sure. i mean, who wouldn't?

who would you invite to your fantasy dinner party?

14 comments:

will said...

Samuel Clemens, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, Ansel Adams, Hedy Lamarr, FDR, Marilyn Monroe, Georgia O'Keeffe and George Carlin.

It would be heavenly.

Mari Mansourian said...

i would love to have some of my ancestors for sure... i want to know what kind of people we sprung from you know?... as far as your menu... don't forget we have the recipe swap day coming on the 23rd hosted by yours truly and i think a bunch of people are joining in... so you never know you might find a great recipe or two :)

kristine said...

Prince Harry, Dave Eggers, Stephen Fry, Oprah, Amy Winehouse, and...well, Nigella's a good idea.

I am certain they'd all like to drink wine and laugh. (Amy might be a liability, I concede) (Nigella will be cooking in the kitchen).

And possibly George Clooney. I'd try to get him very drunk.

kristine said...

ps feel free to call me lowbrow.

Delena said...

I would have Johnny Depp, Kevin Costner, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Jim and me!

p.s. someone else would have to do the cooking as I would be a nervous wreck.....

Char said...

all of my family (of course) along with bono, einstein, mary magdalene, amelia earheart, thomas jefferson, katherine parr, matisse, harper lee, soujourer truth, da vinci, jane austen, bette davis, and alfred hitchcock.

The Redhead Riter said...

My family, Robert Frost, Helen Keller, George Clooney, Elvis Presley, Rascall Flatts, Dolly Parton, Emeril Lagasse, Monet, Michael Bublé, Keith Urban, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Jesus Christ...Do you think you can get them all together for me? LOL

Fun question!

Pierre Pochard said...

Pierre Bourdieu...oh yes I would have loved to have him around my table as well. He is definitly one of our intellectual we are missing the most in France...Pierre, rest in peace...

Then I would suggest to add Claude Lévi Strauss who recently joined Pierre in heaven :-(
I´m sure his view on structuralism anthropology and thechniques of Etnography would have been most welcomed to comment your post dated the 12th of November

Pierre ;-)

Elizabeth said...

Who would I invite? Probably musicians, lots of them, Jim Houser and some friends I lost. Just to have that last heart to heart.

Jelica said...

everyone i would have liked to invite is dead. i wonder what that says about me?

kristina said...

I'm embarrassed to say who'd be at my dinner party...I fear it would be a far less intellectual guest list! K x

christina said...

i love your charm. : )
nigella for sure, bob marley... don't get me started.
lol
xo

Bee said...

I think it's a good idea to invite Nigella! You are definitely going to need some help in the kitchen. On the subject of chefs, I'd like Nigel Slater, too. (BTW, no matter how excited/happy I am to be feeding people, a holiday dinner always makes me feel a bit panicky.)

Thomas Friedman is such a good choice. I wouldn't have thought of him, necessarily, but I think he would be such an interesting guest.

I want Jane Austen and Laurie Colwin, of course!

Ravi Warrier said...

That dinner table looks too inviting. I don't know what's on the table, but I'd like to be there.

Very warm and cosy. Not to mention that it's captured beautifully.

BTW, what was on the table?