Staying in – it’s the new going out
IF the phrase “dinner party” sends a chill down your spine with thoughts of a hostess along the lines of Margo from The Good Life, well things have changed.
Staying in is the new going out these days as the cost of going to a restaurant is encouraging many people to cook at home for their friends instead.
And home cooks are not just sticking to tried and tested recipes they are going to evening classes to learn how to cook an array of cuisines from around the world to share with their friends.
The Adult Learning Service in the county offers courses in the coming months including Spanish, Italian, Indian, Chinese and Moroccan cookery as well as gastro pub style and desserts. Many are just one-day courses.
One of their tutors is Rashmita Shah who has been teaching for 10 years. She teaches Indian cookery as well as a variety of other nations’ cuisines. She finds that her students cook what they have learned on her courses for their friends and then the friends come on the courses too.
She said: “Eating out is so expensive. Personally myself I do Indian cooking and if I go out to eat I always come back disappointed. The people who have come on the courses they have had a curry night over Christmas and all of them say they would rather do that than go out or get a takeaway. And it’s so quick.”
She recommends going for the full three courses when cooking for guests, she said: “Don’t forget dessert, the dessert is most important.”
And she does not go along with the often repeated advice to avoid cooking something you have never cooked before when you are having people round. She said: “Give it a go because that is when you will find inspiration. As long as you have fun.”
Entertaining at home can also cut out the difficulties some people have with food allergies which can make eating out problematic. Rashmita tries to get across to her students that recipes can be flexible and adaptable so it is easy to leave out the problem ingredient and perhaps replace it with something else,
She said: “It’s lovely when somebody has prepared something especially for you and it’s so easy to do main dishes and omit what is not suitable for somebody.”
And Rashmita has some excellent advice for anyone who feels under pressure and stressed when they invite people around to their home for a dinner party... “Don’t do it.”
She said: “I say enjoy cooking and remember to think you are doing it for pleasure. If you don’t enjoy it, don’t invite people.”
Another of the Adult Learning Service tutors is Rama Ram who has been teaching Indian cookery for 30 years. She said: “I am very passionate about it. I teach what I learned from my mother.”
She also believes one of the major benefits of cooking at home rather than eating out is cost. She said: “It’s a quarter of the price you would pay, that’s the main attraction and also you know the ingredients going in to it.”
But she also believes it is a pleasure in itself and she aims to get this across to her students. She said: “It’s one of those creative arts and they will feel happy about it. People appreciate the effort you have made and you can produce a nice meal and everybody can be happy and satisfied.”
But if the stress of inviting people around for a dinner party gets too much, just do what one of my friends does and take the pressure off by simply calling it “coming round for your tea”.
For more information about Adult Learning Service cookery courses and to enrol, call Northampton 237418.
Email to a friend
Print this page- BREAKING NEWS: Tributes paid to Niamh Curry as brave five-year-old loses battle against cancer
- BREAKING NEWS: Pensioner dies after collision at Northampton shopping centre
- Man tied to tree and beaten on Northampton Racecourse
- BREAKING NEWS: Seven-year-old boy dies following house fire in Northamptonshire
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Saints’ stadium plans get support as long as traffic issues solved
- Staff strike at Northampton school over academy plans forces closure
- Eastern European pupils helping school standards across Northampton
- Vow to crack down on anti-social behaviour across Northampton’s eastern district
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Northampton
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.