2 days ago
The "Long Lunch" Is The Best Dinner Party For Early Birds
In my thirties, I loved hosting big dinner parties, and they were always over the top. These aspiration-driven affairs always included an ambitious menu of overly complicated recipes that usually resulted in us not sitting down to eat until 8 or 9 p.m. Fueled by adult beverages and hamstrung by repressed hunger, we'd gorge ourselves senseless and linger at the table until well after midnight.
These days, with my fifties just a few years on the horizon, my entertaining style is changing now that I actually need 8 hours of sleep to function. While I'm far from scoping out Early Bird specials and making 4:45 dinner reservations, I don't hate the idea of getting an earlier start—or better yet, shifting my party planning from a late dinner to a long lunch. Let me explain.
Inherently, the words 'dinner party' connote a more formal gathering, leading to questions like 'what do I wear,' 'who's going to babysit the kids,' and 'do I need to clear my calendar for the next day.' In contrast, a long lunch suggests a more relaxed gathering with a finite timespan. It can start at noon, or even a little later, say...2 p.m.
It can be devilishly tempting to overreach if you're hosting a dinner party. If you have an entire day ahead of you to cook and futz, it's easy to get seduced by laborious, overly complicated recipes. While it's totally ok to want to show off for company, committing to a long lunch focuses your energy and efforts into a shorter time span, forcing you to make smarter decisions in the kitchen.
The older I get, the more I appreciate a good night's sleep. When you eat a big meal right before bedtime, you may have more trouble falling asleep. Additionally, even though you're asleep, your digestive system is hard at work, which cuts into your body's rejuvenation time. Finally, depending on what you eat, you're more likely to experience heartburn and indigestion if you go to sleep soon after eating.
I know it sounds like I've got one foot in the grave, y'all—but I really just want to have a fun time and not feel like leftovers the next day. Host your own "Long Lunch" and you'll see what I mean—you'll have a great time AND you'll get a good night's sleep.
Read the original article on Southern Living
