Impromptu

"adjective - something done without being planned, organised or rehearsed"

We had an impromptu guest yesterday - there we were, at after church coffee, and it was miserable wet, day. And she was standing by the serving hatch and I wondered to myself how she'd be spending her afternoon. I had a quiet word with Bob, then invited her to join us for Sunday lunch. "nothing special" I stressed.

I had done the minimum of weekend meal planning for the two of us - Saturday morning a chicken casserole went in the slo-cooker before I did the School Fair, for our evening meal - and there was more than half left on Sunday. And I wanted to maximise oven use, so when I cooked the breakfast croissants, I also prepared two part bake baguettes [we were running out of bread] and also baked some puff pastry which was in the fridge.

I used my individual Hornsea bowl as a template and cut out 4 circles of pastry. The remainder I divided into 6 and rolled round chunks of dark chocolate to make rustic 'pain au chocolate' type pastries. And I also put a rice pudding in the slocooker. I'd thought this would provide Sunday's meals for the two of us. 

But it stretched very easily. 

I divided the casserole between three of the bowls, and heated them through thoroughly, popping the pastry 'hats' on for the last 5 minutes. These were served with boiled potatoes, and peas.

"This is not a pie, it is a casserole with a hat!" I said - and it tasted fine**. Our guest declined the rice pudding - but fortunately I could offer a bowl of fruit as an alternative dessert.

**This was a roll of Aldi puff pastry. I found it better- less oily- than Lidl's. But still prefer Sainsburys [or Jus-Rol if it is on offer] for flavour and consistent results.

Yesterday we chatted and laughed, and learned a lot more about each other. So much easier to do that in the relaxed atmosphere of home than while you are standing, balancing a cup of coffee, in the church hall!  I remember when I was young and single, and Sunday was the day I got most homesick, missing my own church, and family lunch with my Mum, Dad and brother. 

Preparing a fancy meal for family or friends can be good fun - Making An Effort - but occasionally the impromptu 'come back for lunch with us' invite is important and worthwhile. I need to remind myself to do this more often.