Post-run brunching, and all the prerequisites

While marathon and Ironman training last year, I had a feeling I was giving up "other" stuff, like keeping my house tidy, other hobbies, having people over for food. Probably in 2014, I didn't actually keep my house any nicer than I did in 2015, but now that I don't have those training excuses, I want to try to make my house a place I'd like to live, instead of just the place I sleep in between exercising and work.

Step 1! Plan to invite people over for brunch.

This led to what should have been Step 0, clean frantically!

I started on Wednesday, and started with trying to resolve the deal-breaker question. With some carpet products, can I erase the evidence of my cats angry tummy and other spills and stuff that had gotten on the carpet over the last few years. Thankfully, the answer was yes, and after spraying some who-knows-what chemicals on the floor and vacuuming it up, I had a much nicer carpet.

Then, I tackled some of the main placed I'd been storing piles of paper and found some clean surfaces underneath a lot of accumulated junk. What isn't shown in the picture below is all the stuff I piled up on the couch as an intermediate step

After the carpet success, I was ready for Step 2! Actually invite people over.

Thursday evening was Step 0.1, continuing the cleaning. I focused on the kitchen, organizing some cupboards to fit things that had flowed out to the counters, cleaning the stovetop and microwave, and moving and wiping down everything. I need to remember that this took like less than 10 minutes and then I had a clean and functional kitchen instead of one where there's no room left to actually cook anything. I wish I had a before & after photo, but before was too embarrassing, and after just looks like a kitchen.

Friday was Step 3, plan the menu and make a shopping list. I knew I wanted to make an eggy breakfast casserole but also wanted to make some vegan food and a hearty soup sounded good.

1. Breakfast casserole: I used a red pepper, instead of green, didn't add sausage, and put in apples, onion and garlic (didn't think that through very carefully, but wanted to use up an apple), and while it wasn't my best breakfast casserole, it also wasn't awful
2. Oatmeal casserole: This was a new thing that came up while I was searching for an eggy dish, and it worked really well. The leftovers this morning were sort of too soggy, so it's best as a 1 day thing, or maybe I made it too moist. I didn't put in the chocolate chips, but it was plenty sweet without.
3. Cauliflower soup: This was very tasty. I added two chopped & sauteed leeks, and then didn't blenderize it,  but did mash it up so the chunks of cauliflower were small. I also added two cubes of veggie bouillon, and it had really great flavor and texture. Since I didn't blend it, it wasn't creamy.
4. Salad + vegan dressing: I was excited to try out nutritional yeast and had had this great dressing which was basically nutritional yeast, dijon mustard, and oil at a friend's party, so I got notes from them and imitated it. It was super tasty, and a great find. I can't find a recipe online that is a simple as hers, so for my records it was: 1/2 C olive oil, 2T dijon mustard, 2T nutritional yeast, salt & pepper as needed, and water if it is too thick. Mix well. 

Saturday was Step 4, shopping, and Step 0.2, clean off the couch. I was amazed that I was able to get the heaping piles of everything condensed into 2 boxes: (1) homeless crafty supplies and (2) things that should get filed in my desk. Those boxes got moved into the bedroom, and ta-da! My house was clean and ready for brunching.

Finally, Step 5! Cook & eat. When Sunday rolled around, it was almost anti-climactic to actually have people over :) The gaps in my planning were filled in when guests brought fruit salad, muffins, cranberry bread, rosemary bread, and a brunching essential, mimosa-makings.

For next time, I would prep the French Press for coffee beforehand, and I might have more pre-eating nibbles or activities. Or, I'll have a smaller group over for a winter dinner and actually use my nice plates and serving dishes. I could have accommodated more (we had 9 people eating), but it would have had to have been with some people sitting on the couch & chairs and eating with plates balanced on their lap.

So the goal of doing something that isn't training in this non-marathon, non-ironman season, has been met! Hopefully I'll not go as long before the next time I host people again :)