The Importance of Dinner Parties

Today we had an impromptu dinner party. Ben invited his cousin, her boyfriend and her two friends over to our flat. We had a wonderful time. I really enjoy dinner parties. It's great to meet people in an informal (and free!) setting, where you can relax, eat and have good conversations. I really like Ben's cousin and her boyfriend. They're both intellectual and worldly people, and I always enjoy talking to them. We've gone to their flat a few times for dinner before, so it was nice to have them over to ours for once! They came over around 6.45, and Ben only started cooking around 5! We had a few Chinese dishes. Ben is a great cook, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Recently Ben has been wanting to see his friends because he hasn't been socialising much, so I was surprised that he stayed on the sidelines and cooked and tidied for most of the evening. As an extrovert, I expected that he'd be keen to jump into the conversation, but actually he said he was tired from cooking and just enjoyed having people in the background! I never thought of this before- I enjoy this too, but I thought it was an introverted thing. I always assumed extroverts needed to be in the midst of conversation. Overall, it was a really lovely evening. Dinner parties are the perfect amount of socialising for me, and I really enjoyed it!