Not Hot Enough... Or Too Hot?

Last night, I hosted a little housewarming gettogether. But, because I plan these things foolishly, nearly all of my invitees couldn't attend, because of prior obligations. You know, midterms, out of town trips, living in another state, that sort of thing. However, it has to be said that this was the only weekend that I have free all month, and then it's December with holiday parties. So, to hold a housewarming in January, three months after I moved in felt, well, dumb.

Never one to be daunted by these apparent setbacks, however, I forged ahead and did the best I could to make my handful of guests feel welcome. Busied around the house picking up, organizing the place, and doing prep work for the real star of the show--the food.

Last night we began with some chips and dip appetizers, coupled with cream cheese stuffed dates, and cream cheese slathered between two slices of dry salami. After the guests arrived, I put the next appetizer in the oven--bacon-wrapped dates. This bought me time to assemble the pizzas. I dug into my Cheeseboard Pizza Collective cookbook for a few of the varieties that I always remember fondly. There was tomato, feta, and lemon zest pizza, roasted potato and onion pizza, and finally prosciutto, goat cheese and kalamata olive pizza. Jeff had to settle for stealing the olives from the last one, since he apparently "don't dig on swine...."

I'm pleased that the kitchen is large enough (with lots of counter space) for me to entertain in my usual style, which is by feeding people. The adjacent breakfast nook/dining area allows guests to loiter and chat while I'm busy in the kitchen. Two thumbs up for the new joint!

But the last tenants of this place were total weenies! I turned on the heater early to ensure that the place wasn't a popsicle inside when the guests arrived. The heater kicked into "ok, I'm programmed for such and such temperature on a Saturday afternoon". Sure, and I know the place runs hot, so I clicked it down to 66 (I knew I'd be baking, too). Around 6pm, the "evening" setting came on. I thought, "gosh, cooking is really adding to the heat in here, but why is the heater still coming on?" I checked the display, and the aforementioned weenies had programmed the "evening" setting for 78 degrees. Hello?! Reminds me of my grandma in Missouri--she'd heat to 80 in the winter, and cool to 60 in the summer. Pick one, and go with it, I say....