Entertaining with Family

Come along as Chef Jojo shares a special night of entertaining with family, complete with tacos, tequila and mariachi!

I’m fortunate to have been raised in a family where entertaining others was a way of life. Our doors were always open for hospitality, and we often had someone or other staying with us.

My brother and I knew we could have friends over and my Mum would always have fresh baked biscuits to nibble on. And they were always welcome to join us for dinner.

Life always felt centered around parties and gatherings, and it seems, even to this day, we are always planning a celebration. Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, milestones–celebrating life is fundamental to our family.

Although I have lived in America for forty years, I still manage to keep in great touch with all the family back in England, which isn’t always easy. Did you know I have twelve first cousins?

We find ourselves going back to England annually, and, of course, we have loads of visitors from England throughout the year.

All these visits are surrounded by wonderful meals, drinks and conversation! Even though we might not see each other as often as we would like, we all tend to carry on like it was yesterday!

I have one cousin who also moved to America about ten years ago as he was allured to the American way of life. As it turns out, he settled in Los Angeles. So, my cousin and his family, my brother and his family and my parents all live in a ten-block radius of each other. And we all take turns hosting family dinners. How special is that?!

We all take the time to cook for each other and occasionally, do a potluck situation. Coming from the food world, I always seem to have something to add to provide for such meals!

Today, I am sharing with you the menu from when my cousin Max visited from France for four days. Naturally, this called for a dinner among the local family to decide how we will all dine together when Max arrived–in between all the hiking, surfing, beaching and bowling we would be doing, too, of course. As a family, we must all have cooking and planning genes, huh?

Here is the menu we decided on:

Max stayed at Mums so she decided to host that first night, which was actually the first day of school for my nephews and niece–George, Miles and Zoey–but they did not want to miss out on spending time with Uncle Max. It was an evening of margaritas, tequila and tacos! Mum took control of setting the table, as usual. She even took the festivities a step further with bunting and a live mariachi! She just cannot help herself!

Aaron and Ross commanded the flames of the BBQ and cooked the meats. Alley, the cocktail expert, whipped up the margaritas, and Dennis was the master of choosing the wines and tequila. Lauren handled the sides of salsa, guacamole and salad. For dessert, I made a tres leches cake and churros with chocolate sauce. I also cooked the black beans and Spanish rice–cannot forget those!

George, now 10 years-old, has already refined the art of pouring the wine. You can never be too young to start learning the ropes of entertaining with family!