Home: My New Best Friend: Heavenly Hostess

To that end, this summer, my plan is to invite my out-of-town pals to dinner at Dmitri’s on 23rd Street. We’ll wait for an outside table and then go for a walk around Fitler Square, either before or after an evening ride along the Schuylkill, doing the loop from the Art Museum to Falls Bridge so they can see the boathouses all lit up. It’s sightseeing, in the mellowest sense of the word.

It’s also become increasingly popular for hosts to leave presents for their guests. I love to go to Center City’s Grocery (101 South 13th Street, 215-922-5252) and fill the shop’s vanilla-colored tins with little treats for my guests to snack on: Sparkling lemonade, bottled water, fancy tea bags, trail mix and Moravian cookies all go over well. If he’s in, John, the manager, will wrap it all up with cellophane and beautiful brown, blue or white ribbon. This way, guests don’t have to feel like they’re imposing if they want a snack in between meals. Or, if nothing else, they can dive into their little baskets of nibbles during the ride home. Of course, Sheila likes to take it one step further. She leaves her guests “sachets, soaps, freshly baked cookies or a bag of jelly beans. And a good poetry book is also a thoughtful gift.”

The minute she said it, I thought, of course! So few people buy poetry books for themselves, and a poem or two is the perfect read for when you’re up a little later than usual in a new bed. This summer, my guests will receive lovely little collections by my favorites: Elizabeth Alexander, Deborah Garrison and Peter Filkins.

My last question for Sheila was about becoming a better guest. For years, I prided myself on bringing fresh flowers to people’s houses. Why, I wondered, would my exquisite bouquet end up languishing on a kitchen counter, wilting in its lovely cello wrap? Sheila easily cleared up the matter. “While I love flowers, I’m not a big fan of bringing them to people’s homes unless they are in a vase already,” she said. “Otherwise, it means that the host has to take time out to cut the stems, find an appropriate vase, arrange the flowers, etc., which ultimately takes away from time spent with friends.” And of course, spending time with friends is what it’s all about.