gaszapacho made ahead....and grilled shrimp skewers...skewered thed ay before and marinated before you leave in the morning...Crusty bread, or naan ...some seasoned olive oil and there you go!

John, your throw away suggestions in your post sound fine. Do you want critique? Okay, people are weird about fish, so maybe make sure of their fishness before you fish them. Glazy ribs sound delicious, but like they'll get on the paperwork. Chicken with rice and veg, plus salad, is perhaps a bit girly? But very nutritious and should be an easy sell. Linda's skewers sound good, or you could make them with chicken, or beef or lamb. Or maybe do something like the rib thing with boneless, which is easier to consign to a fork.

Or go cold and do a chicken salad with slivered nuts, dried fruit (raisins, blueberries), and crunchy vegetables, and some crunchy bread, with the friend's vegetable salad, that sounds like a good cold dinner for a hot day.

If you want something hot and hardy, how about tacos? Or taco bar to make it even quicker and easier? You can also make all the pieces ahead and then just reheat the meat and grill the tortillas.

I'd get away from the meat+starch+veg type menu. I'd be slightly intimidated invited over for a working dinner and get a formal-ish meal. Make it a lot more informal. Taco bar is good, or a pan full of enchiladas (or both). If these neighbors are not on your usual guest list, be very very casual. Don't scare them off. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I would be pleased, as would a neighbor, but you're creating a subtle barrier. I might think, "Oh, I could never have a meeting of that committee at MY house, I could never do as well."

Taco bar, cold stuff, do-ahead casserole. things like that will be less intimidating.

Cobb salad with grilled chicken on the side, and some fresh bread.
Put couple of different dressings out, and have people put it together themselves.

It's tasty, healthy and perfect for this ridiculously hot weather we're having.

I've done it (but I made a huge Caesar Salad) and everyone was happy.

Chicken Noodle stir fry - simple, lots of veggies and if you use Korean glass noodles or rice noodles, it can be GF. Use tamari instead of soy sauce and you are all set.

Roasted Chicken, Roasted Veggies (Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms and Broccolli) with Polenta. Easy dinner for a week night.

You beat me to it Sushipup, I was going to advise ordering some nice pizza. (Pizza is Nature's most perfect food). Then enjoy your meeting.

Maybe ice cream for desert.

My go-to for a working dinner is usually shrimp, a rice dish made the night before and heated up on the microwave (perhaps with sautéed leeks, sliced mushrooms, and red bell pepper), a salad and bread. No dessert.

Also, I'd have iced tea or lemonade for those who don't need alcohol for inspiration.

Make sushi. That's right, sushi.

Canned crab meat is very good nowadays. Make crab meat sushi roll.

Smoked salmon is enjoyed by most. Make smoked salmon sushi.

Both can be made ahead and no cooking is needed.

dcarch

Oh dcarch, you do make me take off in another direction than what I would have suggested to John_Liu. I would love love love to go to a gathering that served something else besides meat+starch+veg. Who cares if it is intimidating to the guests? It is fast, easy, make ahead, selectively allergy-free, cool weather friendly, and non-messy with few utensils, plus its an easy clean up after the gathering. Besides, they might just start looking for new ideas of their own for their parties! Besides fish/seafood sashimi, there are California rolls and vegetable topped sushi totally vegetarian using just about any cooked vegetable over the traditional torpedo shaped sushi rice . And, if guests don't like rice, then they can pick the vegs' off and just eat that!

Nancy

Forgot to mention that for every party I've ever had --- it takes TOO
long to grill anything, no matter how often you have done it and how
adept you are at it -- there will be people milling about who want it
like, now! Even if there are only 10 guests! One of the best parties I
had was comprised of bowls of fillings, stack of a few kinds of bread,
lettuce leaves, sliced tomatoes, celery and carrot sticks, radishes,
chilled pickles, roasted/grilled sweet pepper slices, bread slathers
(like butter, mayo, ketchup, Dijon, relish, fancied up like mushroom
duxelles or pesto), and lots of sliced cheese, for DIY sandwiches, plus
chips/scoops/pretzels and any kind of dip, and a bowl of toasted mixed
nuts. The filling choices: yesterday-grilled chicken salad, egg salad,
ham salad, pimento cheese, tuna salad, ground roast beef with onions, or
fancied up eggplant caponata. All of these things can be platter
arranged the day before and chilled, no cooking needed in hot weather,
or for eating it in such. Paper plates, plastic utensils, lots of paper
napkins for easiest cleanup. A lot of ice-breaker yak-yak among the
guests who may not know each other very well is generated by who combo'd
what. For after the meeting I'd suggest ice cream on sticks - Klondike
bars, creamsicles, fudge bars, ice cream sandwiches, or drumsticks.
Easy, simple, and since the meeting might be formal and future shaping
-- memorable.Nancy

Shrimp take like 4 minutes on a hot grill.....have the grill hot and the shrimp on skewers.......lay them on the grill...he's only having 5 or 6 people....wait 5 minutes....serve them up.
A great deal of the fun of a party is standing around the grill with a glass in your hand "kibbitzing".
One of the great exceptions was one pot luck picnic where as we were arriving with our food, the hamburgers were on the grill, already cooked, keeping warm. Needless to say by the time everyone got their food laid out and a plate with a bun, they were hockey pucks!

Don't forget, this is not a party. It is a working meeting with some serious items to be addressed. Of course, you want people to relax and get to know one another, but they are already neighbors involved with this issue. Personally, I'd come to an event like this with an expectation of getting things done and then getting home. A glass of wine? Sure. A light dinner? Sure, But if I thought that this was a party, and meeting items were being dragged out, I would not be happy.

I love my neighbors, and have been to a couple wine-and gab events. But I was also free to walk back across the street at any time. "I can only stay an hour, I have to do some laundry tonight" or whatever.

Decide if it's a party or a meeting.

But....it's John! And he does have certain expectations to be met and standards to uphold!

And I would love to be his neighbor!

Okay, that's it. I'm hiring a guy with a Bobcat to dig a big hole in my yard where I will roast a pig while replacing my sewer line, and use the roast pork in ramen with pork bone broth and fresh noodles that I'll make myself . . .

Or, maybe I'll do something more sensible. Such as you all have suggested.

Now that's a brag! ROTFL!

John,

I am sure we can all make it over for the roasted pig. Are you making the Ramen from scratch? :-)

Never mind the ramen, it's the broth that counts! Start three days ahead, and we'll be there on the date. LOL!

At least here in CA, you couldn't "just" do sushi. We know a surprising # of people who either don't eat seafood or are allergic to rice. Some don't do spicy food. One person can't do tomatoes, loves 'em but they give her severe heartburn.

I keep notes on our friends' food likes/dislikes. It's hard to keep it all straight, even with a good memory!

Even pizza can be a landmine, altho I think it's the best neutral alternative. But you have to get one meat and one veggie, and pray that nobody's vegan.

Isn't this a cooking forum? Seriously would people who frequent a cooking forum order take out for a gathering?

Well, as an infrequent poster, I am not offended although I can imagine that some serious cooks, being mindful of time constraints, would on occasion use 'take out' as at least a partial solution. On the other hand, as lindac correctly said:

"But....it's John! And he does have certain expectations to be met and standards to uphold!"

However, I clearly remember seeing a post in a perhaps two year old WFD thread from John's dinner showing (I believe only) a picture of a package of Ramen. BTW, if John DID actually have plumbing problems requiring a back hoe, I would expect him to be thinking about a pit roast. Two holes John!

Earlier this year, I was informed that my sewer line was the guest line on an failing and illegal party line and that I'd have to install a new line at a cost of $20,000. This was unwelcome news, especially as I was between jobs. But I hired a sewer scope and water jet company who showed that I had my own legal line and that it was in good condition. Bullet dodged! If not, I would indeed have been excavating my side yard.

Digression aside, I've just returned from Whole Foods with:

- Asian marinated beef short ribs

- Bourbon and honey marinated chicken skewers

- A pound of wild rice blend

- Cremini mushrooms

- Beer

- Soft cheese, sliced salami, crackers

The Plan is:

5 pm arrive home, turn on the grill, change out of suit. 5:10 pm open a beer, start rice and chicken stock in pressure cooker. 5:20 pm slice mushrooms and start browning in butter on two of my largest pan. 5:30 pm put ribs and skewers on the grill, take rice off the heat. 5:40 pm set out cheese, salami, crackers. 5:50 pm open pressure cooker, decant rice, mix in browned mushrooms. 6:00 pm set a simple table, people arrive, open wine, distribute draft flyer for review. 6:10 pm remove ribs and skewers from grill, plate, eat.

So, this is pretty close to takeout, I didn't even make the skewers myself. But I just don't have time. Packing tonight for vacation that starts Friday, working on draft flyer, trying to tidy the house for tomorrow. I've been living as a bachelor and there's piles of laundry and newspapers everywhere.

Excellent plan! Take out, but freshly made, rather than congealed, and from a source whence the quality should be decent.

Have a great meeting. And if the piles can be pushed into corners, you'll just garner sympathy for your dear SWIMBO and the neighbors will be disposed to beneficence toward her. :)

By George, I think he's got it!

John, I'm late to the party, but I think you have a good plan. As has been mentioned, it's a meeting, not a party, but I'd not turn down any of that meal! Definitely shove the piles of laundry under the couch or something, though.....

Annie

Perfect!

Meeting successful. Agreed on an action plan, timeline, deliverables. I have to revise and finalize a multi page flyer in coming days, someone else is going to organize a team of volunteers to deliver it to 1800 houses a week from Monday, we're going to get a quick webpage thrown up in coming week, someone else is organizing presenters for a neighborhood meeting in Sept, etc etc.

Oh, the food. I didn't get home until 5:15 pm. So no time to grill. Change of plan. I pulled the chicken off the skewers, sliced the short ribs and mushrooms, fired up the wok and cooked them lickety-split in three batches, just a few minutes each. The 18K BTU burner and cast iron wok really comes in handy when you are in a big hurry. Pressure cooked the rice, made a quick sauce. Neighbor brought a salad. I had D'Affinois cheese and salami and crackers out, and a bottle of white wine chilled. Worked out well. Had food on the table at 5:59 pm. People liked it, finished everything but the rice.

Next meeting at my house, I'm going to call it for a weekend, or for 7 pm.

Good.....and you can always make fried rice from the leftovers.