When I was a little girl one of my chores was to set the table for dinner every night. It was a task I loathed. While I didn’t mind the actual setting the table part, I despised my mother’s flatware. I thought it was the ugliest stuff I’d ever seen. And for that matter, I didn’t really like the cheap paper napkins we used either. What five year old even notices what forks and knives look like? This one.

I should have known then.

For a very long time I was embarrassed by my own domesticity and tendency toward favoring the, well, decorative arts. After all, I. AM. A. CAREER. WOMAN. I should be spending my time on cerebral activities like thinking; not creating oversized gingerbread houses. However, as my aversion to unattractive spoons suggests, my natural proclivities lean quite heavily toward the home economics category. What’s more, I really do derive an incredible amount of pleasure from contributing to my own domicile. So, I’ve opted to take a post-modern—err—Betty Crocker approach to my “love of doilies.” I’m publicly declaring that it is okay to bake, decorate, plate in an aesthetically pleasing manner AND eat my cake too—all the while blogging about it. So, this blog is about all things domestic. Cooking. Decorating. Throwing groovy parties. You know, the good stuff.

Of course, it all began with a little gingerbread house modeled after my beloved Royce Hall at my beloved Alma Mater.  Read here for the short version in the UCLA Magazine.

The name of the blog comes from an observation I’d made about myself that I thought I’d kept secret: sometimes I like the planning and follow-through of an event, recipe or project more than I like the intended audience. When I finally admitted this to my husband, he rolled his eyes and replied, “ya think.” And so, the Misanthropic Hostess was outed.

Photo Credit: Betwixt Studios

Shoe Credit: Vera Wang

Temporary Tattoo and Educational Credit: UCLA

Leg Credit: The Misanthropic Hostess