Our sitter arrives tonight, but since it’s a bit on the late side (9 pm) we will enjoy a welcome dinner tomorrow night before our departure the day after that.
Our sitter is vegetarian and avoids cheese, but will eat eggs/milk/butter if it’s cooked into something.
So our menu will be grilled portobello mushroom ‘burgers’ marinated in soy sauce, honey, and garlic; grilled corn on the cob; and a quinoa salad with cucumbers and tomatoes in a garlic-infused olive oil and lemon dressing. Dessert will be a small cherry cobbler.
Prepped the quinoa salad and cobbler today, so that leaves tomorrow to pack up. The mushrooms and corn are easy for me as my husband will be in charge of the grill tomorrow.
Since the weather has (finally) cooled quite a bit, we are hoping to be able to enjoy dinner outside! Here’s to the beginning of the end for us - our last sitter for quite awhile!
Thank you! I love cooking so it’s actually a treat for me! Maybe I should start a catering business for local THS HO. I can deliver a proper welcome meal for arriving sitters 
All your efforts and thoughtfulness deserve excellent sitters. Enjoy your holiday.
Need any tomatoes I’ve got a glut!
Gorgeous looking tomatoes! Yes please send some here!!
There’s plenty to go around! See you soon 
Thanks! I think he will be great!
@Felinelover, kudos on welcoming and respectful gesture.
We recently finished a Canadian housesit where pet parents cooked us a meal during handover, then we cooked them a meal on their return. With refreshments. Housesitting can be much more enjoyable when it’s civilized rather than transactional. Enjoy.
Thank you and I whole-heartedly agree!
We had a lovely welcome dinner last night, our sitter has settled in well and my dog has already bonded with him. We are ready to depart for our trip today, very relaxed knowing our home and pets are in good hands.
Wish I was closer @BonnyinBrighton - they look so delicious (unlike the ones in the shops which are generally tasteless).
I love the ones you find on the continent which are misshapen but nice and juicy.
That’s precisely our objective 
. Indeed the origin of our Forum username.
For many - not all - pet parents then the whole housesit experience can migrate initial task mindset of diligent pet care and/or due property oversight to a higher level emotional mindset of embarking on a stress-free trip. This necessitates two-way trust. Kudos on making that happen.
Enjoy your trip.
Yes it’s so nice when it truly feels mutual 
