Last minute dinner party war/horror stories?

Wow, bouldergalintokyo, you fit 48 people in a Japanese apartment??? I am I impressed. I hope you had a real oven. When I lived in Japan all I had was a rice maker and one burner...funny about the shoes!

My third year in Japan, I was giving a 'finishing the class" party for 48 classmates of my husband and their wives. I was concentrating on an American Thanksgiving meal with extra side dishes, plans going great. I figured out seating arrangements in this very small 2 room apartment, plans going great. What I had forgotten was, what do you do with 96 shoes in a land where everyone removes them at the door? PANIC greatly! A neighbor lined three flights of stairs with newspaper and everyone placed their shoes up in perfect pairs. Be flexible.

I keep some frozen dim sum on hand. Easy to steam. And whip up a couple of sauces. (make hot mustard with Coleman's English mustard powder and water, and a soy/ginger/garlic sauce and some plum sauce or sweet sour sauce (simple sugar/vinegar/ water/ketchup/ cornstarch slurry to thicken).
A can of shrimp with a rice vinegar or lime dressing on lettuce. No lettuce? Ice water vinegar/ rehydraded wakeme seaweed)
Miso soup Or egg drop soup is easy to whip up. A drained package of tofu cut into 'french fry' cut dusted with cornstarch and fried. (served in a shallow dish with sauce of soy/mirin/sake..and dried bonito flakes and green onion for garnish), or frozen egg rolls for a fried element.

If six people show up unexpectedly they get 'nosh' type food, not full service.

When I was in my early twenties, before I learned to cook, I had invited a couple over for a dinner of an expensive, high end, pre-made lasagna that was placed in the oven in its deep dish aluminum pan. After an eternity in the oven, it was finally ready to come out. As I slid the enormous tray out of the oven, it twisted under its own weight. Half ended up on the floor, half on the open oven door where it began to sizzle and smoke. I picked up the phone, ordered pizza (which took over an hour to be delivered) and ended up offering endless apologies to the couple who were ravenous and jet lagged after a long flight from Europe.

I usually have lots of greens on hand, kidney beans, artichokes and olives in the pantry. Or, spinach, walnuts, dried cranberries and blue cheese. All im saying is that an interesting salad can help stretch any meal..

Went to a dinner party for 50 people at the home of the Stouffer's family. Caterer never should up. So..you guessed it, we went into the garage freezer and had a Stouffer's feast. At least the bar inventory was there.

We have pizza night at our house often enough that we usually have the fixins at hand. It is actually a fun event when we announce "come out to the kitchen and decorate your pizzas." I roll out 8" dough circles and have all the ingridients out for people to choose and have fun with. guests always share their creations with each other and the last comment of the night we always get is "We need to do this again, seriously, when can we come back."

Touch on green,own me a Coke,hardlikearmour!Take out!...or you could have some pasta put aside for when the "show-upers" decide to show up!

Take out!