Archive for August, 2008
How to Host a Gourmet Dinner
August 9th, 2008 | 
Author: 
Emma Snow asked:
A French philosopher once said that eating alone was sadder than destitution. Certainly, no one likes to eat alone. Now that you have perfected that filet mignon, or vichyssoise soup, (or whatever your signature dish is), you will want to show off to your friends! But hosting a gourmet dinner is much more than good food. In order to truly impress your friends and acquaintances you must use as much skill and attention to details in entertaining as in the preparation of the food. Dont shy away from hosting if you are not by nature the next Martha Stewart. This article contains tips to turn your meal into a real event.
Phase One: Inviting your guests and planning the menu
Unlike barbecues and family reunions, dinner gatherings are meant to be smaller intimate affairs; so your plans should promote lively, yet amiable, conversation. Limit your guest list to six to twelve friends, aiming for around eight. Unless your guests already know each other, you must also do a little social engineering. Consider the interests and personalities of each individual as you make your list. Diversity is great, but make sure your group has enough in common that nobody will feel alienated or left out of the conversation. Be aware of any strong opinions your guests may holdyou dont want your friendly dinner to end up being the clash of the titans!
As you are drawing up your guest list, you will also want to start planning the menu. Your guests may have food restrictions that will affect your menu. If the couple next door is vegetarian and your cousin Dottie is allergic to tomatoes, you may have to exercise creativity in your menu. Take the season into account as well. You dont want the house to be an oven when your guests arrive. Rather, you want the right aromas to greet your guests at the door.
A theme can dictate your menu as well as inspire your d?r (see section two: capturing the right mood). If you are an inexperienced host, its a good idea to choose one big main course and a few easy accompanying dishes. Furthermore, dessert can be kept low-key: ice cream with store-bought cookies, or fresh fruit sprinkled with powdered sugar is always sure to please.
Once you have solidified your guest list, chosen a theme, and decided on a menu, you may want to send out invitations. These dont have to be fancyunless fancy is your theme for the night. Whether the invitations are computer-generated or store bought, addressing the envelopes in your own handwriting gives them a personal touch.
Phase Two: Capturing the right mood
Restaurant owners know that the atmosphere is as important as the quality of their food when making an impression. Preparing your home for guests doesnt have to cost you an arm and a leg, and it doesnt have to be time consuming if you use a little creative thinking, and follow a few simple rules of thumb. Mainly, you should consider the lighting, sound, and table settings.
Nothing creates ambiance like lighting and music. Dimmed lights and candles and soft jazz can turn your dining room into elegance personified. Alternately, playing Vivaldis Four Seasons and opening your windows on a bright sunny day can feel refreshing and Italian. The mood should reflect the meal.
Since the table will be the focal point of your evening, you must give it some thought. If you already have a beautiful dining room table, thats great; but the nights not a bust if you dont. Any long surface propped to the right height will work, and once it is covered with a table cloth no one will know the difference anyway. Think outside the box. I once served country fried chicken on bales of hay topped with red checkered tablecloths and daisies. Ive known friends to set the floorthey literally spread a table cloth on the floor, and used cushions for guests to sit against. If space is tight, or as a last resort, its not a sin to seat guests on the couch with their plates on their laps.
Here are some tips for setting your table. First, use real plates and china. If you dont have them you can buy a set at your local thrift store for almost as cheap as a package of Dixie cups. (Theres no rule that they all have to match&) Likewise, use a real table cloth and napkins. If you have none and funds are tight, try a fabric store. A flat bed sheet works in a pinch. Use your creativity for napkin rings, or check out a book on folding napkins. Consider making name tags, especially if your guests dont know each other, and keep centerpieces short enough to see over comfortably.
Phase Three: The big day
If you have entertained before you know that timing is the biggest challenge you face. You dont want to be rushing around the kitchen getting everything done while your guests try to stop their stomachs from rumbling. However, you dont want everything done so far in advance that it is dried out and tasteless by the time everyone is at the table. Solve this dilemma by setting out appetizers and drinks as your guests arrive. This buys you the time you need to assemble the meal. Make sauces ahead of time and blanch vegetables so that all you have to do is saut?hem. Consider doing the European thing and serving salad after the main course, so that your guests dont fill up before sampling your pi? de r?stance! Keep water and drinks at the table to encourage guests to lingering and conversation.
As a final touch, start your dinner with a traditional toast. This fosters a feeling of community and starts the evening out on festive footing. Without a doubt, drinking to your good health and friendships will make each meal a memorable one.
A French philosopher once said that eating alone was sadder than destitution. Certainly, no one likes to eat alone. Now that you have perfected that filet mignon, or vichyssoise soup, (or whatever your signature dish is), you will want to show off to your friends! But hosting a gourmet dinner is much more than good food. In order to truly impress your friends and acquaintances you must use as much skill and attention to details in entertaining as in the preparation of the food. Dont shy away from hosting if you are not by nature the next Martha Stewart. This article contains tips to turn your meal into a real event.
Phase One: Inviting your guests and planning the menu
Unlike barbecues and family reunions, dinner gatherings are meant to be smaller intimate affairs; so your plans should promote lively, yet amiable, conversation. Limit your guest list to six to twelve friends, aiming for around eight. Unless your guests already know each other, you must also do a little social engineering. Consider the interests and personalities of each individual as you make your list. Diversity is great, but make sure your group has enough in common that nobody will feel alienated or left out of the conversation. Be aware of any strong opinions your guests may holdyou dont want your friendly dinner to end up being the clash of the titans!
As you are drawing up your guest list, you will also want to start planning the menu. Your guests may have food restrictions that will affect your menu. If the couple next door is vegetarian and your cousin Dottie is allergic to tomatoes, you may have to exercise creativity in your menu. Take the season into account as well. You dont want the house to be an oven when your guests arrive. Rather, you want the right aromas to greet your guests at the door.
A theme can dictate your menu as well as inspire your d?r (see section two: capturing the right mood). If you are an inexperienced host, its a good idea to choose one big main course and a few easy accompanying dishes. Furthermore, dessert can be kept low-key: ice cream with store-bought cookies, or fresh fruit sprinkled with powdered sugar is always sure to please.
Once you have solidified your guest list, chosen a theme, and decided on a menu, you may want to send out invitations. These dont have to be fancyunless fancy is your theme for the night. Whether the invitations are computer-generated or store bought, addressing the envelopes in your own handwriting gives them a personal touch.
Phase Two: Capturing the right mood
Restaurant owners know that the atmosphere is as important as the quality of their food when making an impression. Preparing your home for guests doesnt have to cost you an arm and a leg, and it doesnt have to be time consuming if you use a little creative thinking, and follow a few simple rules of thumb. Mainly, you should consider the lighting, sound, and table settings.
Nothing creates ambiance like lighting and music. Dimmed lights and candles and soft jazz can turn your dining room into elegance personified. Alternately, playing Vivaldis Four Seasons and opening your windows on a bright sunny day can feel refreshing and Italian. The mood should reflect the meal.
Since the table will be the focal point of your evening, you must give it some thought. If you already have a beautiful dining room table, thats great; but the nights not a bust if you dont. Any long surface propped to the right height will work, and once it is covered with a table cloth no one will know the difference anyway. Think outside the box. I once served country fried chicken on bales of hay topped with red checkered tablecloths and daisies. Ive known friends to set the floorthey literally spread a table cloth on the floor, and used cushions for guests to sit against. If space is tight, or as a last resort, its not a sin to seat guests on the couch with their plates on their laps.
Here are some tips for setting your table. First, use real plates and china. If you dont have them you can buy a set at your local thrift store for almost as cheap as a package of Dixie cups. (Theres no rule that they all have to match&) Likewise, use a real table cloth and napkins. If you have none and funds are tight, try a fabric store. A flat bed sheet works in a pinch. Use your creativity for napkin rings, or check out a book on folding napkins. Consider making name tags, especially if your guests dont know each other, and keep centerpieces short enough to see over comfortably.
Phase Three: The big day
If you have entertained before you know that timing is the biggest challenge you face. You dont want to be rushing around the kitchen getting everything done while your guests try to stop their stomachs from rumbling. However, you dont want everything done so far in advance that it is dried out and tasteless by the time everyone is at the table. Solve this dilemma by setting out appetizers and drinks as your guests arrive. This buys you the time you need to assemble the meal. Make sauces ahead of time and blanch vegetables so that all you have to do is saut?hem. Consider doing the European thing and serving salad after the main course, so that your guests dont fill up before sampling your pi? de r?stance! Keep water and drinks at the table to encourage guests to lingering and conversation.
As a final touch, start your dinner with a traditional toast. This fosters a feeling of community and starts the evening out on festive footing. Without a doubt, drinking to your good health and friendships will make each meal a memorable one.
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What’s your favorite kind / type of cheese to eat plain?
epic_laydown asked:
if you like gourmet cheeses, please list those! thanks.
if you like gourmet cheeses, please list those! thanks.
Which home party plan company is the best and why?
karlee asked:
From this List: B’s Purses, The body Shop at Home,
Beauticontrol, Cookie Lee Jewelry, Gold Canyon Candle Company, Homemade Gourmet, Kara Vita,Spa Girl Parties, Sensaria Natural Bodycare, Silpada Designs,or Tastefully Simple.
From this List: B’s Purses, The body Shop at Home,
Beauticontrol, Cookie Lee Jewelry, Gold Canyon Candle Company, Homemade Gourmet, Kara Vita,Spa Girl Parties, Sensaria Natural Bodycare, Silpada Designs,or Tastefully Simple.
Organic Gourmet Coffee
boake moore asked:
Today many agricultural products are grown using organic methods and gourmet coffee is no exception. Organic products have a very minimal effect on the environment because there is no use of insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers. All organic produces are certified to ensure that their products are grown in such a way. Expensive and very technical labs must conduct very thorough tests on the gourmet coffee to ensure the product is organic.
The tests will be used to screen for various chemicals and additives.
All organic gourmet coffee must be certified by the US department of agriculture and has a label on it but the FDA only reads the provided tests – they do not conduct the tests. It is certified organic: Coffee which is grown under the standards of the USDA Organic Certification program, without pesticides and under environmentally sustainable circumstances. It will bear the green and white USDA Organic seal.
To include the term organic on packaging, a manufacturer must create its product in accordance with USDA rules. The USDA’s National Organic Program certifies products as organic based on farming, handling, manufacturing, distribution and labeling practices. Requirements include: no antibiotics or growth hormones for animals, animals must be raised on organic feed and have free range to graze, crops must be raised with no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers containing synthetic chemicals, no sewage-sludge fertilizer, no bio-engineered foods or irradiation, and no GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Farming practices should enhance and preserve soil and water. A government inspector must certify the farm after visiting it; farmers must keep detailed records on crops.
100%ORGANIC
All ingredients, not counting water and salt, are organic. Products with this rating can use the green and white USDA Organic seal (image at right).
ORGANIC
At least 95% of the ingredients, measured by weight (excluding water and salt), must be organic. The remaining 5% can only be natural or synthetic ingredients that are not available organically, drawn from a preapproved USDA list. Products manufactured to this standard may use the “USDA Organic” seal on the label.
Organic gourmet coffee is a multimillion dollar industry and each year the sales of this coffee are increasing. Exports of organic coffee are up in most of Europe and North America.
Organic coffee is usually grown in many countries- in Africa, Asia and South America. All over the world people have become organic coffee drinkers, but Americans consume the majority of it.
Today many agricultural products are grown using organic methods and gourmet coffee is no exception. Organic products have a very minimal effect on the environment because there is no use of insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers. All organic produces are certified to ensure that their products are grown in such a way. Expensive and very technical labs must conduct very thorough tests on the gourmet coffee to ensure the product is organic.
The tests will be used to screen for various chemicals and additives.
All organic gourmet coffee must be certified by the US department of agriculture and has a label on it but the FDA only reads the provided tests – they do not conduct the tests. It is certified organic: Coffee which is grown under the standards of the USDA Organic Certification program, without pesticides and under environmentally sustainable circumstances. It will bear the green and white USDA Organic seal.
To include the term organic on packaging, a manufacturer must create its product in accordance with USDA rules. The USDA’s National Organic Program certifies products as organic based on farming, handling, manufacturing, distribution and labeling practices. Requirements include: no antibiotics or growth hormones for animals, animals must be raised on organic feed and have free range to graze, crops must be raised with no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers containing synthetic chemicals, no sewage-sludge fertilizer, no bio-engineered foods or irradiation, and no GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Farming practices should enhance and preserve soil and water. A government inspector must certify the farm after visiting it; farmers must keep detailed records on crops.
100%ORGANIC
All ingredients, not counting water and salt, are organic. Products with this rating can use the green and white USDA Organic seal (image at right).
ORGANIC
At least 95% of the ingredients, measured by weight (excluding water and salt), must be organic. The remaining 5% can only be natural or synthetic ingredients that are not available organically, drawn from a preapproved USDA list. Products manufactured to this standard may use the “USDA Organic” seal on the label.
Organic gourmet coffee is a multimillion dollar industry and each year the sales of this coffee are increasing. Exports of organic coffee are up in most of Europe and North America.
Organic coffee is usually grown in many countries- in Africa, Asia and South America. All over the world people have become organic coffee drinkers, but Americans consume the majority of it.
Posted in Uncategorized |
Comments Closed