The art of a successful dinner party

I found this article on canada.com which reinforces what I write about in this blog but my advice would be to plan as far in advance as you can. You know how busy are lives are at the moment? The more notice the better I feel! Here's a snippet from the articles anyway:

Going by the moniker Love That Chef, private chef Lillooet Fox, who spent a decade cooking for clients in Los Angeles before returning to her native Vancouver last year, says a planned menu is the first stage in ensuring a smooth party. "Design it a few days in advance," she says. "You will most likely want to change it as you set your guest list -- and always know what people do and don't eat so you can have something special for vegetarians."

The art of a successful dinner party

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Community Press - Levee brings back Progressive Dinner Party

What a great dinner party idea - and perfect for a charity fund raiser.

"The event showcases the Levee's dining options and allows guests to receive an appetizer at one restaurant, an entree at another and dessert at a third."

Imagine getting three nearby restaurants involved and working out an amount where you factored in an amount on top of the restaurant's fee to go toward the charity? Sounds like fun!

Community Press - Levee brings back Progressive Dinner Party

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Impress Your Dinner Party Guests With A Delectable Cheese Platter

A great way to leave a lasting impression on your dinner party guests is to end the meal with a delectable cheese platter.

Cheese platters are traditionally the final course in most parts of the world. The cheese is eaten after dessert whilst in France the cheese may be eaten earlier. It is often served with a vintage port or a dessert wine.

Over the last 20 years, so many new cheeses have been developed so we are certainly not short on variety.

If you are going to serve a cheese platter, I'd suggest putting some thought in to what you will serve. You could visit a cheesemonger or cheese shop where you can get some advice and actually taste the cheeses for yourself. The benefit with the cheesemonger is that you can also ask advice on the wine that would best match the cheeses you select - that is if you really want to impress your guests.

For a visually interesting platter select a mix of hard sharp cheeses, soft creamy chesees and pungent blue cheeses. Consider a mix of flavors, textures, and colors and a variety in sizes and shapes. You should serve three to five types of cheese on your platter.

The cheeses need to be served at room temperature for their fullest flavor. They should be taken out of the refrigerator an hour to an hour and a half before serving. The cheeses will stay freshest when covered with parchment or waxed paper rather than in plastic wrap and left in the crisper drawer of your fridge. This avoids the plastic smell and taste that is often left by a plastic wrap. Make sure the cheeses are wrapped until just prior to serving.

It is best to serve the cheese with a grain - like plain crackers or crusty plain bread but avoid crackers with spices and black pepper that may interfere with the flavors of the cheese. Bread is the most interesting vehicle for cheese.

Consider sour dough bread or walnut bread. Spicy blue cheeses for instance go beautifully with honey-walnut bread. The nutty flavor goes fabulously with cheese, without being too overpowering. Pecan-raisin loaf or cranberry-walnut bread with nuts and fruits can be served as other options.

As a general rule, soft cheeses go with light crusty breads while stronger breads go with more tangy breads such sourdoughs.

One of the most delightful things about a cheese platter is that accompaniments are added to the platter to match each of the cheeses which truly create that lasting taste sensation you're after.

These can include:

- quince or fig jam or paste
- muscatel grapes
- fresh pear
- fresh apple
- figs
- dates
- berries
- rocket leaves
- condiments such as chutneys or wine jellies

These also add color and you can present the platter artistically.

You should serve the cheeses on a large wooden or bamboo cutting board serving an odd number of cheeses on your platter - which is apparently more pleasing to the eye! In between them, arrange the accompaniments and condiments.

Arrange the cheese on a plate from mildest to strongest with your mildest starting at 12 o'clock. If you're not sure which is strongest, all you need to is smell it. Smellier cheeses are generally stronger tasting.

You should avoid anything citrus because it's far too acidic and will overwhelm your cheeses.

To cut the cheese your guests will need a cheese knife. Though many knives will work for slicing cheese some shapes are much better suited than others. The knife should be long enough to cut a nice sized piece of cheese off and have a wide enough blade to pick up the cheese after it is sliced. You will need a knife that has a rounded edge for easy spreading of softer cheeses like Brie or fresh goat's cheese. Try a knife like this:



Nothing beats serving dessert wines like Port, Tawny Port, Muscat, and Sauternes with strong blue cheeses. Milder cheeses can be overwhelmed by syrupy dessert wines, so avoid them if you are not serving strong cheeses and of course don't forget to serve water.

Stay tuned for more dinner party ideas soon.

Randa
The Hostess with the Mostess

Dominican Dinner Party

This dinner party idea is inspired by a site where I got to read about Dominica

At another site I read that Dominica "is not your ordinary fun-in-the-sun kinda island. It's a mysterious, romantic, natural island where you will encounter a French-Creole culture with the overtones of a British heritage".

Dominica is a small island located between the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Eastern Caribbean and this is definitely on my list of countries to visit.

Whilst many of my friends know the country's name and have a rough idea of its whereabouts -few know about its history. A dinner party is the ideal way to share my new found interest with friends by introducing them to its tasty food and maybe sharing a little about what I now know. Chances are it will get on friend's lists of placed to visit too.

A little about Dominica's food:

Dominica's food is very fresh and healthy and is often cooked in a Creole style featuring a spicy sauce or dish made especially with tomatoes, peppers, onion, celery, and seasoning. Whilst most of the cooking on Dominica is island Creole, you can also enjoy Continental and North American cuisines too. Fresh fish and seafood are found on every menu.

Dominica's cuisine is simple and that's a good start. It consists of basic fried chicken, seafood dishes and Creole cuisine like goat columbo and callaloo soup (a creamed spinach type soup). Roti, the curry-filled flat bread is a Caribbean staple.

The cuisine is based on root vegetables like yams or turnip, spinach, watercress, chicken, goat and seafood (fish, crabs, crayfish and octopus). Meat is one of the main elements of most Dominican dishes and cured and smoked hams are often used in their cooking.

The food is often flavored with the earthy aroma of curry and coconut milk. Fresh herbs like parsley, celery, chive, cinnamon, thyme, nutmeg and cloves are also commonly used in the cooking.

Bello Hot Pepper Sauce is made locally and served everywhere with almost everything. It contains Scotch Bonnet Pepper, papaya, onion, vinegar, salt, and spices.

Inviting guests

Ask your guests to come dressed for the occasion - what would they be wearing down to a Caribbean dinner by the beach? - shorts, flowing shirts, straw hats?

To set your scene

Dominica is a beautiful Caribbean island - so this is a great Summertime dinner party idea and perfect for the outdoors. This will be a low key affair to be enjoyed by all.

Light your dining area with candles or hanging lanterns - you want a laid back, relaxed feel to the night.

Place some exotic flowers as your centrepiece or have some lovely hand-painted candles on show. Alternatively, place a straw basket brimming with exotic fruit somewhere in your room and nicely lit.

Maybe greet your guests with a cocktail - a Pina Colada maybe with the popular coconut and pineapple flavors.

Have some music playing in the background - Calypso, Reggae or Smooth Jazz.

The meal

People from Dominica prefer light and spicy fish or seafood dishes served with plenty of vegetables and greens. The visual attractiveness, like the balance between colors and proportion is important.

A typical meal eaten by a Dominican family could consist of Black Bean Soup, Coconut Grouper and Corn Pudding. I found the recipes on this website: or you could cook one of the many Creole recipes as found at this site

After your meal, you could also serve a fresh platter of exotic tropical fruits like mango slices, banana, guavas, tangerines, oranges, pineapple and papaya.

During the evening, you could even educate your friends on Dominica which celebrates its 30 year of independence.

Stay tuned for more dinner party ideas soon.

In the meantime, check out this great book about Dominica:



Randa
The Hostess with the Mostess

Meet the neighbours over a dinner party

This dinner party idea is for those who would like to get to know their neighbours better.

Imagine if you started a street dinner party theme where a few households got involved and took turns at hosting a dinner party get-together? The beauty of this idea is that you really are within walking distance so no-one needs to drive. You can all let your hair down and know that when the dinner ends you'll be home real soon.

You can incorporate some other ideas into this sort of dinner - you could ask each household to bring a course or even make it a roving dinner where you have a starter at the first house, main at the next and dessert at the last.

My neighbours are wonderful and we have built good friendships and we definaitely keep an eye out over each other's properties.

Bring the good old days back with some neighbourly good will for your next dinner party?

Stay tuned for more dinner party ideas soon.

In the meantime, check this out:



Give the ultimate Chocolate Gift with a personalized message made from high quality, luscious Belgian Chocolate. Perfect for corporate events, holidays, baby showers, parties, anniversaries, birthdays, and special occasions. Your message will be spelled out on individual pieces of chocolate and decorated with an array of delectable symbols including smiley faces, hearts, stars, Christmas trees and four leaf clovers. Your Chocotelegram can be delivered in an elegant cardboard package or a luxurious wooden box.

Randa
The Hostess with the Mostess

Academy Awards dinner party

Roll out the red carpet for this dinner party with a difference - share a meal with your friends and watch the Academy Awards..

As your guests arrive, you might want them to place their guesses on who will win the Oscars on the night.

Go to the official site to see all the nominees..

Glam, glitz,dinner and friends..what could be better?

This really is a fun night..

Don't forget the popcorn..



Stay tuned for more dinner party ideas soon.

Randa
The Hostess with the Mostess

Poaching a whole fish for your dinner party main course is easy and painless

This post is inspired by an article I’d read in the Gourmet Traveler magazine – it said “poaching a whole fish makes for a very impressive and relatively painless main course for dinner parties”. Well, of course that caught my attention – it was “the catch of the day” for me! Excuse the bad joke!

It goes on to say that the delicate cooking method if done correctly highlights the pure flavor of the fish (unadulterated by oil).

The advice is to invest in a “fish kettle” which is available from kitchenware stores. It is a long and narrow saucepan with a lid and comes in very hand for cooking a whole fish.

Fish can be poached in salted water but the most popular “court bouillon” is more commonly used which is a simple stock of celery, parsley, onion, bay leaves and sometimes combinations of other herbs and spices. You can also add a little acid like lemon juice or vinegar which adds to the great taste sensation (especially with oilier fish like salmon or ocean trout).

The process of poaching should be gentle with the liquid kept around 80 degrees. If you don’t have the luxury of a thermometer, you need to look for small bubbles rising and breaking on the surface. This gentle heat keeps the flesh light and flaky.

To test if the fish is ready, the most reliable method is to slit the fish at the backbone and lift the flesh that is closest to the bone and check that it’s not too pink in color.

The best way to serve the fish is to gently peel back the skin using your fingers or a knife. Discard the skin and flake off the bone in large chunks.

Thanks Gourmet Traveler for this great dinner party tip!



Randa
The Hostess with the Mostess