Behind the Scenes of a Dinner Party

I’m not a seasoned entertainer by any means, nor am I a seasoned cook.  But after a few recent dinner parties, I think I’ve learned a few tricks.  This past weekend we had two couples over for dinner and I decided to get extra organized.  You know,  so that I wasn’t burning things, chasing down hidden ingredients and setting the table all at the same time?

If there is one thing that is true, it’s that I make a mess when I’m in the kitchen.  I leave disasters on one end of the counter while I start another one across the room.  So, for me it’s important that I prepare as much food as possible before our guests arrive.  Otherwise they will see my kitchen like this:

(As a game we could try to name the number of random things in this picture, or the number of food items being made.  Who doesn’t have an allen wrench and tape measure on their counter while cooking!?)

Anyway, back to the party.  Let’s start with the food.  Our menu consisted of:

• A play on my standard sausage appetizers (I used extra sharp cheddar and replaced the rye squares with puff pastry)
• Cheesy soft pretzels in lieu of a dinner roll or bread
• Centsational Girl’s Lemon Chicken (delish, BTW) served on brown rice
• Green beans with toasted almonds
• A triple layer chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting

While the cake was baking, I prepared the chicken.  The recipe calls for cooking it on the stove top, which  I did.  But instead of serving it immediately, I placed it all in a large pan, covered it with foil, and reheated it just before serving.

Then I mixed up the pretzels and got them ready to bake.  Same with the sausage appetizers.  I washed the green beans and set them aside with all of the other necessary ingredients for dinner.

Once our guests arrived, all I had to do was pop things in the oven, turn the rice on, toast the almonds, cook the beans, saute the mushrooms for the chicken and, voila, dinner was served.  It was so easy that I was able to relax, drink wine and gossip.  Perfect.

In terms of other preparation, here is what I did before hand to make life easy.

• I set the table, including all glassware and the water pitcher and bread basket. (I used my handy how-to-set-a-table cheat sheet)

• I was using chargers, so I set aside the dinner and dessert plates (next to the yummy chocolate cake).

• And because we have a refrigerator that doesn’t make ice (grrr), I filled the ice cube trays so that we could have ice for water and drinks.

Outside of the kitchen and dining room, I made sure there was a fresh hand towel in the bathroom and gave the toilet a quick scrub.  I lit candles around the house and made sure our outdoor light was on.

Having all of those tasks done before anyone arrived helped me actually enjoy and relax during dinner instead of having to rush around.  It took a few hours during the afternoon, but it was definitely worth it!

Have you had any dinner parties lately?  Any tips and tricks that make your life easier when you are entertaining?  Please share!