Planning a Stress-free Dinner Party at Home
Yes, you can enjoy your own dinner party! The three keys to hosting a stress-free dinner party are to keep it simple, do as many chores as you can ahead of the dinner party date, and prepare as many dinner party dishes as you can ahead of your guests' arrival.
How to Plan a Dinner Party at Home
Keep it simple: Limit the dinner party guest list to eight people, six is even better. Choose a neutral table setting that lets your colorful centerpiece flowers pop. Serve no more than three dinner party courses. Feature only one "fancy" dish. Plan a mostly make ahead menu with few items that need last minute kitchen time.
Do ahead. Two weeks before the day of the dinner party, invite your guests and choose a menu with mostly make-ahead dishes. A few days before the dinner party, shop for the non-perishables and clean house. A day ahead of the dinner party, shop for the perishables and set the dinner table and do a last minute clean of the bathroom and living room. Prepare your make-ahead recipes the day before or in the morning of your dinner party.
Tips on How to Throw a Dinner Party at Home
Remember that your dinner party guests are the real stars of the evening, not your food. The food is only your pleasant excuse for getting together, so don't worry about putting on a gourmet restaurant spread.
Never serve a dish you haven't made before. This way you avoid disasters like apologizing for a recipe that doesn't taste the way you hoped it would.
You are part of the dinner party company and your guests expect to talk with you. Keeping it simple means you get to spend time with your guests instead of in the kitchen.
Don't get nervous about choosing wine. If you're not sure what to serve, just go to your local wine store and ask for something simple and inexpensive that most people are likely to enjoy. Remember people love to give advice, and wine store staff are no different!
Check the ingredient list for every dinner party recipe against your pantry contents. Make sure you already have the item on hand or add it to your shopping list. This has the added bonus of preventing you from buying duplicates!
In your last minute schedule be sure to include time for you to get dressed for the dinner party, set out the appetizers, put on the dinner party music and - yes - sit down for a few minutes before your guests arrive. Wow! What a stress-free way to start enjoying your own dinner party.
Queens is a crescent-shaped borough traversing the width of Long Island and including two of the major New York City area airports, LaGuardia (LGA) and John F. Kennedy International (JFK). It also carries the largest ethnic diversity in its area of any region in the world, divided into small enclaves. Jackson Heights, for example, includes a huge Indian area, followed by a Colombian area, and then a Mexican area. Each offers a wide array of authentic shops, native-style cuisine, and festivals modified only slightly by the generally colder New York City experience.
The geographical center of New York City is actually in Queens. Near this location, investors held the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs. The area still includes an interesting museum and some architectural and artistic relics of the events (including the Unisphere, a 300 ton spherical grid of steel sculpted to look like the globe - as seen in Men In Black). The area is now called Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The northern end includes Shea Stadium and the U.S. Tennis Open stadium; further north still one can walk along the edge of a marina in Long Island Sound. The park also includes a science museum, a zoo, pedal-boats, and frequent special events.
For information on how to walk or bicycle to and from Queens, check http://www.transalt.org/. Except for the Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges, all the bridges can be crossed by pedestrians and bicycles. Be prepared, however, for long walks - and don't forget that Queens is very, very big and not well-designed for a walking tour. Do not attempt this without a map!
Sadly, most Queens visitors spend their visit on a bus to or from LaGuardia Airport or JFK. A proper tour of Queens is worthwhile. It can be conducted by a chauffeur-driven limousine service, as the roads can be tough to navigate. Much of Queens (but unlike Manhattan, not all of it), including many of the most interesting parts, can be seen by subway. A trip on the 7 train, made nationally famous by the contempt of former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker, is a cultural experience in and of itself. The 7 runs elevated through most of Queens, so you'll be able to get a good sense of much of the borough through its windows. A good tour of Queens should include at least three meals in three different ethnic enclaves.
Other subways for getting around (and in and out of) Queens include the A, E, F, G, M, N, R, V & W. The Long Island Rail Road makes several stops in Queens: the main line runs through central Queens and the Port Washington line runs along the north shore (including a stop in Flushing).
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Why use a limousine service in New York?
A limousine service can easily be substituted for a car service. The comfort and safety of having a chauffeur-driven limousine service is more valuable when traveling in and around New York. There are practically hundreds of limousine services in New York.
Look up other areas covered by New York NY Limo limousine services:
Limousine Service (Bronx) – Limousine Service (Brooklyn) – Limousine Service (Long Island) - Limousine Service (Manhattan) – Limousine Service (Queens) – Limousine Service (Staten Island) – Limousine Service (New York)
