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.
Staten Island is the most rural of the five boroughs of New York City. Although still predominantly residential in nature, the borough has changed significantly since the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in 1964.
If you are using a car or limousine service, Staten Island can be reached by bridge from Brooklyn and New Jersey, and by ferry from Manhattan. The ferry is the best option, as it passes by Liberty Island and offers stunning views of the Manhattan skyline and New York Harbor. The ferry is free and operates 24 hours a day out of Battery Park in Manhattan and St. George Terminal in Staten Island. If you are seasick or otherwise uncomfortable on ferries, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connects Staten Island with Brooklyn, but you will incur a high toll (US$9.00). A more moderately priced option is to take an express bus from Manhattan to Staten Island. The fare payable with MetroCard is US$5.00. Change is also accepted, but carrying $5.00 in change (fare boxes ONLY accept change) is not a really good idea. The X1 and X10 routes run along Broadway in Manhattan. There is frequent service (about every 6-30 minutes) daily from early morning to past midnight.
The Staten Island Railway (operated by the MTA, which also runs the subways and the majority of buses) is somewhat a hybrid of a railroad and a subway line. While it uses subway-type equipment, it is legally a railroad, as defined by an FRA waiver. Fares are the same as a subway ride (US$2.00), and it runs 24 hours. Unlike the subway, it runs on a set schedule, from every 15 minutes during weekdays, to every hour overnight. Fares are collected only at St. George Ferry Terminal, leading many to exit at the penultimate stop, Tompkinsville, and walk up Bay Street a short distance to the ferry.
Source: Wikitravel.org - Staten Island, New York
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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)
