Marlene

I assumed you were asking for a newbie. Hence the "don't try too hard to impress advice". ← Exactly. Most of us here are experienced cooks and entertainers. We can go elaborate, branch out and try new things and feel pretty comfortable doing it. Entertaining can be intimidating for those who have never done much, and who aren't overly confident yet in their culinary skills. The KISS principle really applies here. Keep it simple, familiar and small to start. Gain some confidence and branch out.

I tend to keep my table simple. A small centerpiece or candle. I don't want to have to look around something in the middle to see the person at the other end. Real napkins are essential in my view and a napkin ring is a nice touch. I've used both good china or Corelle for place settings depending on how casual or formal the dinner party is. And I always, always, set the table the morning of, so it's out of the way.

The one thing I did learn about that, is that because parmesan is salty anyway, the chips don't need to be salted as much

I would normally have most of the ingredients on hand anyway for a braise. Carrots, onions shallots and herbs are stuff I'm going to buy anyway. Beef stock I always have on hand, So unless these are things you wouldn't purchase except to braise, then brasing still comes out cheaper I think.

Potatoes madelaines are great , easy and can be made in advance and popped into the oven 25 minutes before you're ready to eat. I love doing glazed carrots in a slow cooker. Put them on 4 hours before you want to eat and forget about them. Doing them that way also frees up another burner on your stove if you need one. Any roast is good because you don't have to spend a lot of time fussing with it, checking,stirring etc. Time it so it goes in before guests arrive and ready to eat about an hour and a bit after they arrive so people have time for a drink and a nibble A good remote thermometer is an excellent tool here because you never have to open the oven to check on it, unless you're roasting potatoes, and then only to turn the potatoes occassionally.. You could also roast the potatoes with the roast, again, freeing up a burner and not having to worry about potato prep. Or if you're going to do mashed, peel them early and put them in a pot of water on the stove before people arrive. For a casual dinner party, lazagna can be a good choice and can be made ahead up until baking time, and kept in the fridge Just about any braise can be made the day before and heated for service the day of. For salads, chop all the stuff you're going to add and keep them in bowls in the fridge. Croutons can be made a couple of days ahead In the summer, BBQ's of course, and coleslaw, potato and macaroni salads can all be made in advance. Appetizers that can be made in advance include beef tenderloin canapes, antipasta, cornmeal mini muffins or brie cranberry mini muffins, fruit platters, vegetable platters and cheese plates. Most desserts can be made in advance. But mostly, if these are brand new entertainers, my advice would be, start small. Don't try to throw a dinner party for twelve your first time. And start with a group of good friends that you can relax with. Throw two or three dinner parties of 4-6 people as practice before you move up to entertaining clients, business associates or strangers. Also, for your very first time, make things you are familiar with. Prepare things that you know how they are supposed to taste or look. Your first dinner party is not the time to be experimenting, you'll be nervous enough!

They were homemade. First time I ever made potato chips. I have a new mandoline so I figured I'd try it out. The idea of dusting with parmesan I took from Delmonico's steakhouse in Las Vegas. They serve a truffle parmesan chip that I absolutely love. I didn't have any truffle oil, but I thought I'd try the parmesan. They were really really good. In fact, my guests ate them all.

With dinner was a 1996 Barolo. After dinner was port or liquers depending on peoples choice

This is my territory! 1. Set a menu based on your guests likes, but also on what you like to cook. Take into account allergies etc and go. 2. It really depends. Business dinners I invite a wide variety of people, call it eclectic. Friends, I tend to invite those who get along. 3. Table settings are seasonal and purely by taste.. Candles, seasonal offerings, flowers,poinsettas etc. 4.I do a lot of things in advance so that I have time to spend wih my guests. Also, my guests like to sit in the kitchen, so if I have last minute stuff, they like to watch and chat. 5. That really depends on you and your guests. As hostess, it's your job to ensure there's a mix of conversation going on, glasses are filled etc. A good dinner party seems to come off effortless, no matter what you have to put into the back end, if that makes sense.

This is a period we don't entertain a lot in, but we do some. Tonight a dinner for 8. Starting with apps: \ Janet's nuts Potato chips dusted with parmesan: Beef tenderloin canapes (yes we were having beef for dinner, whats' your point? ) On to the roast: Crock pot carrots Yorkshire pudding: Onion strings and gravy Plated, with mashed: A really bad picture of creme caramel:

Which one did you get Russ?

I notice though that Jack's doesn't look dressed with anything. I've decided not to screw around with the method. It's going in at 1:30 at 140F regular oven for eating at 7:30 tonight. I'm using a 10 lb roast instead of the 8 one I orginally planned.

I'm doing jack's method today. Am i correct in assuming the meat is completely unadorned going in? No salt or olive oil rub? I'm thinking 140 convection for 5 hours?

Can you tell us what the brand name is on the package? From your text alone, it sounds like you have superfine fructose. Since fructose, or fruit sugar is sweeter than sucrose, or table sugar, I don't think you can use it for the same application without some taste or texture differences. However, if you're pressed for time and have a little table sugar handy, try tasting each one and see if the fruit sugar is sweeter. By the way, Wendy, I use C&H's Baker's Sugar almost exclusively for baking, and it produces consistently good, even-textured results. It gets a little wonky when I use golden castor sugar, though - my baked goods taste great, but are denser and flatter. skyflyer ← It's a Redpath sugar. Since I wasn't sure, I ground some fine sugar as suggested and used that. I'll try to post a picture later of the other sugar I have.

I know I can do that, but I wondered if the fruit powered sugar was the same as superfine!

Rendering beef fat has become one of my favourite things. I rendered the fat from some beef stock I made a while ago and I use if for frying potatoes and making yorkshire pudding. Today I visited my favourite butcher at Whole Foods and while buying a rib roast I asked him what the do with the fat cap they usually cut off the roasts (I don't let them cut it off mine). When he said they normally throw it out, I asked for any that they had in the back. I came away with a nice few chunks of beef fat that I will render tomorrow. There's nothing quite like potatoes fried in beef fat and if you don't have enough pan drippings to make yorkshires, you can go to your trusty stash of beef fat. I love beef fat.

My creme caramel calls for superfine sugar. I found something called Instant disolving fruit powdered sugar, but nothing called superfine. Can I use the fruit powdered sugar?

Megan, lovely to see you blogging! Pegu definately please since I have to vicariouslyy live through others visiting that marvelous . That garlic soup is on my list to make as well. What is your very favourite thing to cook? We'll be back in NY in March with my 13 year old son. Suggestions on where to take him to eat? He likes spicy things and is branching out in being willing to try new things. We'll probably do one fine dining experience with him but the rest will be more casual. As he's 13, places that serve large portions are particularly welcome

Canoe and Far Niente are both good, Far Niente especially so for lunch. For dinner Harbour Sixty is very very good and they make absolutely fabulous martini's. Ruth's Chris is still a favourite of mine and if any of them are smokers, it is one of the few restaurants left in the city that still has a smoking room. (but only until June) And Tom Jones still makes one of the best steaks in the city..

That's where mine are. I have drawer dividers in every drawer and all my spatulas must be together in one slot, my measuring spoons in another, my whisks in another. My husband never gets it right even though you can clearly see what belongs where.

I'ts identical Richard, to the ET-72. I checked and double checked this before I bought mine orginially. Actually, mine does all the functions the ET-7 does, as does the ET-72, but the ET-7 is a dual probe so you can monitor two meats at once.

I have one of these and I love it. I've found it to be absolutely consistent and range hasn't been a huge problem. When I smoked that shoulder a couple of weeks ago I had that thermometer stuck in the roast outside and the receiver inside with me. Worked like a charm. I've also given one to my brother and one to my best friend. That is a Maverick thermometer made for WS. I've also just received the Maverick smoker thermometer that Jack recommends. I also have a thermapen which is outstanding.

I did the same thing with a teakettle for a while. As Sugarella said, it looked so nice and shiny there. However, the only time I make tea is when my brother visits, and then, I use an electric kettle because it's faster. I finally gave in and put the tea kettle away. Other odd habits might include the way I load and unload a dishwashwer but that's a whole other story

I've just ordered two of these. I have to say, the owner is very responsive. I emailed him to find out if they shipped to Canada and I had a response within 5 minutes. We then engaged in a brief email discussion of not having the "s" or "p" on top which necessitated in me ordering two different colours. (being the anal rentative decorator that I am, I like things to match). He did suggest that I put a small sticker on one to tell them apart which is what I'm going to do, but really, I like the "s" and "P" thing. I know they can be used as spice grinders too, but surely these could be offered with the standard "s" and "p" for the most common use? It's a minor thing though and based on Rachel's visual demonstration, I think I'm going to enjoy these!

I can't say that it did Bernaise, and frankly it was a pain to transfer from one to another. The bean pot is potterie stoneware not enamelled cast iron so you can't use it on an open flame. I won't bother next time, but it is pretty!

Yes I was.