Aug 05 2008
If you take a look around your well-equipped kitchen at home, with its plumbed-in sink, its spacious oven, its four-ring hob, its refrigerator, dishwasher, electric food-mixer and so on, it is fairly clear that no portable camp kitchen is likely to match up to it for sheer convenience and labour-saving efficiency. It follows, therefore, that when you go camping you should not expect to cook and eat as elaborately as at home. Continue Reading »
Jul 06 2008
As high tea is a much more informal, family affair than afternoon tea, your everyday china is quite suitable. An unfussy practical setting is required, with a fairly plain table-cloth set with everyday cutlery. As hot dishes are usually served, each place setting should include a large knife and fork as well as a side plate and small knife for spreading butter and jam.
If a very light meal is to be eaten after the theatre or in the early evening a low occasional table is ideal for arranging dishes and setting informal places. Almost any ’snack’ meal can be served in this way. If the surface is not heat-proof, any hot plates of food and coffee pots should be placed either on a heat-proof tray or large mat. Continue Reading »
Jul 05 2008
A buffet meal is ideal for occasions where there is to be a large number of guests such as christenings, weddings and similar gatherings. It may also suit a smaller gathering such as an informal supper with friends after the theatre or an evening at home where a dinner around the table might be more formal than you want to make it.
When planning the table arrangements and flowers or other decorations, think carefully about a colour scheme or theme to suit the occasion. For example, if the meal you are planning is to celebrate a silver wedding, choose white flowers with silvery foliage, silver candles or white candles in silver candlesticks and trimmings of furled silver ribbons. Silver serving dishes and silver cutlery will help to set the scene and if you don’t have these yourself, you can hire, or possibly borrow them. If the occasion is a christening, you will probably choose pink or blue as the predominant colour, and flowers should be delicate and unfussy.
The next most important decision is where to place the table. Continue Reading »
Apr 14 2008
Have you ever watched the precise and practised way in which professionals in a good hotel or restaurant set a big table for a five- or six-course meal? Lots of different glasses and table silver are placed in exactly the right spot without hesitation. The number of items involved in a setting may seem confusing to you.
However, there is a clear rule for everything.
Guests start with the cutlery furthest away from the plate and work inwards during the course of the meal. The same procedure applies to glasses. The drink which is served first is put into the glass which is furthest from the centre of the plate. There is often also a side plate, which is placed to the left of the setting.
These few rules are so basic and clear that they can become a matter of routine for any guest, so you nolonger have to worry about which knife, fork or spoon to use next during the meal. Continue Reading »
