Guest Post: Dinner Parties Part II

{Don't forget to check out Part I for some really important prep tips!}

How to Plan a Dinner Party Part II: Tips for Your Table

Coming from someone whose most important concern is food (no matter where we are or what we're doing), I've realized over the last year what an impact the table setting and decor can have on the atmosphere of a party and the enjoyment of the food. Each event we host, I challenge myself to be more creative, thrifty, and thoughtful than the last. Here's what I've learned:

1. Set the table the night before. This makes the day of the party even more relaxing and the anticipation of a beautifully set table makes you excited to fill it with people and food.

2. Use place cards. People have no idea how useful these are!

You also avoid the awkward moment when your guests approach the table and hover around it, waiting to be told where to sit. I imagine that in heaven, there is going to be a huge long table with heaps of grapes and meat and a place card with my name on it.

My rules are (these don’t apply to heaven, only my dinner parties):

• separate couples

• place extroverted people at the ends

• seat men and women in every other chair

• separate bickering family members if needed
  

• put people together who you think will have a great conversation.

Easy right? My husband and I love to set out the place cards together, it’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

3. For a sit-down dinner, keep the centerpieces low. If you put a tall vase of flowers in the middle of your table, it just blocks people from seeing the faces across the table and makes it really awkward. I prefer to take the same bunch, cut the stems short, and separate it into three or five pretty jars or glasses distributed down the table.

4. For a buffet, have everything at different heights. If you are planning a buffet, it's more interesting and appealing when the food is at different heights.

Thrifty ideas for presenting a buffet:

• Stack some old books on the dinner table then set a bowl on top.

• Make your own cake stand by turning a bowl upside-down and then setting a plate on top.

• Throw a bunch of grapes in a martini glass and let the vines cascade down.

• Take a cardboard box and throw a beautiful napkin over it!

I hope those help you brainstorm fun things to do at your next party!

Does anyone remember a meal they had where the way the table was set affected how they experienced the food or the company?

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Thanks to Blythe for giving us great practical advice for setting a beautifully food filled table! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Guest Post: How to Throw a Dinner Party Part I

Today's guest post comes from one of my dear friends Blythe. Not only is she an amazing cook, this woman really knows how to throw a dinner party, and she does it often. Listen, dinner parties don't happen over night. It takes quite a bit of organization to pull one off successfully. Thankfully, Blythe is here to share her tips and to-do lists so we can all aspire to be confident hostesses.

How to plan a dinner party Part 1: What the Cookbooks Don’t Tell You

I’m not a writer, I’m a list maker. So when I try to explain how to plan an amazing dinner party, here is my top-secret list:

1. Start with your menu. Do this 4-5 days in advance, inspired by food that is in season, and using recipes that can be made ahead of time (so you can enjoy the party too).

This is the menu from a dinner party I threw at our house last spring. We hosted for no other reason than to enjoy old friends and get to know new ones better. My inspiration was springtime in Provence, France.

MENU

veuve clicquot champagne

smoked salmon crostinis

salumi salami, olives, bread

oysters on the half shell with spicy vinegar

fresh pea soup with mint

ratatouille with balsamic reduction

provencal french beans with lemon and sage

roasted leg of lamb

bib lettuce salad with dijon vinaigrette

cheese selection

bakery nouveau desserts

irish coffee

2. Create a menu/recipe packet then grocery list.

• Page 1: Have a copy of your menu.

  
  
• Each following page: Recipes for a dish, in the order that you plan to serve.

Once you've created your packet, go through it page by page and write down all the ingredients you don’t already have to make a grocery list. (If you’re OCD like me, you’ll then re-write this list organized by store and then sub-organized by the section of the market). This go-to packet eliminates the cookbook/laptop counter clutter so you can have more space for prepping and cooking.

3. Make an itinerary with a to-do list. Read through your recipe pack and brainstorm every possible thing you could do in advance. Anything you can do the day before, do it! This allows you to relax, making sure that cooking for the party will be leisurely and fun.

Can anyone guess how much I spent on this dinner party for 8?

My husband gives me a budget to restrain me from going overboard. The champagne was a gift, and the guests brought the wine, cheese, and dessert. We even had enough lamb left over for me to make Moroccan Lamb Stew the next day, so I saved on groceries the following week!

{Stay tuned for Part II}

Guest Post on Thrifting!

For the month of October, I've been a sponsor over at Flex Family Arts. It's been great getting more exposure with a different crowd and I've enjoyed getting to know the other sponsors of the month.

Many of you have commented on my awesome thrift store finds. Some of you celebrate with me and others ask "how do you do it??". For those of you who are interested, head on over to Flex Family Arts for my guest post: A Thrifting Tutorial!

{I know I've bragged about it before, but here is my beautiful brand new $5 canopy in action!}

Guest Post: Getting through the winter, looking forward to summer!

Today's guest post comes from the great Midwest. My older sister Sarah has graciously written about her experience using oils and vitamins as treatments for illnesses throughout the winter. If anyone knows anything about sick children (and the many different ways to treat them) it would be my sister. I think I will learn from her and look into using oils to treat Elijah's asthma! Keep and open mind and enjoy reading!

This winter was rough. Here in Indy, we braved the sleet and snow, wind and ice from December 1st until the very end of February.

It was Amos' first winter to be in school and while it was only part-time, he did have his fair share of germ exposure!

Last fall, we started seeing a naturopath pretty regularly, who treated us by using the NAET method. She also educated us about the use of essential oils in treating our illnesses and strengthening our immune systems. These oils have been in my little traveling apothecary ever since and when our kiddos start to cough or get stuffy, I get out the oils!

My four essentials are shown here and each have their purpose:

I use Lavender oil on Amos' chest and throat to calm his coughs (and also use it for any itchy or dry skin); Thieves is used to strengthen immunity (interesting story) and can be used where the illness is or on the bottoms of the feet; R.C., we think, stands for respiratory cough and is used on his chest, as well as the Eucalyptus Blue.

I usually mix those oils with a carrier oil (typically Olive Oil) and each mixture is housed in its own tupperware. It's helpful to premix them, as I'm usually applying them several times a day.

After I put the oils on, I put the Vick's Baby Rub on which kind of seals it all in. I like the Baby Rub because it also contains essential oils lavender and eucalyptus, so it sort of reenforces everything.

Essential Oils are not the only things we use to treat those nasty coughs and colds. Usually, to help them get through it, oils, breathing treatments and sometimes cough medicine are also necessary. They all have their place and all work together to help us get sleep at night and help our kiddos to get well faster. But sometimes, if Amos or Flannery happen to be stuffy or have an earache, I can put oil around their outer ear or on their chest and sinuses and that will alleviate whatever is ailing them.

(We use the essential oils by Young Living, a company that requires you to be a member, or know one, to place orders. Their oils are expensive but are very good quality.).

I also try to give them probiotics everyday, both for immunity and for digestive help. Flannery had to be on antibiotics once this winter and I beefed up the probiotics. They are especially helpful and important while on antibiotics so as to replace the good bacteria that is being wiped out with the bad.

So far, this brand has become a favorite!

Also, our kiddos get lemon-flavored fish oil, when I remember to give it to them! Fish oil has so many benefits, but for my kids, I like that their little brains are getting more help as they develop. I took fish oil while I was pregnant with them both and am happy to continue giving it to them!

So now that summer is here, I am still doing all of these things. I am also hoping that we stay well! I am also being careful about what I am putting on our kiddos, in the form of bug spray and sunscreen.

My friend Katy showed me the Environmental Working Group's website, which basically compiles data about all of the chemicals that are used in everyday things from cosmetics and health care products to sunscreen and bug spray. After buying a spray sunscreen from Trader Joe's, I was able to look it up and see that it's actually pretty toxic, so I'll be taking it back! I found sunscreen (Badger brand) and bug spray (Jason brand) last summer at Whole Foods that I really liked and while they are more expensive, are totally worth it.

I'm also not being too crazy about sun exposure for our kids. Yes, I don't want them to get sunburned or skin cancer, but I do want them to get their needed allowances of Vitamin D, so we go out late in the day and mostly cover up, which also helps with sun exposure.

Up next is unrefined, raw, organic apple cider vinegar. I have heard many tales of help from this stuff, so I plan to look into it and even give it a try!

So there you have it, some tricks of my trade! I find that while it's a challenge to keep everyone healthy, that these things have helped. Hope this helps you, too!

Today's guest post comes from Brenna of His/Hers in the great North West! She and her husband David are loving the people of Seattle with their beautiful little side kick, Flannery. I asked Brenna to share a snapshot of her experience as a labor and delivery nurse. With a job like that, I have learned that an entire series could be devoted to this topic, but a snap shot is all we have time for. And so:

I am a Labor and Delivery nurse at a hospital in Seattle. With childbirth comes choice, and therefore, controversy. Whether home or hospital, medicated or non-medicated, doctor or midwife, we can all find a common ground when focusing on the outcome instead of the method.

The ultimate goals of a birth should be first, a healthy mom and babe, followed closely by a happy mom and babe. Thankfully, there are countless deliveries at both home and hospital that succeed in these goals. However, there are also those that fail, and the outcome can be emotionally and physically devastating.

My concern with hospital births is that they can sway too far towards healthy and away from happy, while homebirths can sway too far towards happy and away from healthy. As with much in life, it is difficult to keep a balance.

So what does that mean for me? I have no ambition to reform the birth profession. I wish. I barely have the ambition to go to work for my one scheduled shift a week. However, I do have the ambition to accomplish the goal of healthy and happy mom and baby for each and every one of my patients. It is my duty, my purpose, and my passion. But what a task that can be!

I feel blessed by my job. It challenges me intellectually and emotionally. It allows me the flexibility to be home with my daughter. It pays the bills. But my job isn’t about me – and that is what so many people in this profession often forget. It is about the families that are forming, the lives emerging and the lives that will be forever changed. It is about those moments in time that will never be forgotten. And hopefully, that is something we can all agree on.