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I would like to ask about how you serve your special meals.
The perfectly set table is beautiful but what happens when it is time to eat? Do your guests sit down to the salad already on the plate and you hop up to remove salad plates when they are finished? How do you serve the main and side dishes? Family style ( pass the serving platters and bowls around)? Of course, it depends on how many guests you are serving.
I usually ask my guests to put their beverage at the place they want (or sometimes name cards), pick up their dinner plate and serve themselves from the buffet. I serve already prepared salad plates while they are at the buffet. (Or sometimes I stack the dinner plates at the end of the buffet.) I always ask my guests to start without me as nobody wants cold food. When they are finished they bring their plates to the kitchen and then help themselves to the dessert buffet. I simply cannot hop up and down anymore taking away plates and bringing new ones. I'd really like to know how everyone else does it.
BTW for everyday family dinners, I serve from the stove with hot oven dishes on the counter or I let them serve themselves. Sometimes I bring the oven dishes to the table to make it easier for people to get seconds. I usually don't transfer stovetop food to serving dishes. I try to keep dirty dishes and pots and pans to a minimum.
I'm pretty similar and also depends on the event. For holidays that I host, such as Christmas and Easter, appetizers are served "family style". For the pasta course, I make individual plates (if it's a "Sunday sauce" with meatballs, sausage, etc then the meats go in a platter and served family style). The main course and vegetable and sides are served family style. I'm Italian--we eat salad at the end . I do this whether we're 5, 10, 20 people.
If it's a bbq out in the backyard, it's all buffet style. Grab your own plate, utensils, cups and make yourself at home
Appetizers - grab what is on the island but please use a plate and a napkin!
Formal dinner - yes, heels and apron (it took three years of very heavy frequentation of Union Street Public House to be gifted a waiter's apron as going away present). Ten will comfortably fit at the kitchen table, no table linens as I love the wood, Wilton Ware platters make great chargers (on cork placemats if heated), an organized kitchen (all I have to do is grab a stack of plates unless they are sugared/spiced and on the counter). It has worked well over the years to serve at the table. On the patio - pretty much the same. Kids - get their table and often their menu. For the two of us - all the fuss every night including Irish linen and sterling. Even for movie night with Netflix.
But there is a set of wine glasses which have not been used in 35 years but moved around a bit (16 moves and several international ones). I will get them out this Christmas.
I use serving dishes for everything I'm serving. Sometimes, I have placed individual salads on top of the dinner plate, but it seems to make everyone think they must eat their whole salad, before anything else. I would prefer to have my salad on the left side of my dinner plate, and eat it with the rest of my food. I don't know why we can't just place it to the side, but it seems to confuse people.
I love a fancy, and beautiful table, but I don't ever want anyone to be confused or uncomfortable. I want them to feel like they're special and pampered.
Here's what jerks my chain......don't show up to my fancy table in a tank top and baseball cap or you will give me indigestion.
Our dining table only seats 4 so when we have large groups we must adjust. Food is kept on far kitchen counter where you make your plates and then go find a seat (dining table, seats at kitchen island, couch with trays, etc.)
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WE are so lowclass we often have holiday meals sitting around the TV. We don't plan it that way, it just happens.
When my child was young, we used to have the occasional "cold food night." This meant TV dinners, on TV trays, in front of the TV. My child would excitedly examine all the frozen dinners at the grocery store before making the final selection. My wife would opt for a "lean" frozen dinner, and I would always get the turkey dinner.
Those "cold food nights" still bring back fond memories.
When my child was young, we used to have the occasional "cold food night." This meant TV dinners, on TV trays, in front of the TV. My child would excitedly examine all the frozen dinners at the grocery store before making the final selection. My wife would opt for a "lean" frozen dinner, and I would always get the turkey dinner.
Those "cold food nights" still bring back fond memories.
I bet !!
as kids,,,we were a little on the poor side to go out to eat.....
so
when I had a son,,,every sunday morning we would go out to breakfast at a local diner- since he was around 5... till high school
I would let him order "anything he wanted off the menu" and I would also have the same thing
the place would be packed many kids with parents....and their we were eating the largest hot fudge sundae they could make... that's what my son wanted so we both had it,,
every kid in the place was looking over with a long face,,,,,,,,saying "i want that"!!! I want that!! and the parents would give me dirty looks .... lol
I like to celebrate things, so we have quite a few formal dinners throughout the year. The formal dinners are Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter, birthdays, Sunday dinners when we have guests--and sometimes, anniversaries and graduations. Although nowadays, we tend to go out more for the last two.
Formal dinners that are up to 12: everyone seated at dining room table, tablecloth, fine china, good glasses, or crystal stemware if there's wine, and silver. There may be a children's table in the kitchen, if necessary. We eat family style. I don't like to have the table so cluttered with serving dishes that people don't have room for glasses, or a place to put their salad plates. Thus, the large platters are kept on the sideboard. I pass around the larger platters at the beginning of the meal. Then I sit down and join everybody else for the rest of the meal. The sideboard is within reach of everyone on that side of the table, so it is easy for those who want seconds to have those platters passed to them. The smaller dishes and drinks are on the table.
Formal dinners that are over 12: buffet style, with the food laid out on the kitchen island and the sideboard in the dining room. I stack the china at the beginning of the row of food platters, along with cutlery and napkins. Everyone serves themselves and takes their plate to one of the tables or wherever they are sitting. The drinks and glasses are on the dining room table for people to help themselves.
Dessert is always eaten much later. The dessert(s) are laid out on the dining room table after it's been cleared. There's a stack of dessert dishes, cutlery, glasses, and coffee/tea cups. Dessert may be eaten at the dining room table for a smaller group--or in the dining room and living room for a larger group.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mainebrokerman
when I had a son,,,every sunday morning we would go out to breakfast at a local diner- since he was around 5... till high school
I would let him order "anything he wanted off the menu" and I would also have the same thing
the place would be packed many kids with parents....and their we were eating the largest hot fudge sundae they could make... that's what my son wanted so we both had it,,
when I had a son,,,every sunday morning we would go out to breakfast at a local diner- since he was around 5... till high school
I would let him order "anything he wanted off the menu" and I would also have the same thing
the place would be packed many kids with parents....and their we were eating the largest hot fudge sundae they could make... that's what my son wanted so we both had it,,
every kid in the place was looking over with a long face,,,,,,,,saying "i want that"!!! I want that!! and the parents would give me dirty looks .... lol
I miss those times too
Twice in the last fifteen years, I have visited great restaurants that are well known for their pies ... at breakfast time. These are places that we are just passing through and won't be there at lunch time. Over the objection of the boss, both times, we had pie for breakfast.
We received some bad stares from some people ... however, the pies were really outstanding and well worth it.
That is a great story.
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. I do this whether we're 5, 10, 20 people. 
