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How to Get Your Kitchen Ready for a Party

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Fine-Dining Plastic Wear

Plastic party dishware doesn't have to be an eyesore. We bet you can't spot the plastic imposters on this party table.

These shatterproof plastic wine glasses
have crystal-like clarity and no plastic-cup taste. Govino stemless wine glasses, $13 for 4, govinowine.com

Ceramic look-alike plastic coffee mugs
are weighty enough that they won’t blow away while you wait for the dessert course. Square white coffee mug, $7 for 8, smartyhadaparty.com

This knock-off plate
gleams like real porcelain and you can toss it afterward. We might like it better than the real thing! 10.25-inch dinner plates, $10 for 10, smartyhadaparty.com

Look at these utensils shine!
No polishing needed. The plastic sets only look like fancy flatware. "Brilliance" by Diamond, $3.50 for 10 sets, at Target stores

From Everyday with Rachael Ray

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How to Work the Room at a Party

Get Ready To Party!

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How to Work the Room at a Party

WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING TO IMPRESS

Keep nerves in check.
Before heading into a room full of strangers (or answering the door before your date), get the jitters out by hopping up and down.

Don’t try too hard.
Casual confidence always works: Have good posture, speak with conviction and make eye contact.

Watch out for over-gesturing.
When we’re put on the spot, we tend to talk with our hands. Only gesture when you really need emphasis, but avoid clichés: If you’re saying something negative, no finger wagging.

WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING FOR LAUGHS

Filter yourself.
When you’re meeting new people, always schmooze before you drop a zinger. That way, they can be sure it’s a joke.

Take a cue from the tone of the room and the crowd.
Tailor your teasing to the appropriate guests. Off-color humor won’t fly in an office party or at your grandpa’s retirement bash.

Keep it relevant.
Random jokes (“Guy walks into a bar...”) aren’t as funny as situational humor. Rib on something happening at the party so everyone feels included.

From Everyday with Rachael Ray

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Get Ready To Party!

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Get Ready To Party!

Party Tips: The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) presents Get Ready To Party!

Rach's style buddy Gretta Monahan reveals tips for getting into party mode. "Before I play hostess, I enjoy a few bites with my feet up and a cocktail in hand. And I never forget to test out the dance floor!"

DRESS FOR SUCCESS
No need to try on everything in your closet. These style secrets work every time.

Keep it simple
Choose an outfit with as few pieces as possible—a dress for ladies; dress pants and a shirt for men. You won't have to stress about mixing layers.

Don’t sweat it
Heavy knits will make your temperature rise, and thin fabrics like silk show every little stain. Stick to cotton and darker colors and patterns.

Under-accessorize
Keep accessories short and sweet. Dangling necklaces or ties can tangle and snag as you work the room.

PERFECT THE PLAYLIST
Turn to these helpers to score rave reviews.

Classics
Not sure your guests will share your passion for mosh-pit rock? Play more artists and songs they'll recognize.

Celebs
iTunes has playlists hand-selected by the stars. Try out one by an artist whose taste you admire.

Guests
Have them bring their iPods or CDs and take turns playing DJ.

From Everyday with Rachael Ray

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How to Make an Easy Cheese Plate

Party Tips: The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) presents How to Make an Easy Cheese Plate.

Forget trays of waxy cubes—picking good cheese is easy and affordable. In fact, a tasty spread awaits you right at the grocery store.

MIX BASIC AND QUIRKY FLAVORS AND TEXTURES
Give guests cheesy adjectives (e.g., stinky, earthy) and have each person bring a type that represents it. In addition to different textures, choose cheeses from different countries or made from different types of milk. For a tray that feeds three or four people, pick one cheese that's creamy (goat cheese, brie, camembert, port-salut or fontina) , one that's firm (cheddar, gruyère, parmigiano-reggiano) and one that's a wild card (blue cheese, manchego, pecorino or something local). For a spread that serves five to eight, throw together a combo of five or six cheeses that includes picks across the categories.

COLD, PRECUT CUBES ARE TASTELESS.
To maximize flavor: Take cheeses out of the fridge 45 minutes beforehand, leaving them wrapped until ready to serve.

DON'T LEAVE GUESTS IN THE DARK.
Label each cheese by name, milk variety and country of origin. That way, guests know exactly what they’re eating (e.g., pecorino: sheep’s-milk cheese, Italy).

NO NEED TO BUST OUT FANCY UTENSILS.
All that’s required is a small butter knife for each cheese. Cut a few pieces of each (wedges for rounds, slices for everything else) to get guests started. Soft cheeses, such as goat cheese and fresh mozzarella, get squashed when you cut them with a knife. You can buy expensive cheese cutters, but you may have solutions lying around. Our favorites include picture-hanging wire, fishing line and dental floss (unflavored, of course). Perk: There’s no cleanup—they’re all disposable.

ENCOURAGE EXPERIMENTATION
(and calm stage fright). Ask everyone to share their top cheese/snack/wine combos. At the end of the night, give guests hunks of their favorites for next-day fondue.

CHEESE GONE BAD?
Don’t fear if hard cheese has molded in spots. Just slice off an inch past the questionable bits. If the whole piece is past its prime (or if it’s a soft cheese), toss everything but the rind, especially from hard cheeses like parmesan, pecorino or gruyère. Simmer these rinds in soups or stews when you want an extra burst of flavor.

AND, SUPPORTING PLAYERS...
Fruit, which amplifies cheese's sweetness, is a must. Go for dried (cranberries, dates, cherries or figs), fresh (sliced apples, pears, plums, apricots or melon) or both. Crusty bread or crackers are staples, too, but pick ones that aren't too salty or spicy. They'll overpower the cheeses. If you want to go one step further, pick up cheese's salty notes with olives, and put out sweet or spicy fruit chutneys, toasted nuts, or cured meats like salami and prosciutto. And for the finishing touch? Honey.

From Everyday with Rachael Ray

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Easy Tips for Hosting a Great Party

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Party To-Do List

Party Ideas: The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) presents Party To-Do List.

Here's a party to-do list you'll actually want to do.

1. Instead of buying decorations, try an in-home scavenger hunt. Use picture frames for appetizer trays; fill jewelry boxes with ornaments or chocolates.

2. Instead of mailing invitations, e-mail them. Unless the invite is to your wedding, e-mail is fine. Just send it to yourself and blind-copy your guests to avoid never-ending reply-alls.

3. Instead of cleaning out the fridge to make room for leftovers, buy storage containers to pawn off extra—er, send guests home with food!

4. Instead of ordering flowers, use extra fruit or foliage from the backyard for centerpieces.

5. Instead of stocking up on candles, why not let your food provide the aromatherapy instead? For a candle-flame glow, switch in amber or pink bulbs.

6. Instead of shopping for alcohol, buy it from a retailer who delivers.

7. Instead of apologizing to the Hendersons for the cars blocking their driveway, call neighbors with a heads-up about the party. Remind guests where to park.

8. Instead of setting the table the day of, do it in advance. This is a perfect "get it out of the way" task. Just top the plates with wax paper to keep dust off.

9. Instead of making extra appetizers, tell your friends, yes, actually, they can bring something.

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Easy Tips for Hosting a Great Party

Party Ideas: The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) presents Easy Tips for Hosting a Great Party.

Learn from our party experts how to host a great party for the holidays, birthdays or anytime.

FOUR THINGS THAT TRIP UP EVERY HOSTESS—EXCEPT FOR YOU

Early Arrivals
It’s an hour before your party, and you’re still in sweats when the doorbell rings. Don’t panic. Tell your guest to grab a drink while you get dressed. (Low-maintenance snacks like nuts and olives are handy here, too.) After that, explain that you have some things to finish, but that he or she is welcome to watch TV. Chances are, this time-challenged guest’s manners will kick in and you’ll score an assistant.

Unsolicited Kitchen Help
You want a helping hand, not a sous chef. If you anticipate that a certain invitee will try to take charge of the kitchen (think: "Seems like you oversalted this gravy."), have her set the table or load/ unload the dishwasher.

Calorie-phobia
If someone’s portion-patrolling or flat-out ignoring the "dinner" in your dinner party, offer (privately) to get him or her something else. If the answer is no, move on. (If the answer is yes, offer something that’s on hand. Don’t stress over it.) Getting quizzed about the fat content of Aunt Mabel’s famous bread pudding? Remind everyone that calorie-counting is what February is for.

Criticism (and its cousin, Backhanded Compliments)
It only takes one snotty remark about the turkey being "better than I expected" to spike your blood pressure. When someone gets sassy, just smile (even if it’s hard!) and offer a retort that says both "I’m onto you" and "I’m ignoring you." (In this case, a simple "Oh, would you like some more?" should do it.)

MESSES MADE OVER: ENTERTAINING EDITION
Our experts show us lessons we can all learn from our readers’ hosting mishaps.

Mess:
"Some friends were coming for dinner, so I wanted to make a fancy appetizer. I rolled green olives in bacon, secured them with toothpicks and broiled them—quickly causing puffs of smoke to billow out. My 'fancy' plastic toothpicks had melted." –Betty Niemczyk, Farmingdale, NY
Lesson:
Don’t pressure yourself! It won’t be perfect, and no one will mind. "When we have people over, everybody knows they’re just there to have a good time," says L.A. event planner Alan Dunn.

Mess:
"I had planned on making homemade vodka tomato sauce for my friends, but since I was short on time, I bought the jarred stuff, which I tried to pass off as my own creation. Seeing a bottle of vodka on the counter, my husband asked if that was what I’d used to make the sauce. When I said yes, he said, 'How funny—the seal is still on the bottle!' Whoops." –Sher Bird, Seattle
Lesson:
Stay on schedule. We’re not talking train-station accuracy—just plan to, say, clean in the morning and start cooking by noon. "Someone who doesn’t entertain a lot doesn’t start until 2:00 p.m. and then answers the door in her bathrobe," says Chicago event planner Debi Lilly. "Do as much as you can the day before, so that the day of the party you only have last-minute things."

Mess:
"As a new bride, I had my father-in-law over for pot roast. My mom always made the gravy on the stovetop, so I put the glass dish of roast on a burner—where it exploded! I’d forgotten that Mom always used a cast-iron skillet." –Catherine Williams, Laurel, MD
Lesson:
Don’t be too ambitious. "It’s better to have the best-tasting four appetizers ever than to try replicating French Laundry," says L.A. caterer Kate Paul.

TALKING WHILE COOKING SOUNDS EASY—UNTIL IT ISN'T
So we turned to a guy who does it for a living: TV chef and star gabber Guy Fieri.

Be prepared.
"Some people are just born to cook and talk," Guy says. "But it’s always good to go over the recipe beforehand, so you can easily think of the next thing that needs to be done." This should be easy, since you wouldn’t dare entertain with a dish you’ve never made. Right?

Take charge of the convo.
If there’s chatter in your ear at a crucial moment—like, as you’re about to deglaze a pan with alcohol—try a a polite "Hold that thought. I need to concentrate for a minute." Better yet, narrate the recipe. "Now lemme just get this pot of boiling water to the sink," should alert even the most clueless guest to can it.

When all else fails, delegate.
Need an onion chopped? Even if you don’t, ask your kitchen visitor to do it. This will either turn the focus to food or bore them straight out of the kitchen.

GUEST-CASE SCENARIOS
Party fouls happen. Here’s how to avoid them:

You let the host’s pet outside
Alert the owner quietly to keep party guests from panicking. If everyone runs out searching for the cat, the party will stop, and the commotion could scare him into running farther. Quietly grab one or two nearby guests to search neighboring yards, but let the host lead. He or she may know the pet’s favorite spots or escape tactics.

You spilled red wine
There’s hope for saving the carpet, couch cushion or poodle you’ve spilled on. To prevent hostess hysteria, act like an ER doc: Act methodically, and she’ll think you’ve got tricks up your sleeve. Blot the stain, douse it with club soda, cold water or white wine (the antidote to red), and repeat until the spot disappears. If it doesn’t, apologize and offer to pay for the damage.

You broke something
Shattering someone else’s possessions can make you feel helpless. Don’t justify, gush or blame it on the drunkest person in the room. In the end, a sincere apology is the offer your hostess will appreciate most. Accept responsibility and pledge to replace the item.

You clogged the toilet
We know, it’s mortifying. First things first, don’t flush again. It could overflow. Most people keep a plunger, so check under the sink or in the closet and try to clear out the clog. If you can’t find one, ask an accomplice to grab an empty 2-liter soda bottle. Put the spout in the toilet and squeeze the bottom; the airflow might help dislodge what’s stuck. Nothing? Own up and have a (red-faced) laugh.

From Everyday with Rachael Ray

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How to Get Your Kitchen Ready for a Party

Party Ideas: The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) presents How to Get Your Kitchen Ready for a Party.

Soiree season is about to make your home's busiest room a lot crazier. A few tweaks and your kitchen will be a stress-free zone.

Spread out. Park a folding table against the wall for more food prep room, and add a "busing" area, like a plastic tub by the sink. It'll keep guests from piling dirty dishes on the counter, says Michael Jennings, coowner of San Francisco's Small Potatoes Catering & Events.

Add ambience. It'll draw you to the kitchen even after an app-making marathon. Put a collage of photos on the fridge. Place a lamp on the table or atop the fridge, says Rebecca Moses, author of A Life of Style: Fashion, Home, Entertaining, to cast a glow on the kitchen, and a weary host.

Breathe, literally. A cookie- or pie-baking blitz can keep the oven cranking all day: “Let air into the kitchen,” says Craig Thompson, owner of Shandaken Bake in Shandaken, New York. Cracking a window or stepping outside will refresh you and head off a too-much-dough crash.

Hold court. Since you know the party will end up in the kitchen anyway, set up barstools in a corner and let folks loiter while you chop crudités or whip cream. Better yet, says Sharon Juergens, a chef and caterer in Royal Oak, Michigan, put friends to work with small tasks between cocktails.

From Everyday with Rachael Ray

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Setting a Formal Table Setting

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How to Throw a Last-Minute Party

Party Ideas: The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) presents How to Throw a Last-Minute Party.

Hosting stage fright seems to stem from the lack of one of three things: time, money or space. We say, don't sweat any of them!

NO TIME? New York party planners Ann David and Nicky Reinhard suggest serving Chinese or Thai takeout, arranged on platters. Use bright, lacquered chopsticks and colorful paper takeout boxes (check sites like pearlriver.com and papermart.com). If cooking, focus on the main course and fake the rest, says chef Jennifer Schaertl, author of Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens; think store-bought spinach-artichoke dip served in a bread bowl for a starter.

NO MONEY? Play the numbers, starting with the ones on the clock: Host noon brunch. The ingredients (eggs, fruit and juice) will cost a fraction of what you’d need to cook dinner, notes David. Ditto for a 5 p.m. cocktails-and-hors d’oeuvres fete, where folks don’t expect as much food. At the store, think like a restaurant would: Plan on 4 to 6 ounces of protein and 1/3 cup of vegetables or starch per person. For apps, estimate about two of each per guest, Schaertl says.

NO SPACE? If you have a backyard, then you have more room. Even a puny patio or porch to open the doors onto will make a party feel more spacious. Lure people outside with tubs of ice and drinks, and a small table of appetizers— maybe even one that isn’t on the indoor menu. For dinner parties in cramped quarters, rely on onepot wonders like frittatas, risotto, paella or gumbo. Anything that can be tossed, cooked and served in a single pot or pan frees up space.

From Everyday with Rachael Ray

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Setting a Formal Table Setting

Inviting and Seating Guests

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Throw an Open-Air Party

Party Ideas: The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) invites you to try our tips for the ultimate open-air party, no matter what the forecast.

Work with the Weather
You may not be able to beat Mother Nature, but you can join her if you plan wisely. Make sure there are shady spots to beat the heat, supply sweatshirts if there’s a surprise chill in the air, and have backup party space ready inside if the elements don't cooperate.

Stock Your Space
It's no fun jogging in and out of the house for supplies (and no one wants a sweaty host). Move essentials—plates, glasses, ice, napkins, utensils, and trash and recycling bins—to the prime party area.

Two Words: Room Temperature
Outdoor parties mean drive-by dining: Guests nibble, chat and return to the food the whole time. Selecting food that won't spoil and still tastes (and looks) good after sitting in the sun can mean the difference between a blast and a flop.

Battle the Bugs
Pests are never on the invite list. For maximum bug protection, light a few citronella candles—but keep them away from the food. No one wants to eat a burger that smells like bug repellent.

Bring on the Bevs
Both libations and nonalcoholic options are key for thirsty outdoor guests. To keep the party pumping, make sure you've got more than enough drinks—think three per person over a two-hour party. But no matter what you serve, make sure there's ample agua. Heatstroke is not a good party favor.

Hide the Breakables
Hey, here’s a way to ruin your fun: Spend all night worrying about the safety of your favorite stemware and serving platters. Put away the coveted casserole dishes and carafes and use less expensive pieces instead.

Serve Sunscreen
Not everyone remembers to lather up before an outdoor party. If your event is midday, provide a few bottles of SPF. Leave sunscreen in prime spots outside, as well as in the bathroom.

Create Indoor-Quality Comfort
Outdoor events are casual, but that doesn't mean everyone should be expected to stand. Scatter blankets and pillows from the family room—and even beach towels and lawn chairs—if you don't have enough table seating.

From Everyday with Rachael Ray

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