Cooking with guests while entertaining
Plan ahead of time
Entertaining can be very stressful, especially if you are planning on cooking while your guests are at your home. Make sure to plan your appetizers, entrées, drinks and desserts ahead of time to ease your stress.
Create a bar
Designate an easily accessible area in your house as the ‘bar’. Have glasses, liquors, wines, mix, ice cubes, pop and water laid out in a serve-yourself manner. Make sure to show the guests to this area when they arrive and let them know they can serve themselves. This will take the pressure off you, as the host.
Plan meals that everyone can help with
When planning the menu for the evening, think of dishes that can include your guests in the process. If someone asks if you want help, accept it and give the guest a job!
Prep appetizers ahead of time
Make sure to have some appetizers already prepped and cooked upon the guest’s arrival. This way the guests will be occupied while you are cooking.
Hire a chef
A fairly inexpensive trend in dinner parties right now is hiring a chef who will teach the host and the guests how to cook the specific meal they have chosen. The chef will come with all the ingredients and then put the guests and host to work to create the meal. Once the meal is completed, the chef, host and guests will all dine together.
