I Think The Best Shortcut

The Most Important Thing For Having A Party Is That The Hostess Is Having Fun. I'm Very Organized. I Make A Plan For Absolutely Everything. I Never Have Anything That Has To Be Cooked While The Guests Are There. The Only Thing I Might Have To Do Is Take Something Out Of The Oven And Carve It.

Take One Flower That You Like And Get Lots Of Them. And Don't Try To 'arrange' Them. It's Surprisingly Hard To Do A Flower Arrangement The Way A Florist Does One. Instead, Bunch Them All Together Or Put Them In A Series Of Small Vases All Down The Table.

My Mother Would Never Let Me In The Kitchen. I Always Wanted To Cook, But I Was Never Allowed To. Her View Of The World Was, "cooking Is My Job, And Studying Is Your Job." I Think, In Retrospect, She Didn't Like The Chaos. She Was Very Orderly. It Had To Be Her Way.

I Don't Like Sitting At A Table That's Too Large, Where Everyone Is Too Far Apart. That's A Party Killer.

The Planning Is Everything. Deciding Which Dishes You're Going To Prepare Can Turn Into The Make-or-break Decision Five Days Later, When You Actually Serve The Meal.