Impromptu Dinner Party

Friends coming over without giving you time to cook? Pre-prepared foods make a quick stop to the grocery store all you need to make an impromptu dinner party an instant success.

• A premixed bag of salad makes a great start or base to dinner.
• While you’re opening the dressing, place salad forks in a bowl of ice and let them chill.
• Offer the chilled forks at a salad course, or do the same with spoons to serve with a dessert like sorbet.
• This is an easy tip that will impress your guests — you can even do it at a planned event!

Create an instant centerpiece in minutes using a placemat to pull together a variety of collected items. Here, a few leaves and flowers from the garden, a candle, and a handful of scattered pebbles from a day at the beach create a focal point for your impromptu party.

• Put a placemat on the table, then add small pottery pieces around an interesting vase.
• Notice how a stolen blossom from the garden, a few leaves and vines almost arrange themselves.
• Add a candle, scatter some collected pebbles and an interesting leaf, and voilà!