Having a dinner party can be a stressful experience. You want everything to be perfect and every guest to have the best time and full belly. In order to achieve this, most people try to do too much, but according to famous TV cook and author Ina Garten, the key to a perfect dinner party is simplicity.
In a recent interview with NPR, Garten spoke about her experiences with putting together dinner parties and shared some secrets she picked up along the way.
According to Garten, she learned a lot from a dinner party she organized when she was 21. She invited 20 people and wanted to cook personalized omelets for each guest. However, this caused her to spend the entire evening in the kitchen and led to disastrous results.
“It was such a bad party, I almost never had another party again,” Garten admitted.
Because of this, Garten recommends that everyone who wants to have a dinner party keep things simple. She also advises that you stick to smaller groups of people and get everyone as close to each other as possible.
“Very often people have long, rectangular tables that are way too wide and people are seated too far apart,” Garten told NPR. “I like when everybody’s knees are almost touching and it feels very intimate, with a dark room and a candle in the middle.”
So there you have it. Rather than throwing big dinner parties with a lot of different dishes, choose a smaller circle of friends and make just a few dishes you know everyone will like. This way, both you and your guests will have a much better time.
