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Table Card Holders: Your Number’s Not Up – Or Is It?
No matter how smart your guests are, if you have more than one table available, you need table card holders. From separating feuding in-laws to just making sure that Uncle Joe isn’t too close to the bar, table card holders are going to ensure that your event goes smoothly. Or at least, as smoothly as can be expected when you invite your friends.
Making Everyone Happy Enough
There’s a pecking order when it comes to the way tables are arranged. Those who are closer to the guests of honor are the ‘chosen’ ones in the guest list. These are the people who are obviously more important to these special people. But since you can’t fit everyone at that head table or even close to it, you need to have a battle plan for making sure everyone doesn’t curse your name as soon as they find their seat.
Card Number Holder (allforyourwedding.com)
- Use personalized table card holders – When you not only number the table but also include their name at their place, you’ve shown that this is a person you meant to invite to your party and not just someone you’re hoping will bring gifts.
- Keep friends and family together – Even if a group of friends or family is way at the back of the dining, at least they can vent to each other about their poor seats. After all, complaining is going to keep them occupied.
- Give away favors – Everyone wants something for free, so alongside the table card holders, make sure you place a small token of your appreciation: a chocolate, a five dollar bill, etc.
While it’s unlikely that everyone is going to get the seat they really want, at least they won’t be too loud in their discontent.
Other Tips for Setting Up Your Tables
But it’s more than just the table card holders that you need to be worried about when you’re making that dreaded seating chart. You also need to be aware of your space constraints and the people who you’ve invited. Here are some extra tips to help you get through the planning process:
Table Card Holder
- Don’t have too many people at a table – Sure, on the piece of paper it looks like ten people will fit comfortably around that table, but not everyone is as thin as you think they are. No more than eight people should go at a table.
- Put the table card holders in a place where they can be easily seen – If your great aunt Trudy can’t find her spot, she’s going to give up and set anywhere – even next to cousin Ralph who’s the family jokester. Instead, make sure the card holders are high up on the table and not obscured by a plant or a centerpiece.
There are many styles of table card holders and numbers. Here are two sites that offer the basic varieties.
Ablekitchen.com – Restaurant, Event, Church and Catering Style Table Card Holders
TableNumberCards.com – All types of numbers.
JoyfulBrideOnline.com – Stylish and Upscale Table Card Holders for upscale parties
Advice for Making Pizzeria Style Pizza with Pizza Peels
Even if you’re not someone who heads to your local pizzeria every week, you probably love a good slice from time to time. The fact is that pizza isn’t just about the meat and the cheese, but it’s also about the versatility of the toppings you can put on the top. However, it’s hard to copy your favorite deep dish when you’re at home – or is it? When you learn the secrets of the pros, you don’t have to keep the local delivery service on speed dial.
It Starts with the Best Ingredients
When you want to make something right, you can’t skimp on the ingredients. You need to choose top notch brands of your meat, cheese, and pizza style sauce. In addition, you need to choose pizza crust mixes that include the best flours and other additives. Here are some basic tips for getting the best ingredients in your pizza:
- Buy your ingredients the same day – Instead of buying your toppings and cheeses a few days ahead of time, make sure you’re buying everything the same day you’re going to put it on top of your pizza. This will ensure that you are getting the maximum flavor.
- Don’t get ahead of yourself – While putting all of the ingredients on the pizza long before it goes into the oven may seem like a good idea, it isn’t. You should put your ingredients onto the dough right before it goes into the oven.
- Choose locally grown, in season vegetables – These are going to have the most flavor. If you can find organic varieties, that’s all the better.
- Grate your own cheese – As soon as the surface of a block of cheese is broken, it can begin to lose flavor. Keep your cheese in block form until right before you put it on the pizza crust.
- Make your own sauce – While you may need to bribe a pizza maker for a good recipe, store bought sauces aren’t usually the best tasting choices.
Cooking Your Pie
If you can toss the dough before you make your pizza, great, but since most of us aren’t going to do that, let’s skip ahead to the cooking part. For the best results, you will want to use a stone plate to cook your pizza in your oven. This will makes sure the pizza is cooked thoroughly and evenly – as though you had a bonafide oven. In addition, you might want to try pizza peels instead of using your hands and a prayer. These peels will help lift the pizza off the rack or the stone and keep the toppings in place so that your pizza looks as good as it tastes.
While you might not be able to completely replicate your favorite pizza’s flavor, regular practice isn’t such a bad thing, is it?
Pizza Peel
AbleKitchen.com has over 100 styles and sizes of pizza peels to choose from. Bon appetit.
If you stop for a moment to think about how your mother cooked for you as a child, you might be surprised that you made it as far as you did. It seemed that no one knew about germs, so raw chicken and that night’s bread loaves were both on the same cutting board without a second thought. But times have changed and we’re a bit more particular about our foods and food safety. With headlines everyday about e Coli and other dangerous germs in foods, your best line of defense begins in the same place your recipes do.
Everything Has Germs
Right now, your hands have germs on them. That knob you just turned to wash your hands at the sink? Germs there too. For a moment, let’s be realistic. Everything has germs on it. But while this is the case, that doesn’t mean we should give up. Here are some easy ways to keep germs at a minimum:
Wash your hands with warm soapy water for the same length of time as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Dry them completely with a paper towel and don’t touch anything.
- Don’t touch your face with your hands or cross contaminate your hands in any way.
- Wash down your utensils and cutting board with warm soapy water too. Wash the board between food groups.
- Choose non-porous kitchen equipment, thermometers, etc. When things are made of glass, pyrex, or silicone, they are easier to clean and do not harbor germs.
- Rinse all vegetable and fruits before preparing.
Meats are the Worst Offenders
You probably already know this, but meat is your enemy when it comes to germ fighting. It contains hundreds of possible bacteria right from the start and it’s an uphill battle from then. Here are the ways you can reduce your risk of food poisoning and infection:
- Never store raw meat above fresh produce. The juices can drip onto the clean product.
- If meat looks or smells spoiled, throw it out. Better to waste some money than to make your guests sick.
- Always check expiration dates.
- Wear gloves when handling meat and then throw the gloves away when done.
Temperature Rules to Follow
To make sure your meats are safe to eat, they should be cooking to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, at least. This ensures that any bacteria are dead and gone from your meals. You can use long digital thermometers to check this, wiping the thermometer down with a sanitizer or washing it thoroughly between temp checks. Cold foods should be kept between 35 and 45 degrees, helping to keep germs from growing.
Meats can not sit out for longer than two hours, so if you have a buffet arrangement, you need to make sure to check the meat temperature to make sure it’s consistent or bring the food off the table after two hours. Cold foods should also checked regularly and placed into bowls of ice to help keep the temperature low.
Germ Warfare on Your Foods
