October Lifestyle Newletter

In This Issue:

1) Choosing Foods For Your Special Event

2) What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

3) Three Rules For Choosing The Right Dinner Wine


BUT FIRST:

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Choosing Foods For Your Special Event

Choosing the right menu for a special event can be just as important as choosing a location. Food can communicate a theme, convey a feeling or set the mood of an entire night. If you are planning a high-class extravaganza, hot dogs and beer might not be appropriate. However, they might be the perfect choice for a birthday party at the lake. Taking great care in planning a menu shows your guests how much you appreciate them, and a great meal can help make a special day even more memorable.

If you are planning a birthday party for your child, an interactive meal can be a fun activity for your guests. Rather than slaving away in the kitchen all day or spending countless dollars ordering pizzas, you can save time and money by letting the guests make their own special creations. One fun idea is to prepare a multitude of toppings and let the children make their own bagel or English muffin pizzas. They will have a blast piling on strange combinations of toppings, and they will enjoy feeling like grown-ups in the kitchen.

For a more formal occasion like a holiday party, finger foods can be great for mingling guests, and they can be great topics of conversation. The obligatory finger sandwich can be spiced up by adding your own special pesto or cheese spread to an already tried and true recipe. Experiment with different ingredients in the weeks prior to the party, and test them out on your family. You will know when you get the reaction you are looking for, and you might end up spending much of the party writing down your recipe for your guests.

Planning a menu for a wedding can be quite stressful, especially when you are not sure exactly how many guests will be attending. The rule of thumb is that too much is better than not enough, even if it means having a lot of food left over at the end of the night. You can choose to have a buffet-style dinner, or you can have a set menu for your guests. It is important to consider your guests with special dietary needs. You should have vegetarian and low-sodium alternatives to your main courses, and you should have a heart-healthy menu for those who must avoid foods with high fat contents.

Before attempting a large-scale meal, you should make all of the dishes several times to perfect your recipes. Your goal is to have guests asking for more even after it all runs out. Test your creations on a variety of people and make adjustments according to their suggestions. When cooking food from your own recipes, it is important to remember the details of what you did every time you make it. That way you will know what went wrong when something turns out horrible, and more importantly what went right when you receive raving reviews.

Planning portions is the most important part of catering your own party. Though most recipes tell you how many people they will feed, it is best to err on the side of caution. If a recipe feeds eight, you might want to count it as six or seven, depending on how many guests you expect. Plan that half of your guests will want to go back for seconds. If you know that one dish will be a favorite, be sure to make extra. Though the green beans may be the healthier option, you can usually bet that the cheesecake will go a lot quicker. Keep in mind that the greater the variety, the more people you will please, so even if you are a steamed vegetable lover, you should probably prepare some beefy options for your less than health conscious guests.


What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

Everybody has blind spots.

You have certain tendencies that you are not aware of but others can see. These are your blind spots, and they often cause big problems.

You may not want to accept that your life style is responsible for your high cholesterol and that you are courting a heart attack. You may not want to know that your defensiveness cost you a promotion.

Over two hundred years ago, Scottish poet Robert Burns (Kinsley, 1968) wrote:

"Oh wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursel's as others see us!"

It can be a real challenge to try to see yourself as others see you. Sometimes you actually can do so, by watching yourself on videotape, or listening to an audiotape. Usually, though, this information is only available when others are willing to share it with you.

But, you may have a blind spot about being alerted to your blind spot!

If you do, you try to turn away any feedback that does not agree with your own self-assessments. You may be blocking the very information you need.

However, when you learn to accept any feedback as a gift, you can use it to fuel your own growth and development.

Sometimes someone wants to give you information about something you say or do that annoys others. You might even be happy to change it if you only it existed. But you can't know unless you are open to their feedback.

Sometimes the information is extremely important to you, because something you are doing (or not doing) may keep you from career advancement or interfere with your important relationships.

Although you may not exactly welcome feedback that brings uncomfortable information to your attention, you may desperately need it.

When you accept new information about yourself, you can then take action and make important changes -- changes that can make a tremendous difference to your success or even to your life.



Three Rules For Choosing The Right Dinner Wine

RULE NO 1: Drink the wine that you like.

Sounds obvious, doesn't it? Sometimes, however, we get so caught up in what is the right wine and what is the wrong wine that we forget the most important thing: we have taste! We have our own individual taste and love drinking the wine we love to drink. Sure, certain wines traditionally match certain foods and flavours, but ultimately you are the judge of what you like to drink, no matter what the enologists say!

RULE NO. 2: White with fish, red with meat? Not always.

Everyone knows that fish meals should be accompanied by white wine and meat dishes should be accompanied by red wine. But adhering to strict wine rules takes the fun out of choosing wines. Trust your own sense of taste. A wine should do one of two things: complement or contrast. Not all fish dishes are cooked in the same way, so why should they all be accompanied by white wine? Consider the dish, the way it is cooked, the spices and seasonings added, and then choose a wine that complements those elements or contrasts, that is if you want a more intense experience.

RULE NO. 3: Always read a wine label.

Not all merlots, shirazes, and cabernets are the same. An Australian merlot will differ from an American or French merlot. Read up on winemaking practices around the world and learn the differences between wines and their countries of origin. But apart from the country of origin, also look for information about specific regions and vineyards. The more detailed information on a wine label, the better the wine will be. Of course, the better the wine the more expensive it will be and that is the final deciding factor.


Until Next Month,

Best Wishes,

Stephen Scott

Stephen Scott, Regal Titles

 

http://www.RegalTitles.com


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