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Dinner parties are supposed to be very enjoyable, but they may also be a source of stress and disgruntlement for the cook. The way to get round this is through considered planning.

Obviously you’ll give careful consideration to your guests, their likes, dislikes and even any allergies they may have. But it’s's just as important to consider your own wants what you like to cook and what you are good at.

It’s better by a long way to create dishes you are familiar with than to try something new because you hope to galvanize. The trick is to make everything look simple, and the way to do that is to use differentiations on recipes you already know backwards.

On the other hand, if that suggests no improvement on spaghetti Bolognaise, another approach could be called for and a touch more planning may be required. Choose your recipes with care.

Decide terribly early on how many courses you plan to serve. It is in no fashion vital to serve three courses plus cheese just because that tends to be the norm. But if you do decide to follow that convention there aren’t many things it would be helpful to consider.

Avoid, for instance, employing the same main component in more than one dish. I.e. Don’t serve a quiche followed by something else in pastry, or add a robust flavor like chili to over one dish.

Plan, also, how you intend to cope with both preparing and serving the food. If your menu means that you will need to spend more time in the kitchen than you do with your visitors, you want to re-think

Design your courses so that as much as is possible can be prepared ahead. An easy way to do that is to serve only one hot dish, maybe the main course, one course at room temperature and one right from the fridge. The cheese can look after itself.

talking of which, here is something that you might like to think about. In Australia and the UK, cheese is served at the end of the meal. In France it is served prior to the pudding. I suggest the second course.

the cause of that is because it puts the timing strongly in your hands as to when the meal is over and it’s time for the guests to go back home.

Let them linger over the cheese until you are ready to bring the evening to a close. Then serve the pudding with only one bottle of good pudding wine, having cleared all the other dishes, including the cheese board.

You do this by bringing 2 dishes to the table, and taking one or two dishes away as if to create space for more. With a bit of practice you’ll become very adroit at this and the table will clear as if by wizardry.

Once the dessert is finished, select your time to supply coffee and a last nightcap of port or brandy, if that is what you would typically do. Most guests will understand the coffee implies the end of the evening and will not even bear in mind that you have manipulated the timing in this fashion. And even if they are , they may probably admire you for it and adopt the same system themselves.

Above all, remember that everything you serve has turned out just as it was supposed to. Never ever come up with excuses or say sorry for your food.

Create it with conviction, serve it with panache.You can read more about dinner party planning here: http://www.partyplanninghelp-mark.com/dinner-party-planning/