The best dinner parties require menu planning down to the most infinitesimal detail.  But it is vital to keep in mind that mere food and drink do not a party make.  The glittering tablescape is equally important in setting mood for the evening, while giving your guests an aesthetic preview of what’s to come from the kitchen. Here is your guide to reaching the apex - that grandiose feeling that...

The average dinner party chez  moi requires the following bouquets: three for the dining table, one for the la toilette, one for the balcony table, one for the bedroom, one for the console, and one for the coffee table.  That is EIGHT bouquets.  With most San Francisco florists starting at $65 per arrangement, one could easily spend $520 for a single dinner party – almost enough for an iPad or a Clic-Clac...

Macaroni and Cheese is incontestably the most comforting of comfort foods.  A scrumptious blend of nutty gruyere, intense cheddar, and intoxicating roquefort, with the additions of truffle oil and pancetta turn this classic dish into a sophisticated entrée.  It is rumored that Thomas Jefferson famously served macaroni and cheese at all of his dinner parties.  And, if it’s good enough for the president, it’s good enough for T+T! I would like to tell you that this dish is a cinch to whip up, however, I found out the hard way that this is certainly not the case for everyone…  The truffle mac and cheese was the last dish that I needed to prepare for an elaborate dinner party – and as I am perpetually running thirty minutes late in the kitchen, panic began to set in.  I begged one of my guests, Katherine, to be my sous-chef so that dinner would be served on time.   Her first task was to slice the butter, which she performed flawlessly.  Her second task had a less idyllic outcome.   I asked Katherine to “put the whole box of pasta in.”  She obeyed, and dumped the campanelle into a small saucepan of cold milk (intended for my béchamel sauce), rather than the large pot of boiling water.  I was utterly astounded.  I knew that several of my girlfriends were culinarily-challenged, but never did I imagine that boiling pasta was one of those challenges.  Moreover, Katherine was not alone!  While recounting the humorous tale at dinner, my friend Cameron declared that she would have done the exact same thing – adding pasta to milk is how you microwave Easy Mac, after all. Luckily, the truffle mac and cheese turned out perfectly – despite the near catastrophe. And if there is one deciding factor that encouraged me to write this blog, it is without a doubt Katherine and her milky macaroni.  xx tt

Palate cleansers are the pinnacle of chic-cuisine. If you are lucky enough to partake in the decadence of a multi-course meal, a palate cleanser is the conventional means of invigorating your appetite whilst readying your senses for the bold tastes of the main course.  A cleanser evokes historic French fare, which made it perfect for a Marie Antoinette-themed dinner party I planned for a girlfriend recently. Traditionally, palate cleansers are light sorbets in crisp clean flavors - mint, grapefruit, basil, or lemon. For this particular dinner, I toyed with the idea of a pink grapefruit sorbet - but settled on mint, opting for a more delicate taste to compliment the heavy menu. Determined to make the palate cleanser pink, I added food coloring to achieve the appropriate level of girlishness.  After sampling, I asked one of my guests to describe the sorbet. She replied, “it is truly perfection!  A refreshing cross between cotton candy and a mint popsicle. I could eat bowls of it.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself. xx tt

French Onion Soup, née Soupe a L’Oignon Gratinee, is a always in perfect taste.  Just ask all of my Café des Amis-Balthazar-La Boulange-doting friends.  The juxtaposition of consommé with caramelized onions and bubbling cheese served in mini-tureens offers a light/rich combination that leaves you satisfied for the rest of the evening.  The soup alone is so delicious that the carbless might be tempted to leave out the toast and cheese… but what fun would that be? Though the aforementioned brasseries offer beautiful versions of the classic soup, not a single one trumps the delectable aromatics, scrumptious taste, or ease of cooking your own pot.  In fact, the most difficult part of making Soupe a L’Oignon Gratinee at home is waiting for the onions to properly cook-down.  Yes, dear reader, patience is a virtue.  And this particular virtue is worth waiting for.  xx tt

Serving perfectly pointed scones with my lemon curd and rose petal jelly was on theme, but not entirely appropriate for an evening event.  Instead, I decided to make a deconstructed scone – drop biscuits.  With scones, you need a particular pan and pastry blending contraption, more ingredients, and more time.  Drop biscuits taste just as good, and as in all things stylish, a touch of the unexpected often trumps the literal. Drop biscuits are easy to make, and taste fantastic right out of the oven, but are still delightful after a few hours at room temperature (which means you can make them ahead of time to avoid mayhem in the kitchen right before serving-time).  The biscuits are so simple that you can whip them up to pair with your favorite jam, nutella, soup, or boeuf bourguignon.  You might also consider adding blue cheese, or strawberries and a splash of almond extract.  No one will suspect that you only spent twenty minutes in the kitchen to make these versatile treats!  xx tt

No tea service is complete without the appropriate accoutrements.  While homemade rose petal jelly proved inaccessible, the ingredients for lemon curd were easy enough to acquire.  Nevertheless, the thought of making lemon curd was so terrifying that I didn’t start the process until well after midnight the evening before Maria’s party.   Turning acidic lemon rinds into deliciously saccharine curd seemed counterintuitive.  I’ve also never actually tasted lemon curd myself, so I was worried that I wouldn’t know whether or not the final product was as heavenly as I hoped it would be.  All of my concerns washed away after about half-an-hour of minimal labor produced the most delectable, mouth-watering, perfectly tart spread for my drop biscuits.  The zest and lemon juice created powerful flavor, while the sugar and butter provided a creamy sweet texture.  You aren’t meant to devour lemon curd on its own, but a few heaping spoonfuls never hurt anyone. Scrumptious on scones, amazing in pastries, and precious as gifts in pretty jam jars, this is a basic recipe that you will want to keep around for the holidays!  xx tt

After putting the last of the gilded touches on the invitations, I quickly moved on to my favorite portion of party planning - the menu.  This particular planning exercise went through many incarnations.  In an attempt to  keep it simple, my first idea was to serve steak tartare and champagne risotto. No one was overwhelmed by this idea, and while I desperately wanted to keep the theme away from...

My very best friend, Maria, has a birthday two weeks after mine.  Usually, we combine our special days, but as any San Franciscan in the know will understand – scheduling a party for a Saturday in October is no easy task (fleet week, homecoming games, jlsf home tour, and the last of the year’s weddings).  This October, one party for both of us did not come to fruition, so my friends generously...