Amy’s Culinary Adventures
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A Caterer’s 10 Secrets
for the Perfect Holiday Party
By Sarika Chawla
Along with the comfort and joy of the holidays comes a lot of drama and stress. Throwing a fabulous dinner party is a great way to impress family and friends, but there are many factors that can derail even the best-laid plans.
Amy Jurist, chef/owner of Amy’s Culinary Adventures has arranged everything from intimate meals for couples to six-course bacon-infused dinner parties to salads for 400. She’s also encountered practically every catering calamity, including a recent dinner party for 80 with no kitchen in sight (she made do with a propane stove and camping light).
Jurist shares 10 catering tips for throwing the perfect dinner party:
1. Don’t Succumb to Culinary Peer Pressure
I don’t care about seasonal ingredients or being a “locavore.” If I want shrimp on the plate, I don’t care where it came from. As for the organic movement, I get it, but I don’t have kids and I really don’t care if I’m ingesting some pesticides. (In any case, with produce like oranges, the bad stuff is happening on the skin.) When I go to the store the organic produce generally sits there longer because it’s more expensive, so it looks sadder and scrappier than the non-organic stuff.