Has the hustle and bustle of modern day life taken the "Family" away from your Dinner Table?
Do you have family members dining in front of the t.v., or standing over the kitchen counter?

Well fear not, you are not alone. Here are some tips to make your meals a family affair that everyone can look forward to.

In todays society, where life is so busy, we are happy just to get everyone fed before the sun goes down. But we surely have lost the one half hour of the day when the whole family can get together and enjoy each other.

If you think about it, what do we work so hard for all day? Aren't our homes, food on the table, and family members the number one priorities in our worlds? We need to celebrate our success, every day, and put this special time back in our lives. It's just plain satisfying and makes all the hard work worth while.

Here are some tips that work to make at least one meal a day a special time for all.

2. Turn off the television and sit at the table together, and don't answer the phone. It's time to relax, enjoy a meal, and talk to each other. This will not happen with interuptions.

3. Begin eating only when everyone is seated and ready to begin eating. If everyone starts the meal at the same time, you are sure not to leave anyone out. Leave just one member out, and you've lost control. If someone is not hungry, they can sit at the table with those who are anyway.

4. If you just can't get everyone together once each day because of work or school schedules, then make one weekend day dinner a special meal. I do this for Sunday dinner but it could be lunch or brunch or whenever. Take turns having family members favorite dishes, and you'll soon have them interested in the dining table again.

5. Never use plastic silverware. Ever. It just shows that you are more concerned with the dishes than you are with your family's comfort and ability to enjoy their meal. You can't eat most foods with plastic silverware anyway.

6. Want to make everyone feel special? Use cloth napkins .... even for the kids. And put everyone in charge of their own napkin. If it's clean enough to reuse, it can stay at the table place until the next meal. But if it is too dirty to use again, then "they" take it to the laundry and collect a new napkin. I use color napkins for everyday and save the whites for special occasion. This also saves me money and trash as I don't even buy paper napkins anymore. I even use cloth napkins when I am serving pizza on paper plates or having burgers outside by the grill. Everyone has told me how special it makes them feel.

7. As a rule, serve a Protien (meat, foul, fish), a Startch (bread, potatoe, pasta, or rice), and a Veggie. Our meals have become so out of balance, in toxic proportions, with the lack of veggies being the number one problem country wide. Even if you are serving fast food take out, you can throw some lettuce, and dressing in a bowl with little effort. You'll soon find out who likes what dressings, and you can put their favorite in front of their salad to encourage them. Even if they just end up eating the olives and pickles like my grandson did, that's better than nothing for a start.

Your best bet of getting your kids to eat their veggies is if you start them out young. They ate them soupie, luke warm, and from a jar when they were babies, and loved it. Try using real butter, salt & pepper, honey, a little sugar, or even cheese to make them more desireable. Both of my kids' favorite veggie is fresh buttered brussel sprouts!

8. When the meal is finished, no one leaves the table until everyone has finished. Sound impossible? It's not. My teens (and they were no exception as far as teens go) knew better than to even ask to be excused if others were still eating at the table. This way no one is left eating alone, AND everyone can take their plates and silverware to the kitchen together (when they will be less likely to forget because the whole family is doing it.) Don't we love that?

If you make these simple tips the rule at your house too, it won't be long before the conversation is flowing at the dinner table. With no t.v. to interupt, and no exceptions to the rule, talking will happen .... I promise! And then you can graduate to dinner and a movie "At Home"!


Having a special dinner, or going out to eat at a nice restaraunt? Learn what goes where, and never grab anyone elses fork again.

This is the proper way to set a table. Don't be intimidated, you only set out what you will actually use for the meal. You will surely never have all of these possibilities on one menu, but for those dishes you are serving, here is where the settings go.

A: Dinner plate goes down first, center and 1 inch from the edge of the table, 2 if you are using placemats.
B: Salad plate, or Soup bowl, or both (in that order) set on top.
C: Shrimp Cocktail dish on next.
D: Napkin sets on top, unless you are having a Shrimp Cocktail, then it sets on the next empty plate down, and too the left.

Silver ware gets set next as follows: Forks to the left (except the cocktail fork), Knives and Spoons to the right, Desert to the top.
These are set in the order that they will be used, starting with the furthest from the plate.
E: Shrimp Cocktail fork
F: Soup Spoon
G: Dinner Knife with the blade facing the plate.
H: Steak Knife with the blade facing the plate.
I: Dinner Fork
J: Salad Fork
L: Desert Fork, Spoon, or both.

Next is Bread & Beverages. Just remember solid to the left, liquid to the right.
K: Bread plate and bread knife, set above the forks.
M: Water Goblet, and other glassware sets above the knives.
N: & O: Red Wine Glass. -or- White Wine Glass.
    You've gone to the trouble to make everything just right, so be sure to chose the right glass for the right wine. It is important to the serious wine drinker in order to fully appriciate the wine (which is used to clean the pallet between bites in order to fully taste each bite as if it were the first). One more tip about wine: I don't care how expensive the crystal is, wine glasses need to have stems!
P: And finally, the Coffee Service: Saucer, Cup, and Sugar Spoon.

What's all the fuss about Napkins?
As soon as you are seated, unfold your napkin and place it on your lap. The napkin remains on your lap (except for use) until the end of the meal. That’s when all diners are leaving the table, not just when you finish!
If you need to leave the table temporarily, leave the napkin in your chair as a signal to the waiter that you will be returning so he doesn't take your plate and wine away. This is also a consideration for the other diners who won't have to look at your soiled napkin on the table.
Use your napkin before drinking from a glass or cup so you don't accidentally leave food on the edge of your glass for all to see.
At the conclusion of the meal, place your napkin partly folded, never crumpled, at the left of your plate. Even a paper napkin should never be crushed and tossed into your plate.

Where do I put my Silverware when I am finished my meal?
The silverware go on top of the plate. You don't want to spoil the table cloth with dirty silverware. If you really want to get fancy, lay them on a 10:00 and 4:00 placement, with your napkin to the left of the plate, this signals to the waiter that you have finished and he/she will take your plate away.

Why are those darn forks on the wrong side of the plate?
Our silverware placement is arranged in the way we will first use them, both for Americans and Europeans. The Europeans eat with two hands throughout the entire meal. The fork in the left hand with the prongs facing down. The knife in the right hand is used for cutting food, and pushing food onto the back of the fork. The fork is then carried with prongs facing down, and food balancing on top, to the mouth.

Here in America, (for right handers) we use the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right hand only to cut the food. Then the knife is placed on the edge of the plate, the fork is switched to the right hand, and the left hand sets in the lap with the napkin. If bread is served, it is exceptable to use a piece in the left hand to help arrange food onto the fork.

Both are correct and perfectly exceptable practices.
Balancing food on the back of the fork as it is carried to the mouth is just as bazaar to us Americans, as our swapping the fork back and forth, from our left to our right hands, is to the Europeans.

When is it ok to use my hands?
Rolls & Bread are broken with the hands then buttered and eaten by hand.
Finger foods: If finger meals are offered on a platter, place them on your plate before putting them into your mouth.
Foods meant to be eaten by hand: corn on the cob, spareribs, lobster, clams and oysters on the half shell, chicken wings and bones, sandwiches, certain fruits, olives, celery, dry cakes and cookies.

What is the best table to eat at?
Round. Everyone can see everyone else which stimulates conversation.
Although, just for fun, you may want to try an oriental meal around the coffee table. Pull it out away from the other furniture, and have everyone sit indian style on the floor. This is a special treat, and brings authentcity to the oriental meal.