ONE DAY AFTER LUNCHEON...Yesterday, I hosted a luncheon for the Little Peoria Garden Club...of which I am a member. The operative word is "little". This group has been meeting for many, many years, but it is a very small group made up mostly of one family now because the older ladies are diminishing. (We lost another one last month within a day after our last meeting.) There were nine of us yesterday which is almost as many as I can manage without major moving of furniture. I'm not really one for fancy meals/luncheons because I agonize over so many of the details. What to eat? How much will be enough? Is it colorful enough? (I especially think of this with a ladies' luncheon.) And the list goes on. Yesterday however, things went really well. a friend came by ahead of time to help me set up. I served the plates from the kitchen (something I rarely do) and it worked REALLY well. I gave less choices than I often do (based on some questioning of others more familiar with the group's tastes) and that simplifies drinks (water or raspberry iced tea?), serving dishes and utensils and gives way more space on the table. It makes for a lot less confusion overall. It was great. I offered seconds which no one took. Additional rolls, butter, lemon slices, salt and pepper were all on the table. Making the time to plan ahead really helps a lot and simplifies serving the meal and being able to enjoy it with the guests.
This group often has namecards, so even tho' it sounds formal, it isn't really that fancy...or time consuming. In this day and age, with all the scrapbooking material/cool rubberstamps available, namecards take a very short time to make, add a nice look to the table and take away one more bit of confusion before the meal of who is to sit where. In this case, we had roses rubberstamped on lime cardstock. This way, everyone knew where they were to sit.
All in all, it was a fun meal. we all enjoyed the visit, I made foods that were able to be done ahead of time, a friend helped me serve the plates and we even added an avocado garnish:) My friend said, "This looks like a $9.95 salad plate at a nice restaurant." (In some cities, pricing would be much higher.) Sounds good to me. The company was great as well. We learned a lot about geraniums and how to grow (and winter them) in this part of the country.