From the Ambassador's Table

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Presentation is everything. It is not what you serve, but how it looks
that matters to Dickerson, a survivor of nearly 30 years of entertaining
in the rarefied world of diplomats and embassies.

With 100 color photos and nearly twice as many recipes, the author
leads us through the planning and serving of a formal meal. If you need
a reference on where to place the fish fork or how to fold a napkin,
what to wear when the invitation says “informal” (hint: it’s a
long way from casual), or how to decorate sugar cubes, this is the book.


Dickerson’s premise is that you can do it all. By “all,” she
means diagramming the seating arrangement, selecting the flowers
(perhaps you’d like to display them in a precious East Asian box),
creating just the cutest kiwi bunnies for the drinks tray, and even
planning the menu of, say, creamed escargots, broiled goat cheese, and
prawns in coconut jackets. You will of course take responsibility for
the theme of your meal—perhaps “The Beauty of Nature” or
“Touches of a Thousand and One Nights.” And you will want to control
the drinks area arrangement, the principal tableware, the coffee area
decor, and the accessories that add to “the total look.” By starting
weeks ahead of the entertainment date, you can paint the chocolate
dessert baskets, frost the grapes, and still have time to arrange the
crystal.

And the food? At this plateau, apparently, everything except the right
impression is irrelevant. If the eye is happy, what right has the
stomach to want more?