I wish I could take credit for this one and having had it in use for about fifteen years, my daughter thought I should share it with you. This is not my idea but one that Martha Stewart had in a magazine so long ago.
Get a recipe box and fill it with recipe cards. Now, when you are having a dinner, take a card and write the names of your guests, the date of the dinner, the occasion (if there is one) and the menu. Along with this write out the name of the book or magazine where you found it, page number so if you need to find it a day or two before the upcoming dinner, it will all be at your fingertips.
By the way, make this card out when you plan to have a dinner….a week, 2 weeks or a month in advance. This is good planning and you will be prepared in getting the groceries required, wine to buy, mixings for the signature drink and, most important point of all, you won’t be serving your guests the same food the next time they come over.
Really, try it and it will become second nature for you. P.S. I also use this when family come over (not Christmas as that one is laid in stone) but other times, epecially if it is a special occasion. Remember to treat your family and friends the same way you treat company.
Tip: If you don’t it becomes “oh, it is JUST so-and-so’ coming over. The special treatment is lost in that one statement.
Will employ this in the future! Good thing my repeat guests have been too kind to outright note that they have had the same meal more than once! I will set up a file in the computer just for this!
Must add: I absolutely LOVE your website! Very helpful to those of us whom cooking isn’t second-nature!!