Entertaining Seasonally

Unless you are a real cookery fiend, the business of preparing special food for six to eight people can take away much of the joy of seeing them. Of the many solutions to this problem, eschew any that rely on the culinary shorts cuts, convenience substitutes and other such kitchen indolence fostered by books entitled Elegant Dinner Parties in Seconds, Budgetwise Microwave Entertaining or the like. Do not be misled. The real answer to the problem, strategically sneaky without being mean, is to arrange all the dinners you might want to give in the year in tight little seasonal clusters just a few days apart. Late spring/early summer and mid-autumn are particularly good times for exciting seasonal produce. This has the following advantages: