The holidays are coming! I’m not sure which ones, but it seems like it’s always something. In any case, people are going to be arriving and they will be expecting you to feed them! There’s a lot to do before the hungry masses get there- clean up the house, do the food shopping, figure out where you stashed away the roasting pan after the last holiday, and start cooking up that big meal! Then, before the doorbell starts to ring, there is one more important task awaiting you- hide in the bathroom and cry, no, just kidding, you can do that after dinner! No, the next thing to do is set the dining table!
This should be old hat by now, but every year you find yourself standing over it with a stack of plates and a box of silverware trying to remember just where everything is supposed to go. One point of order is the table itself, just how many new relatives do you have this year? There were a lot of weddings. Hopefully, you thought of this in advance and have had a chance to pick out one of the lovely wooden dining tables in Melbourne that can seat everybody! If not you may have to improvise, you can always move weird Uncle Ted over to the kid’s folding table, he probably won’t notice anyway.
So, now you are faced with a broad expanse of oak awaiting its settings. In case you are drawing a blank, in all seriousness here’s what you need to do:
Set the dinner plate in the centre of the place setting on the placemat, then put the salad plate on top of it, and finish the stack with the soup bowl.
Place the silverware on a folded napkin to the right side of the plates. The fork goes closest to the plate, then the knife, then the salad fork, then the spoon. This is because the soup is eaten first, then the salad, then the main course.
Place the bread plate and butter knife just above the silverware.
The dessert utensils are placed horizontally above the plate
The water and wine glasses are placed above the dessert utensils.
A set of salt and pepper shakers go at each end of the table.
If you are serving meat, then place the carving knife on the left side of the plate. Just give weird Uncle Ted a butter knife, he won’t know the difference.
Congratulations, you’re done! There’s still time to go and have that good cry before they get here! Happy Holidays!
