If you love to cook and you love spending time with your friends, you may want to combine the two activities and host a dinner party.  Dinner parties can be a lot of fun, especially if you come up with a theme for the party or do something exciting like a dinner party murder mystery game.  No matter what you do, though, you’re going to have to have a plan or you’ll end up panicking in the kitchen while your guests are knocking on the door.

First, before you even invite anyone, set the menu.  This way, you can let everyone know what you’re cooking in case any of your guests have food allergies.  If you’re doing a theme meal, it’s also nice to let your guests know the theme.  They may want to dress according to the theme or bring a theme-related host gift.  You also need to set an RSVP date for your guests so you know how much food to cook.

Once you have your guest list finalized, it’s time to go shopping.  You don’t want to have a lot of food left over, but it is always better to have a little too much than not enough, so plan your food purchases accordingly.  You should also take stock of your kitchen and decide if you have enough pots and pans to cook everything.  If possible, make some dishes earlier in the day or even the night before if you can.

It can get quite stressful if you’re trying to cook and clean your home at the same time, so do as much cleaning as you can before you start cooking.  If you have someone you can share chores with (a spouse, kids, or a co-host), ask them to do the vacuuming, sweeping, and such.  You can also have them set the table and do any decorating.

As the host of the party, you’re going to want to greet your guests when they arrive, but you’re also going to be needed in the kitchen.  To do both, aim to have most of your dishes done about 15 minutes before you plan to eat.  Then leave them on a low heat to keep them warm while you say hello to everyone.  You can also put them in serving dishes and cover them with lids or foil to keep them warm.  Just don’t do this too early or they will get cold.

Want to get your kids interested in cooking but aren’t sure how?  Perhaps the answer is a video game.  Personal Trainer: Cooking is a “game” for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo’s handheld video game system that features a chef who will walk kids (and adults) through over 250 different dishes from around the world.  The game is part cookbook, part demo video that can teach anyone, no matter their age, how to cook some excellent dishes.

The game walks kids through each and every step of the process: it starts with giving a list of dishes needed, then moves on to ingredients.  Rather than just tell you what you need, it explains why each ingredient is important.  However, you may not have everything on hand for some dishes.  If you need to go shopping, all you have to do is use the DS’s stylus to tap a check box next to the ingredient.  The game will actually create a shopping list for you.  You can then take the device to the shops and check off ingredients as you purchase them.

Once you’re back in the kitchen, it’s time to begin cooking!  The chef will help you throughout the entire process, including offering instructional videos as needed.  But what if you end up covered in flour or something and don’t want to touch your game system?  Simple—the DS features a built-in microphone, and the game allows you to give the chef voice commands like “Repeat,” “Pause,” and more.

In addition to teaching you and your kids how to cook, Personal Trainer: Cooking also includes nutritional information like calorie counts.  It also ranks dishes by difficulty and preparation time, so you know which ones you should start with first or which dishes are best for your kids to make on their own.  Once they start learning how to cook with the chef, you’ll find your kids helping you in the kitchen every day without being asked.

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