By Patsy Lowry
Have you just met someone fabulous that you would like to get to know better? Treat yourself by making yours and their lives richer. Why not invite them and a few good friends into your home to share a meal? Make it an occasion. This always makes everyone feel special and appreciated. It is a time and an opportunity for quality bonding and strengthening relationships.
Your table is where the party takes place. So think about what kind of table setting you want. Would you like a refined, bold, seasonal, whimsical, romantic, simple, eclectic, colorful, beautiful, earthy, artistic or a special occasion setting? You can set a truly scrumptious table by trusting your instincts and personal style and by following a few guidelines:
THE PEOPLE
Start small. Include a couple of your best friends. They will give you confidence and support. If you don’t cook, ask your friends to bring a dish or you can buy wonderful prepared food at the grocery store.
Give the occasion a name and a theme. For example, “A Getting To Know You Better” luncheon or a “Wild and Wonderful” dinner. Encourage each person to bring a quote about what friendship means to them or whatever topic is relevant to the occasion. Ask each guest to share their quote during the meal.
Seat the most important guest on your right.
Always use place cards. Write the name of the guest in large script with a Sharpie. I write the guest’s name on the front and on the back so that the guests’ names can be read (and remembered) from across the table.
Write a different question on the inside of each place card. Nothing too personal. For example, “What is your fondest memory? What makes you happy?” Go around the table and make sure that everyone answers their question.
THE PLACE SETTING
Use a runner, tablecloth or placemats (or all three together). If you don’t have a tablecloth, a floral or printed sheet can look beautiful. You can also buy attractive and inexpensive placemats.
Charger plates at each place setting add importance and interest.
Use your imagination by mixing and combining different objects from around your home. Your guests will see a more personal side of you. Be a little adventurous.
Keep in mind, everything doesn’t have to match. You can use different glasses, flatware, plates and a variety of colored napkins. These will add interest.
Fresh flowers, herbs, vegetables, fruit and cactus can be placed throughout the table. Be sure they have been washed in cold water and towel-dried before being placed on the table. A variety of colors and fragrance will create a warm and inviting atmosphere. Keep your centerpiece low so that your guests can see each other easily.
Candles are a great way to make a bold statement. Placed strategically near shiny objects, they will cast off a warm glow and create a sparkle. Numerous candles make a table seem friendlier. Choose unscented and battery-operated candles, if you wish.
Use stemmed or large, attractive water glasses or combine both. Have a large pitcher of ice water (very cold) and refill your guests’ glasses often. This is very important.
THE PURPOSE
Bring laughter, joy and delicious happiness into your life by inviting people into your home and setting a truly scrumptious table. Delight and surprise yourself and others. Enjoy!
Gazpacho Soup Recipe
- 2 medium cucumbers, halved and seeded, but not peeled
- 3 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
- 9 Roma tomatoes
- 2 red onions
- 5 minced garlic cloves
- 46 ounces tomato juice (6 cups)
- 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Lowry’s garlic salt
Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and red onions into small cubes.
Put each vegetable separately into a food processor. Mix until coarsely chopped. Do not over mix.
Combine all vegetables into a large bowl and add remaining ingredients. Mix well and chill for at least 3 hours before serving. Put soup bowls in freezer. Take out just before serving.
Serve cut up avocados and green onions for garnish. Delicious and healthy!
Patsy Lowry is a third generation Phoenician who has been hosting memorable lunch and dinner parties in Paradise Valley for more than a half a century. She is known for her colorful table settings and the special spirit she creates while connecting people in her home. Guests are always delighted to be invited to a Patsy-party party and leave her home feeling full from the fabulous food and newly found friendships. Lowry is currently writing a book called “Truly Scrumptious! It’s to Dine For!”
Patsy is the hostess with the most. She is a real role model and always makes any occasion special.
Patsy Lowry is a walking celebration of color, creativity and friendship. She has a way of turning life into a work of art. I look forward to “Truly Scrumptious!” and having a little Patsy magic in my home!
sounds fabulous. love the Gazpacho recipe …… when / Mort
Hi Patsy,
Some great ideas and suggestions…..Thank you!
Bill and I leave for Norway on Wednesday and will return on July 9th.
Fabulous tips to make a special evening for special friends. Thanks for sharing.
Great article Patsy. It would have been fun to see photos of your table at one of your dinner parties. Guess I will have to wait for your book…..Laura Ruffalo
Hi Patsy: You are still doing wonderful events, as always. I love this photo of you. I wish I were there to enjoy one of your fabulous parties. I enjoyed so many of them. Keep up the good work. We love you so much. “We” is your public.
Your old friend, but still doing well, and getting around to all of the marvelous restaurants near the ocean, which I can not be away from. I will be 86 years this Friday. Too bad I can’t be in Paradise Valley, so you could introduce me as, “This is Gloria, she is 86.” Do you remember doing that for so many years? You are so funny. Much love, hugs, and kisses, Gloria
Dearest Patsy:
I am stuck in SV for another few months. No dinner parties here!
I spend my time planning home exchanges in various places around the world. I did an exchange this spring with a couple from Laguna Beach for 12 days. Very successful. This September, we are exchanging with a wonderful family from Bradford-on-Avon, near Bath, UK. The girls are joining me for a week or so. Rick follows middle of September, after the girls leave. Following that we are going to San Gemini, Umbria, Italy. for most of October.
I am already planning our 2019 trip to northern Spain where Rick can fish the trout streams that Hemingway fished.
Hopefully, this will lead right into Rick’s retirement. We shall see. Waiting for the AZ Supremes to make a decision on the water law suit. Perhaps, if a favorable decision (for us) comes down, Rick will help them work out the operation from Scottsdale.
You are, as always, inspiring.
Love, Deanna
As always, the La Diva of everything has written wonderful suggestions to everyone to enhance their skills in entertaining. She is the penultimate hostess with the mostest!!
To Arizona’s Hostess with the Mostest!
Thank you, Patsy, for the delicious reminders and tips to make a gathering of friends around the table an especially memorable event.. I love the questions you offer the hostess to help make everyone present important to the evening’s conversation. And, of course, how fortunate the guest to collect imaginative place cards from their favorite artist!
Patsy, for a woman who says she is not a writer you ARE going to go down in history as one, a great one!
You are the perfect Aries, always teaching us your lifeskills.
CONGRATULATIONS on another pursuit of your gifts.
Ally
Well deserve article. Too few hosts knowhow to pull odd such an entertaining-informative party. how your art plays into it is another matter
Dearest Patsy!
RIGHT ON!!!!!
With lots of love!
Arlene Friedman