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6-STEP CHECKLIST FOR MAKING YOUR NEXT OUTDOOR PARTY A SUCCESS
An outdoor party takes a little more planning than an indoor one. Here are some of my tips for ensuring everyone has a great time at your next barbecue, cocktail hour, or pool party.
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1. Seating:
MARGARET CHAMBERS Once you’ve figured out how many guests you’ll be having, you can determine your seating arrangements. Will your guests be seated at a long table? Or will you create a variety of seating arrangements for individual conversation groups? If there will be children present, do you want a kids’ table?
You may want to rent additional tables, tablecloths, linens, and chairs. In the past, I’ve ordered bamboo tables that seat four people and pushed them together to seat six.
2. Table Settings:
I recommend decorative melamine plates because they are shatterproof and dishwasher safe. With melamine, you can hardly tell that it’s not real porcelain. Acrylic stemware is a sturdy alternative to glassware — after all, you don’t want glass near the pool.
3. Food:
It’s imperative that the food you serve won’t melt or wilt in the heat. Some triedand-true choices for outdoor parties include nuts, crudités, hummus dips, puff pastries, charcuterie boards, and dried fruit. LEFT: Mixing iron furniture and faux bois furniture in this outdoor seating area creates a more interesting look. (PHOTO: NATHAN SCHRODER. DESIGNS: MARGARET CHAMBERS); RIGHT: It worked out better here to have two small tables with umbrellas instead of one large table. We used
same fabrics for both seating arrangements. (PHOTO: MICHAEL HUNTER. DESIGNS: MARGARET CHAMBERS).
4. Drinks:
Self-service drink areas encourage guests to circulate the space and possibly cross paths with someone new to talk to. Stock your drink station with glasses, cups, straws, lemons and limes, club soda, and a cocktail shaker. Also, consider including your own cocktail mix or punch (serve ice separately so that you don’t water down the mixture).
5. Games:
Food and drinks are not the only ingredients for a successful outdoor party: Don’t forget to include games so that your guests never get bored. Good outdoor party games include horseshoes, croquet, giant Jenga, and badminton.
6. Weather:
Here in Dallas, the window of opportunity for perfect weather is small. If chill is a concern, provide throw blankets, outdoor heaters, or a fire pit to keep guests warm. During the hot summer, guests will appreciate access to cold nonalcoholic drinks, misters, plenty of ice, fans, and shade.
Even if you’ve never entertained outdoors before, you can plan with confidence if you keep these tips in mind.
Margaret Chambers, a registered interior designer (RID) and member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), leads Chambers Interiors and Associates. Her colleague Caitlin Crowley helped edit this column. Visit chambersinteriors.com/blog for more design advice.
Gather Round, And Get Fired Up For Grilling Season
True grill masters work their culinary magic year-round over charcoal or wood fire grills and smokers. For the rest of us, grilling season gets underway with the arrival of Father’s Day. Whether it’s burgers and
CHRISTY ROST hot dogs or steaks, chops, or kabobs, cooking over a grill offers much more than flavor.
Grilling is equal parts cooking, socializing, and entertainment. That’s the reason folks gather around whenever someone fires up the grill. It’s a veritable symphony where sizzling meat or fish take center stage, accompanied by the sound of spits as melting fat drips onto hot coals.
As with any symphony, all eyes are on the conductor – in this case, the grill master, who deftly coaxes the best flavors, textures, and colors from the ingredients with every flip, turn, or repositioning.
Add chilled beverages and tasty apps, and standing around the grill takes on the excitement of culinary
(PHOTO: CHRISTY ROST)
theater.
When it comes to grilled meats, a thick ribeye steak cooked to perfection is hard to beat. Well-marbled with flecks of fat throughout and a simple seasoning of coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, the flamekissed flavor imparted by charcoal, wood, or even a gas fire ensures every bite is sublime.
But why stop there? Grilling heightens the flavor and mouthwatering appearance of vegetables, too.
For this grilled ribeye steak with charred peppers, onion, and bok choy, I lightly brushed olive oil over yellow and red sweet peppers, red onion, and baby bok choy, grilled them over a hot flame until charred, then brushed on Asian sweet chili sauce during the final minute of cooking.
While grilling a complete meal of steak and vegetables, I used leftover space to blacken poblano peppers for chicken enchiladas I plan to prepare later in the week. Other times, I’ve used excess space to grill chicken legs and thighs for another meal. This double-duty grilling saves cooking time and fuel, and there’s nothing like knowing another savory meal awaits in the fridge for the next day.
Cookbook author and PBS chef Christy Rost is a longtime resident of the Park Cities and Preston Hollow. Find her ‘Celebrating Home’ 4-minute cooking videos at youtube.com/ChristyRostCooks and christyrost.com.
Ingredients:
1 ¾ pounds boneless ribeye steak, 1 ½ inch thickness
Smoked sea salt flakes for garnish 2 yellow sweet peppers, rinsed 1 red sweet pepper, rinsed 1 large red onion, peeled and cut into 6 wedges 3 baby bok choy, rinsed and cut in half lengthwise 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
Directions:
Season the meat generously with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and set it aside. Slice the yellow and red peppers in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, and slice each half into three wedges. Brush the peppers, onion wedges, and bok choy halves lightly on each side with olive oil and set them aside.
Preheat the grill. When it is hot, transfer the meat and vegetables to the grill. Cook the meat 4 minutes, then turn it over and cook 4 minutes more. Turn the meat over once more, rotate it one-quarter turn to create crosshatch grill marks, and cook 1 to 2 minutes more on each side, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 130 degrees. Transfer the meat to a large platter, garnish it with smoked sea salt flakes, and set it aside to keep warm.
Meanwhile, cook the vegetables until they are crisp-tender and begin to char, flipping them over once. Just before removing them from the grill, brush with sweet chili sauce. Cook 1 minute more, then remove them from the grill and arrange them on the platter next to the meat.
‘A Very Happy, Bubbly, Outgoing Kid’ Mother describes how Children’s Health helped family navigate daughter’s conditions
By Rachel Snyder
rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com
Hannah Dvorocsik, now 5, has been a patient at Children’s Health since before she was born.
After prenatal tests indicated brain malformations, her mother, Melissa, was referred to Children’s Fetal Center.
Everything was very overwhelming, but it was really great just to know that we had those resources and that team behind us to help us navigate this new, to us, unknown world. Melissa Dvorocsik
Since then, Hannah has navigated health issues, including a cleft palate, chronic ear infections, and more, but now attends the Rise School, is learning to speak and write, and has started her first cheerleading class.
“We were able to meet with (the team at Children’s Fetal Center) and ask lots of questions and go back to them with more and more of our questions,” Melissa Dvorocsik said. “Everything was very
The Dvorocsik family – Melissa, Greg, Peter, and Hannah – were the honorary patient family
for the 54th-annual Family Night at Six Flags benefiting Children’s Health. (PHOTO: COURTESY
CHILDREN’S HEALTH)
overwhelming, but it was really great just to know that we had those resources and that team behind us to help us navigate this new, to us, unknown world.”
More recently, Hannah had her cleft palate repaired in the summer of 2021, and Melissa felt prepared by the team at Children’s when Hannah experienced seizures this past fall.
“It was extremely scary, but we were able to go to Children’s, and there was definitely much more calm and peace knowing that we were there with doctors who were able to take care of her,” she said. “She had her fifth birthday, and she’s a happy, bubbly little girl. She’s sometimes shy, but oftentimes not and loves to talk up a storm.”
Melissa said Hannah’s also enjoying the Rise School and cheerleading.
“Cheerleading is kind of the first activity outside of school that Hannah’s gotten involved in, and she loves it,” Melissa said. “It’s helping her develop some new friends outside of school and keeping her engaged and, truly, it’s something that helps her with a lot of her motor skills that she has difficulty with.”
This year, the Dvorocsik family was the honorary patient family for the 54th-annual Family Night at Six Flags benefiting Children’s Health hosted by the Women’s Auxiliary to Children’s Medical Center. The Women’s Auxiliary has raised more than $24 million to support Children’s Health programs and services.
“We thought that it might be interesting for people to hear a family talk about their journey and experiences of Children’s Health that went beyond just one visit and instead involve care over a period of many years and, in Hannah’s case, for her entire life,” said Children’s Health Foundation president Brent Christopher. “Sometimes it’s hard for families to talk about the experiences that they have been through, and we know that’s asking a lot for them to come and do that, but by the same token, they’re so gracious and full of gratitude for the care they’ve received from the nurses and the doctors and all the staff around them, and they wanted to come as a way of saying thank you.”
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