Entertaining Seminar will teach you to prepare an elegant dinner, decorate your table and delight your guests!

Entertaining Seminar Introduction

"There are ways where creativity can outshine an event. Well-prepared food served with an artful flair can turn into a feast and a few gathered friends can turn into a festival. The Italians have an expression for it, 'L'arte d'arrangiarsi'. It is the art of improvisation. I call it entertaining. We will create a night we will remember."
— Carolyn Costa

Entertaining has earned Carolyn a reputation for her intimate dinner parties and larger buffet dinners and bar-b-ques. Besides parties and dinners for friends, she has opened her home to the community organizations she has been involved in and even turned her love of entertaining into fund raising by offering elaborate formal dinners for four at charity auctions. She says that Italians believe food is love and sharing her magic tricks for creating and planning a party is to her another way of sharing her gracious hospitality. Her invitations are seldom turned down and an evening at Carolyn's is not quickly forgotten.

Hospitality Through Artful Entertaining
— 3 Day Entertaining Seminar

Experience 3 days of total immersion in the art of hospitality. Discover creative ways to set a scene for a group of your friends and make an evening one to remember. Learn how to prepare and present a spectacular but simple meal with ease. All materials will be provided and we will shop together for all the special ingredients. Class size will vary from 6 to 12 students. The final result will be preparing, serving and enjoying an elegant dinner among new friends.

Day 1:

The morning will begin at 9am with a round table discussion of ideas for themes and creative ways to implement them. We will look at different types of parties for every occasion and play with ideas of how to come up with new occasions to celebrate. At noon we will explore the kitchen and prepare a simple, spur of the moment casual lunch. After lunch ribbons, paper, glitter, card stock and anything else we can find will be re-shaped and transformed into small pieces of art to be used as invitations. At the end of the day you will be ready to invite your friends to a unique gathering.

Day 2:

Morning will find you exploring creative ways to set a table. We will select dinnerware, cutlery, tablecloths and napkins. We'll look at serving pieces and centerpieces. Our purpose will be to search through the things we have and find ways to put them together to provide a special place to eat. The next task will be to address the menu. When selections have been made we will make a list and then we'll venture into Mount Shasta and shop. Our priority for this day will be to prepare our own feast of hors d'oeuvres to be shared at the end of the day.

Day 3:

The concentration for this day is on the preparation of a six course meal. We will start with finalizing the menu and doing any last minute shopping. When all the ingredients are assembled we will begin preparations. We'll discuss the sequence of cooking the meal, the timing for setting the table and serving the dinner, and we'll cook. We will even address how to use the kitchen in the most efficient way so that cleaning up after the party is easy.

In the evening we will share our own specially prepared meal and enjoy our new friendships. I hope you will leave inspired and ready to entertain in your own home with confidence and gracious hospitality.

 Learn to Entertain in Style and Elegance, For Any Occasion!