FROM THE HOME FRONT
Susan Martin: Break out the summer dining ware
Ihave mixed feelings about corn-on- the-cob holders. For some reason, we have a set of pig-shaped ones that look ridiculous, but since we don’t typically butter our corn, our fingers don’t get messy (even if they might get hot).
So we rarely use our pig prongs. Still, one day last summer when serving corn to one of our daughter’s friends, she not only asked for butter but cob-holders as well.
Still, when it comes to summer dining and outside entertaining, there are things I wouldn’t want to live without.
My outdoor unbreakable dishes, for example. These were a bargain at a going- out-of-business sale quite a few years ago, and they look as good as the day I bought them. They are white, stack nicely and go in the dishwasher. Also on hand are matching dessert plates, bowls and mugs. Yes, I bought them all.
But I rarely have to buy paper plates anymore, and my outdoor dishes could never blow off the table.
Other things I use regularly may well be considered tacky, by some. I have a set of inexpensive plastic ketchup and mustard dispensers –the ones with the removable pointy-topped caps –that I prefer to set out instead of the original bottles.
What I do not have –how did I miss this? –is the six-piece condiment set I recently saw from Lillian Vernon.
The ketchup and mustard bottles look just like mine, but the set also includes a ceramic relish dish that sits under a black mesh grill lid. The whole piece measures just 8 inches wide but resembles a gas grill, complete with salt and pepper shakers fashioned like a grill’s cabinet doors.
I’m also big on tablecloth clips. I have helped friends tape down outdoor tablecloths minutes before guests arrive, but it never seems to work. And forget about how it looks. Even cloth ones can blow in the wind, so I like my clips.
Even though we routinely set up food indoors, buffet-style, for outdoor parties, I still think it’s good to have a few mesh food covers that fit right over serving plates. I’ve used them for cheese and crackers on the patio. It really helps keep the flies off the food. The steel mesh ones are especially sturdy.
A few other favorite outdoor things for entertaining:
• The right barbecue tools. It took us years to get this right. And, just as important, you need a place to store them that is easy to get to and keeps them clean. (Hanging them in the back hall closet next to the Swiffer mop just wasn’t working for me. I finally cleared out some cabinet space in the kitchen, just for cookout season.)
• Outdoor silverware. Once your good stainless steel forks leave the kitchen, bad things can happen. Sure you can keep buying the plastic throwaway stuff, but if you can find an inexpensive outdoor set, losing a spoon won’t constitute a crisis.
• Coolers are just fine for beverages, but we like to use oversized beverage tubs –both plastic and tin. They are easier to get into, and if we place them in the shade, the ice does not melt all that fast.
• Bubbles. A summer must-have when there are kids involved. It will occupy them until the hot dogs are ready. At which point they will be able to squirt out their own ketchup with the very nifty ketchup dispenser.
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