How to eat Shish kabob

Know how to eat what you serve…

Shish kabob is an easy and stylish dish to serve when having guests. There are endless combinations to put together whether creating shish kabob as an appetizer, for the main entrée or just something sweet for dessert, they are always a big hit.

One caveat in entertaining is to always know how to eat what you serve. As the host or hostess your guests will look to you for guidance when they are unsure of what they are doing.

For instance, little appetizer shish kabobs are sometimes no bigger than a toothpick so they can be eaten right off the stick as fingerfood and then the toothpick can be placed in a cocktail napkin and thrown away or placed on the side of your small appetizer plate. No utensils are necessary for this dish.

When serving shish kabob as the entrée your guests will need a knife and fork to eat them with. You wouldn’t want them to have to suck or yank the food off with their mouth, as that is when accidents are sure to happen.

Although you can serve shish kabob out on your patio with paper plates you must think about  how your guests will get the food off the skewer. If your event is very casual and buffet style where people may not necessarily be seated at the table you may want to think about how they will stabilize their plate and if your paper plates (if that is the case) are suitable or sturdy enough.  Summer time cookouts often have guests eating from paper plates so as the host or hostess take the time to think about how you and your guests will manage the menu.  Thinking the details through from the food, to beverages, to seating and eating will create a well planned and accident free event.

To eat shish kabob it is customary to hold the tip of the skewer in your left hand with the opposite tip on your plate. Take the fork in your right hand and gently remove the food from the skewer starting from the bottom first. You may only want to remove a few pieces at a time as that is often easiest to work with. I’ve seen many disasters happen when someone attempts to remove the food from the skewer by starting at the top and sliding is off all at once. It might be easier if you think of eating a shish kabob as “bottoms up.” Once the skewer is empty, you can place it on the left hand side of your plate. Never place the empty skewer on the table as it could soil the linens or tabletop.

If any of your guests seem uncomfortable starting their meal this is terrific sign that they might need some guidance, take this opportunity to grab yourself a plate, sit down and start enjoying the meal. Your guests will quickly follow your lead. Knowing how to eat what you serve will always serve you well….

Happy dining

Finally it’s over. I never realized how long forty days was. In the past I always felt as though time just flew by but I have to say that forty days of being aware or present at how I was being seemed to lengthen the days. Not sure that makes any sense but it felt like it was longer that forty days.

Anyway, both my husband and I survived. I made it through by being aware of my thoughts and the words that came out of my mouth while my husband literally survived a twenty foot drop off a mountain.

So things I learned:
.it’s easy to let myself down and get away with it
.it’s easy to be less than what I was put on this earth to do
.it’s easy to follow the pack and not strive for perfection

UGH! Generally speaking people around me would say that I am a positive, leader of self and others however during Lent I really got into the mindset of seeing that others around me were not necessarily sticking to their Lenten vows so I could cheat now and then as well. Just hearing these words come out of my mouth make me mad.

I as well as you were put on this earth to do and achieve great things, not to be second rate. In a leadership seminar I recently attended the speaker talked about each time you let yourself down or don’t hold yourself accountable you take a chip at yourself. When I think back to the profound affect those words had on me during this seminar I can not believe that I did not give Lent my all.

Where else in my life or yours does that show up? Where else have I or you said that something would get done and it did not because there was no one but ourselves to hold us accountable. Do you feel like me that it is easier to do something for someone else than it is to do something for yourself?

We are success breading machines; only if we would let ourselves be that. “If not now, WHEN?” That is what John Assaraf (of “The Secret”) asked me during a phone conversation. When, why not NOW!!!

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear-not absence of fear.”
                                                                                                                              Mark Twain

How do you hold your self accountable?

On Palm Sunday I took the time to take an assessment of what I gave up for Lent. Although I certainly could have done a lot better than I did, it gave me the opportunity to look at my behaviors in certain situations and see how in the future I can change my reactions which in turn may change the outcomes.

Giving up swearing for 40 days has generated some great conversations with friends and family members. It seems as though after talking with others about the use of inappropriate words, many admitted to using them and found as I that they seem to roll off the tongue and sometimes even seem to be accepted by others. As an etiquette trainer that kind of makes me cringe however I also know that if I am a better leader of myself then I too can become a better leader of others.

So my quest for cleaning up my reactions and my language will continue long after Lent is over. Tell me about your Lenten lessons so that we can all learn and grow together.

“A diamond is a piece of coal that stuck to the job.”
Michael Larsen

Happy Easter