Five-Course Dinner Party for Eight

Two Weeks Prior

Make and send invites specifying the time and date, and ask for any dietary restrictions. Choose a menu and a theme based on the time of year. Write a shopping list for dry goods, fresh goods, and items you’ll have to order ahead (any specialty meats or cheeses).

Menu Layout

The five courses are:

1. Amuse-bouche or appetizer – A small, casual starter (canapés or small soup)

2. First course – A light salad

3. Second course – A light protein or fish

4. Main course – The centerpiece (a braised or roasted meat dish, or a large vegetarian dish)

5. Dessert – Something that can be made ahead of time

One Week Prior

Make the final menu and confirm the amount of each item. A rough estimate is 6-8 oz. of protein for each person for the main course. Order any specialty items that you can’t get locally. Visualize your table settings to make sure you have sufficient settings for all courses (or decide if you can reuse settings).

Two to Three Days Prior

Buy the remaining non-perishables and any items that can be frozen. Prep the dessert (if the dessert will be better after resting, like a tart or cake). Set the table to make the day of the party less stressful.

The Day Before

Prep the remaining veggies and make any stocks or sauces that can be made ahead and chilled. Place the wine in the fridge to chill.

The Day of the Party

Work backwards from the time you want to serve the courses to create a timeline. Finish any long prep and make the final course or components. Do any remaining grocery shopping.

Afternoon: Braising and roasting recipes take center stage. Each course's serving dish and utensils are assembled.

2 hours before: Dress for the day and finish any cooking. Whites go in the chiller; enzymatic oxidation for reds.

30 minutes before: Candles are lit, and a music setting is prepared. The final prep for plating the amuse-bouche is done.

Pacing the Meal

• Amuse-bouche and drinks go hand in hand as guests arrive

• The time between courses is a chance for conversation, so allow for 15-20 minutes

• Plates should be cleared, but do not interrupt the dining experience by rushing

• Serving and clearing is a two person job, so enlist a helper when possible

Practical Tips

• Prep ahead ruthlessly: One half or more of three of the five courses should be prepped before guests arrive.

• Keep it simple: Limit complex dishes to one per meal, and balance the meal with prep simple dishes

• Wine pairings: With thought, two courses can share a wine selection.

• Have backup: be prepared for kitchen disasters with extra cheese, bread, or a simple salad.

Once you are prepared and know the pacing of the meal, your guests take center stage and you can enjoy the evening with them.

Easy Cash Aid has Unavoidable Setbacks and Great Potentials, As Shown By Universal Basic Income Trials

Cash aid has a great deal of potential and a great deal of difficulty built in. Universal Basic Income (UBI) trials have begun allowing for the exploration of the possible answers for an open question in cash aid: how do we provide cash aid without creating financial and political burdens and conflicts?

UBI enables cash aid for special populations, or populations that receive aid normally but are not covered by universal aid. While true UBI would cover every citizen in every nation, most of the current UBI trials are small and highly targeted. The trials have been run in the United States, Canada, and Europe as well as in some of the nations of Africa, and have focused on providing monthly cash aid to the low income, the unemployed, young adults, and families in need of housing.

The trials have been a great success in providing cash aid for participants to pay for their basic and critical needs. Some of those needs have been: housing, food, utilities, transportation, child care, and even debt payments. Cash aid can cover the immediate and critical needs of participants unlike the needs covered by traditional welfare systems.

The programs have downsides as well, with costs being the most notable. Implementing UBI on a national level would result in a large expense for the government, especially in the case where the direct payments to the public would lower the level of poverty to a significant extent. To fund a program of this size, policymakers would have to rely on increased taxes, a reduction of government programs, or borrowing.

An additional critique is that small pilot programs do not accurately reflect the outcome of larger, permanent programs. Local, temporary programs funded by private donations may have a predictable outcome, but a national program would have a large, possibly unquantifiable, impact on the economy, labor markets, public spending, and inflation.

Targeting is an additional critique. While programs that provide cash assistance to everyone have little to no stigma and are less administratively complex, they also provide cash supplements to those who do not need them. Creating programs focused on poverty reduction that provide cash assistance to a select group may have a greater impact, but it may increase bureaucracy and exclude cash assistance to deserving households.

Receiving cash payments may result in a loss of housing, food, or health benefits, which means the net gain would be less, and the costs of UBI would be significant if it were layered on current programs.

Currently, the pilots may have not ended the debate, but they have shifted it. Instead of asking if cash is beneficial, the questions have shifted to how much cash is beneficial, who is receiving the cash, how long should cash be given, and what is the cost of cash transfers.