by Marika Elliott

Created on: November 13, 2009   Last Updated: November 17, 2009

How did I learn to set a festive table and to present food in all its luscious colors and flavors, me who avoided the kitchen at all costs as a child? Like riding a bicycle or learning to swim, it was truly a learning process that resulted in an appreciation of a meal well-planned and well-presented. I'm still learning. I do avoid gourmet groups, though my best friend has been trying her darndest to get me to join hers. Truth be told, I lack the confidence. I have people over for dinner that I can treat like family. If I have to get out my best china and napkins and clean up the house and worry whether I will be up to speed, I just don't bother. If I'm entertaining family and friends, however, they get the royal treatment. There is an art to serving delectable meals that are nutritious and scrumptious and it takes experience and a little talent to do it. And what I have found over the years is that practice really does make perfect from the table linens, to the way the napkins are folded, to the color of the platters, and to the way the food is arranged on the plate. All of it adds to the culinary experience.

It's time for true confessions. I grew up in a Greek home where the kitchen table was the gathering place for visitors and no one could beat my mother's cooking. I didn't even try. I just enjoyed her platters of homemade goodies. I never learned to emulate them. Thus, I found myself as a reporter in the lifestyle section being asked to write food articles for a daily newspaper. I was turned into an authority overnight on the subject of food and I didn't know how to boil water. Thank God my husband did or we would have starved. At the time, there were a lot of PR releases that saved my butt and photos too of mouth-watering dishes that I used as food features. Since I didn't know how to plan a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast I found women in the community who did and wrote about them and shared their recipes. I learned early that an expert didn't necessarily have to know anything; they just had to have good sources.

I grew older and amassed a fair collection of cookbooks through my job and decided to try some of the recipes and soon I found I actually enjoyed measuring and cooking my way through dish after dish and pan after pan of delicacies. I never became an expert and my dishes were never photographed. Lord knows I tried. Once I made the most delicious crepes and I thought they were good enough to photograph, but alas, my editor didn't. I learned, however,

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