Dining Confidence

When getting ready for your dinner or lunch, it’s always helpful to have color contrast on your monitor. I have a nice, bright yellow mat in the center. I have a plate, and I have a fork and a knife.

When you’re trying to locate what is on your place setting for safety reasons and so that you don’t have a spill, it’s always good to have your hands nicely relaxed, and curl your fingers a tad, and scan the area by just moving your hands gently along the place setting and feel where your plate is by trailing around with your hand.

Same way when you’re locating your knife and your fork. This technique is also important when you are trying to locate your glass of water, especially if the glass is clear and difficult to see.

It’s also a great idea to locate the glass by scanning gently and finding it with the back of your fingers and your palm facing down. Once you locate the glass and if you feel confident, go ahead and grab the glass or bring in your other hand to help you pick up the glass.

Feel the size of the glass, and you’ll know how heavy the glass is by lifting. Okay, so that is how you begin to locate your place setting. 

Now, when you are about to eat your dinner, it’s always a great idea to also know the sharp side of your knife. It’s always best to pick up the knife right where it’s located. If you’re not sure where the knife’s ridges are, slightly rub the knife against the edge of your plate so you can listen and hear the sound of the ridges.

If you don’t hear anything, that’s letting you know that you need to turn your knife around in order to cut your meat.

Now, if you’re at a family event and there are bowls being passed to you, and if you’re going to grab a piece of meat from another bowl, it’s always good to use your fork, pick your meat, and then slide the meat off of your clean fork. This way, you avoid using your hands when everyone is sharing food. 

Now, we’re going to go into pouring. There are two techniques that you can use when you are pouring yourself a glass of water. One is just using your sense of sound and listening to the water. Sounds get quieter as the cup fills up.

So, let’s go ahead and pour ourselves a glass of water. And as it gets quieter, I know that I need to stop. Another technique if you’re pouring yourself a glass of water and it’s not hot — you could also place your finger at the edge of the rim and feel for the water. 

There’s also the easy say stop device. You hang the two prongs in your cup, and the battery is to be facing out. Once you place the two prongs in the cup, it should sit nice and easy, but it’s always a good idea to keep your other hand your other hand that you’re not using on the cup so you don’t have a spill.

I’m going to go ahead and pour myself a glass of water. When the water hits the prongs, it will have a nice tune and let me know when to stop. So, once I hear the sound, I can remove my pouring alert and know that I have a full glass of water.

Another tip when you are serving or being served — it’s a good idea to use a plate that has a lip on it so that when you are eating, you don’t have a spill and your food’s not falling out of your plate, and you’re not chasing after it. But, if you don’t have a plate that has a lip, it’s always okay to be asked to have your food served in a bowl. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you are comfortable.

So, this plate does have a lip. This is helpful, also when you are locating your food and you need to grab it with a fork, you have that lip to support you. 

Another item I want to share is called a bumper. This is how it works. On a regular dining plate, you fit the bumper right around your plate. So this way, you have the same idea as the lip but it’s a bigger bumper. That way, you can avoid from having your food spilling over and keep that confidence that all your food is on your plate.

Another tip if you are with your friends — just ask them politely, “Could you please explain what my place setting looks like?” That’s okay, too. The buddy system is always great to use, especially if you’re out dining. There are apps that will describe where you’re sitting. I’m going to use the EnvisionAI app and Seeing AI.

So, I’m going to go ahead and use my app so that it gives me a visual of what my place setting looks like. The app read to me and described, “looks like a red plate with a blue object on it.” So, it gives you an idea that there’s a plate in the center, and there’s objects around it.

And, that’s all for our introductory dining tips and techniques.