While they’re all delicious, they can fill up guests so that by the time they sit down at the table, the edge is off the appetite. Some people may have even filled up on the pre-dinner goodies.

One way to make sure that everyone has room for the turkey, stuffing, yams and pumpkin pie, is to pass the hors d’oeuvre, crudité platters, cheeses, etc., instead of setting platters in the middle of seating and conversation areas.

You can enlist older children to circulate with trays, with a reward of 10 iTunes songs as their tip to ensure good service. They can enjoy playing cater-waiter and coming up with the most engaging ways to say, “Ladies, may I offer you some spinach dip?”

Your guests will thank you.

Don’t fill your guests up before
dinner begins. Photo courtesy Artisanal Fromagerie & Bistro, NYC.

Mix up your favorite ingredients. Photo
courtesy eCreamery.com.

We’ve become eCreamery addicts: We can’t wait to make the next flavor…and the next.

In addition to choosing the flavor (there are 80 for ice cream and gelato, and nine for sorbetto) and two mix-ins, the pints are custom-labeled with your creative name for the blend: Happy Elf Eggnog, Mom’s Youth Serum, Cher’s Chocolate Fantasy, and so on.

The products are top-quality, and the fun experience is memorable.

• See the full review.
• Find our favorite dessert gifts for Holiday 2010.
• Learn the difference between ice cream and gelato.

• Make a Ginger Martini with Ginger Soother (from The Ginger People, available at Whole Foods Markets) or use ginger syrup (recipe provided).
• Or go for a Crantini (a cranberry martini).
• For a non-alcoholic drink, serve ginger beer. It’s much more robust and gingery than ginger ale. An alcohol-free, sophisticated soft drink, it can be enjoyed straight from the bottle or as a cocktail mixer.

GINGER BEER TASTING
For our Thanksgiving guests, we purchased every brand of ginger beer we could find at two stores. During the cocktail hour, instead of having everyone drink too many martinis, we’re having a ginger beer tasting. Just print up sheets with all the contenders. Here’s a guide for how to do it.

Perfect for Thanksgiving: a Ginger
Martini. Photo by Bryan Delodder | IST.

Chef Cutaneo works with a brined turkey. While this step is optional, if you have the time to include brining, the difference in tenderness and flavor will be worth it. Here’s last week’s video and guide to brining.

Delicious olive oil from Nudo, crushed with
your choice of six different fruits or herbs.
All it needs is a bow. Photo courtesy
Nudo-Italia.com.

But what we like best about Nudo is not the bare oil (which is lovely) but the crushed fruit and herbs that infuse the flavored oils with so much pizzazz.

Within hours of being picked, late harvest olives are stone-milled together with fresh-picked fruits and herbs. (Late harvest olives have a subtler flavor than early harvest olives, allowing the infused flavor to burst through.) Crushing the fruits/herbs with the olives provides much finer flavor than infusing the olive oil with an extract. That’s why Nudo is the real deal.

Choose from Basil, Chillie, Garlic, Lemon, Mandarin, Thyme or Original olive oil. We also like the pizzazz of the can decoration, which makes Nudo olive oil a charming small gift.

An 8.4-ounce can is $11.99 at Nudo-Italia.com.

• Find more of our favorite savory stocking stuffers, one of our 13 gift lists for 2010.
• Learn all about olive oil in our Olive Oil Section.