Tate's Bake Shop is a Hamptons-based company who makes cookies, brownies, cakes, and squares.

That's right. Squares. That's how quaint they are.

Inside Kathleen King's adorable yellow and turquoise Victorian-style shop in Southampton, sweet smells, smiling faces, and flowers abound. King grew up on a farm near Southampton and sold cookies from the age of 11 at her family's farm stand.

Tate's Bake Shop has a loyal following across the country. Their secret is in their simplicity. Quality products, nicely packaged, and as my friend Lora says: "By rich people, for rich people."

You can order the delicious cookies and other baked goods online here, for a wonderfully classy host gift or party favor for the holiday season.

At the very first Halloween party I can remember, which was when I was about 7, there was a series of boxes, covered in black cloth, with holes cut out so that you could reach in and feel whatever was inside. There were eyeballs (peeled grapes) in one box and brains (slippery cooked spaghetti). I can't recall if there were any others, but I was not alone in my refusal to stick my hands into the mystery boxes. The idea of touching some mystery substance, especially an icky one, was not appealing at all.

Now, I know perfectly well that they were just grapes and noodles and, like so many others, actually enjoy a good scare from time to time. To this end, the best thing to do is to throw a Halloween party, since the even event makes it socially acceptable to scare people a bit. Atmosphere is easy to achieve with a trip to just about any party store, but the food is more difficult. Fortunately, there is a whole guide to making a really creepy Halloween dinner that will have your guests feeling queasy for at least a course or two, even though the food tastes good. Alien Autopsy Shooters or Eyes in Blood Sauce, anyone?

Click past the jump to see a video of the dessert heart being carved up.

via grow-a-brain]

The Seattle Times brought up a good point with an article about dealing with dietary restrictions in social situations. In restaurants, it is a relatively simple matter to let your waiter or the chef know that you have food allergies or would prefer to have your dish without, say, cilantro. But food issues can be more problematic when dining at the home of friends or acquaintances.

It is always acceptable to let people know when you have allergies - preferably in advance - but what about food preferences? Should you tell the host that you follow the Atkins diet and your significant other doesn't eat any dairy products and hates onions?

Unfortunately, there is no one real answer, but since most hosts and hostesses want people to enjoy the party and the food they prepare, it can be easier to mention some things up front, than to refuse all food at the dinner. As a general rule, it is a good idea to politely mention "big" things, such as whether you are a vegetarian or vegan, but if you really have a laundry list of foods you just don't like, be willing to compromise and pick some out. To play it safe, offer to bring a dish (or two), which will not only take pressure off the host/hostess, but will make sure there is something you can eat.

Recipes for home cooks tend to be formulated for a specific numbers of diners, usually 2, 4 or 6, which are all fairly common family numbers. Most recipes are easy to double, so you can turn a chicken dinner for four into a meal for eight quite easily. Recipes for entertaining and parties, however, are different. You generally want small or bite-sized portions and need a single recipe that will feed a house or yard full of people. Fortunately, there are several cookbooks on the market that can help you out here by providing you with lots of recipes that a specifically geared towards pleasing crowds. These are some of my favorites. Some are more traditional and some are more current, but all are great additions to home libraries.

• Party Food by Barbara Kafka
• Entertaining by Donna Hay
• Williams-Sonoma Entertaining
• Joy of Cooking: Party Foods and Drinks
• Just a Bite by Gale Gand

This isn't a complete list, by the way. What are your favorite entertaining cookbooks?

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Now, if I was a god-fearing, church-going man, I might think twice about a project like this. That not being the case, I was pretty amused with Kevin Kelm's "sacri-licious experiment" of trying to improve communion wafers by adding a variety of condiments. From French onion dip ("It's like eating a blister") to Grey Poupon ("six kinds of horrible"), the wafers get a lot of mileage. They also get dressed up with some Easy Cheese, anchovy paste and Oreo cookie filling. Ultimately, none of them seem to please Kevin and his tasting partner Gary. The final conclusion is that alcohol is needed to make the wafers palatable. Surprise.

[Photo: Kevin Kelm]

Frank Bruni, a New York Times restaurant critic, just spent a week working as a waiter in a restaurant to see how the other half lives. Though he still experienced the difficulties and irritations of the job after only a few days, he was at an excellent restaurant and he got to leave after only a week. Maki Itoh, whose food blog is the oft-mentioned i was just really very hungry, has written her own account of what it is like to work in a restaurant. She worked as a host in one of New York's most popular sushi restaurants back in 1998 and covers more than a week's worth of celebrities, regulars and why the job isn't as easy as it looks.

And for a truly entertaining, ongoing account of waiting tables, be sure to check out Waiter Rant, the blog of an anonymous waiter, who tells tales of everything from tipping, both good and bad, to the people who sniff rubber wine corks. He is also nominated as the Best American Blog in the 2006 Bloggies.

My husband and I are enthusiastic party hosts, and when our house is in good shape (i.e., when we don't have an infant child in the house...), we often have people over for dinner or drinks more than once a week. We throw dinner parties and informal bashes because it's a great way to socialize without having to deal with babysitters or the specter of bringing our boys into public adult spaces. And, because we just love to host.

Bob Morris, writing for the New York Times, doesn't just throw parties for the warm-and-fuzzies; he hosts, in part, for the reciprocation. When it isn't forthcoming? He says, one year, he was "livid." He explores the quid pro quo, or not, party hosting culture in his article and discovers that most hosts don't expect invitations in return.

If you're a frequent host, what do you expect in return? Or if you're a habitual guest, do you ever feel guilty? Or do you just say "thank you" and bring a bottle of wine?