A creamy soup makes a great first course. Serve soup in teacups on saucers. Shown here, the Nightscape pattern by Royal Doulton.

To save time, Ed suggests a ready-to-serve soup such as KNORR’s Autumn Vegetable Soup with Real Cream.

Dress it up with homemade croutons and fresh herbs. For coffee- table entertaining, serve soup to your guests in teacups and saucers on a tray.

Accompany with long herbed breadsticks from a gourmet store or make your own using PILLSBURY’s breadstick dough and fresh herbs.

Entertaining with a raclette appliance is hot this fall. Like the fondue, the raclette originated in Switzerland. Traditionally, a large block of cheese was heated in a wood fire. As the outer layer melted, the cheese would be scraped on top of vegetables, usually potatoes. The word “raclette” is French for small scraper. Today, the raclette is an electric appliance that both grills the meat, fish and vegetables, and broils the cheese. TEFAL Ambiance raclette for 10 features nonstick surfaces. tefal.ca

Entertaining with a raclette is fun and practical. Guests will only need a small plate and fork. Everyone gets to cook as much as they want and can try different combinations! Shown here: Trudeau’s Rock ‘n Grill Raclette for 8 people features both a cooking stone for searing and non-stick grill.

Raclette Preparation Tips: Cut bite-size pieces of fish, shrimp, chicken, meat and vegetables for quick cooking. Flavour meat by using Knorr’s Herb and Garlic 30-minute marinade. Pre-boil small potatoes with their skins on.

Provide dipping sauces, such as Knorr’s Hollandaise and Five Pepper sauces, along with a pre-made roasted red pepper sauce. White Luna cheese platter, ellipse platter and dipping dishes from GLUCKSTEINHOME, available exclusively at The Bay. Pepper mill and herb grinder by TRUDEAU and Bali placemats in black available at Home Outfitters.

Provide a selection of cheeses. We bought pre-sliced Emmenthal, Swiss Raclette, Cheddar, Gruyère, Jarlsberg and Monterey Jack.

To save you time, we've shopped for groceries online and you can have them delivered to your door. Greater Toronto Area residents can use Grocery Gateway, which has been servicing customers for 6 years. 2 magazine readers can save $15 on their first order—offer available for new customers only. See the Fall issue of 2 magazine for details.