Your intentions are good. You learned long ago that the polite guest never shows up empty-handed to a dinner party and you've stuck by it. You always grab a bouquet of wildflowers from the Coles discount rack on your way to the fete that you thrust magnanimously into the arms of your host on arrival. You're polite! You sweat the details!

In this episode we're talking about dinner: What you should make, how you should make it, and why the idea of "dinner" is fraught for so many of us. We talk with Melissa Clark, staff reporter for The New York Times Food section and author of the cookbook Dinner in an Instant. We also chat with Dave Arnold, the Founder and President of the Brooklyn-based Museum of Food and Drink and author of the book Liquid Intelligence. And we spend quality time with Claire Lower, Lifehacker's food editor and the mastermind behind the "Will It Sous Vide" column.

If you've ever hosted a dinner party (or brunch party, or luncheon) you know that there's more to it than simply cooking a bunch of food. People need plates to eat off of, cloth to wipe their faces with, and furniture on which to set their rears. Though nothing is as important as the food, it's the details that really make the party.

Dinner parties are a great way to gather your friends for a little quality time, but planning dinner parties can be a real source of stress. To cut down on anxiety but still break bread with your besties, consider what The Kitchn calls a "crappy dinner party".

Hosting a dinner party is already a lot of work, but if your dishes require they be served right out of the pan or freezing cold, you'll never get to leave the kitchen. Prepping dishes that don't need any special treatment will let you actually enjoy your company.

Buying alcohol is one of the hardest parts of planning a party, whether it's a barbecue with your neighbours, a sedate dinner party or a raging birthday party that's set to continue into the early hours of the morning. Luckily, this easy formula is a simple way to work out how much booze your guests may be consuming.