First of all start with the plate. You can stripe or dust your plate with chocolate or even powdered sugar. To stripe or decorate a plate the easiest way is to use a squeeze bottle. Again here's where your local restaurant supply comes in handy. They sell lots of squeeze bottles for cheap. Or you can usually find them in a discount drug store type place, often they are in a picnic supply section and are yellow or red since most people put ketchup or mustard in them. Fill one with just some good old-fashioned Hershey's chocolate syrup and paint the plate with it. Use your imagination. You can also squeeze out a dot of syrup on the plate and then take a toothpick and drag it through the syrup making spider-web looking swirls.

When you are done striping your plate, place the cake or whatever you're serving on top. You might want to "dust" the top with some cocoa powder or powdered sugar. You can get one of those little plastic shakers in most stores, fill it and leave it in the cabinet.

This idea of taking it to the next level applies to almost any dish. Be creative and think of what might make your food taste or look extra-special.

The next time you make a salad, toast and then chop a small handful of pecans, almonds or walnuts. All you have to do is sprinkle them on top of your salad for a really nice touch. To toast any nuts, just put them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and put it into a preheated 350º oven for about 10 minutes. Watch them because they will brown quickly.

A big key to presentation is color. You don't want all of your food to be the same color. To colorize something like mashed potatoes, chop a couple of tablespoons of chives and mix in after the potatoes are mashed. Then when you arrange the plate, stick a couple of chives into the mashed potatoes for fun.

If you are making something like a pork chop and mashed potatoes or egg noodles (all beige looking food) don't serve corn! Choose something more colorful like zucchini or beets.

I could spend all night coming up with examples and ideas but this will hopefully get you thinking about taking it to "the next level" the next time you cook something.

--- © Chef Raven