favorite party

[mightyh]

Just wondering what your favorite ways to entertain are....

Do you prefer big groups or small? Buffet or sit down? Full meals or appetizers and desserts? Open houses? Do you do any theme parties that go over especially well? Any annual party-givers whose guests wait anxiously all year for the party? And what are your signature recipes at these parties?

[lorilei]

I love entertaining - and often wish that we lived closer to more of our friends so that we could get together more often.

As for my preferences:

I prefer small, intimate gatherings to large and sit-down to buffet.
We do monthly theme dinners (based on region/country) at our house, which are great fun. No one can wait for the next to arrive.

As for signature dishes -- there is almost always cheesecake. And I love making at least one highly unusual dish for every gathering. People are always so surprised when love something they thought they hated...

[Vanessa]

Its great to have friends over. I would say BBQ is our favorite. At Xmas we like to make a traditional dinner (Latin style) & share food, wine & good times with friends.
Thanksgiving is more family holiday.
Personally I enjoy smaller group of people over.

[Gail]

Gee, you ask a lot of questions... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

I do both buffet type things and sit down dinners, depending upon what I'm serving and time of day. Afternoon meals, such as barbecues, would be buffet. If it's evening, it's usually sit down, and with a theme. As most of you long-timers here have gathered, I'm definitely into international or regional cuisines, so I'll try to stick to a theme from beginning to end-- and make EVERYTHING myself, if humanly possible. Because I get so fanatical, I seldom have more than four guests at a time-- other than Christmas which is our yearly Greek bash.

Do I have a signature dish? Hmmm... people seem to think so, but they never agree what it is. One swears it's crab puffs, another insists it's Cajun shrimp. Or spinach dip. Or spanokopita. Or apple-walnut pie... Or black beans. You know, after thinking this question over and rambling a bit, I'd say maybe I have more of a signature cuisine, which would be Greek.

[andreajackson]

During the Christmas season my friend always has an ornament party! It is so much fun, usually there are about 20 women who all bring an ornament and then we play a game where we exchange the ornaments! I look forward to it every year. It also helps that they always have wonderful food!

[KimberlyE]

I love to throw casual parties with about 4-6 friends and usual have a theme ingredient or type of food. Since my husband I have been together, most of the time we do a BBQ so he does the meat and I get to make dessert and side dishes...this works well for me because I prefer not to touch raw meat (but will in a pinch). Usually my friends ask if they can bring something and sometimes that is nice but I prefer to do all the food. Our signature dishes are grilled fish, spinach salad with Honey Dijon Balsamic Vinagrette and my garlic bread.

[This message has been edited by KimberlyE (edited 09-22-2000).]

[This message has been edited by KimberlyE (edited 09-22-2000).]

[Wendy w]

I prefer small gatherings where you can visit with your guests. Because of seating and space limitations,gatherings of 4 to 6 work the best.

I live in a condo with a large kitchen and small dining area. However, I will be hosting my dinner club next month and will be giving my 1st party for 9!

I will just have to add a leaf to the table and borrow extra chairs. Everyone is aware of it and has offered extra chairs and whatever is needed.

One of the people in the group who has less space than I do, had a party for 12 and it went well. Since we had a great time last night, we are really looking forward to it!

There are many things that I love to make, but I am known for my chicken enchiladas, marinara, garlic bread, and antipasta salad. No one ever refuses an invitation when scampi is on the menu. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

Wendy

[This message has been edited by Wendy w (edited 09-22-2000).]

[venus]

Oh--I love to entertain too. I have a reputation with my friends as "the cook" and they're all happy to come over and eat whatever it is I decide to make. We BBQ *alot* but I think that's because I like anything with BBQ sauce on it, and it's usually a Sunday afternoon thing. I guess ribs is the thing that we have all the time, but people always want me to make spanakopita or souvlaki or stuffed brie. I lean towards Greek too Gail http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

I actually prefer large sit down dinners to buffet--and I will have plenty of them once I get a real dining room table http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[karen]

Speaking of Christmas parties, my friend has a get-together over at her house. We all bring a gift to exchange, a dish, and also 2-dozen home-made cookies to share. So we all go home with a beautiful plate of assorted cookies and a gift. This year we are planning to bring our recipes for the cookies, and make a cookie cookbook for each of us to take home.

Open to any great ideas for the cookbook, Karen

[JeanneW]

Greek seems to be the thing. That's what I'm known for too. Souvlaki, Greek salad, pita bread, roasted potatoes and tzatziki. Most of it is made ahead and oh the garlic! Served with my favorite Greek red wine and husband's Retsina (yuck!) and a drop of ouzo and they come running. We usually do small groups of 4-6 because that all the patio table will hold. Funnily enough we do most of our entertaining during the spring/summer and yet fall/winter cooking is my favorite. Must be something about the outdoors that gets me feeling sociable.

[AndreaU]

Since we have a very small old house (from the turn of the OTHER century...), we don't entertain but once a year or so when friends are visiting for a weekend. I would love to be able to host holidays but with 8 brothers/sisters-in-law and 9 nieces and nephews, there is nowhere- literally- to put everyone. Even the backyard is small. So for now, I guess my favorite type of party are those to which we get invited! Of course, we always bring a dish to share out of guilt for never hosting!

[SandyDee]

I love to entertain. I prefer smaller groups and I love to do themes, it depends on the theme whether I do sit down or buffet. My mom always does Thanksgiving and my sister and I take turns doing Christmas and Easter. When I do a Holiday it is a large group of family and it is always a large (the works) traditional meal. But I have done several smaller parties revolving around whatever has caught my attention lately. I am planning a Christmas Tea Party for early in December. I will be serving roast turkey on small party rolls, open face cucumber tea sandwiches on marble rye, and egg salad with dill on wheat. It will be acompanied with cranberry orange salad, sugar cinnamon scones, skewers of pineapple, oranges, pears and kiwis, and possibly a lemon bunt cake. I will have 3 choices of teas and 2-3 flavors of preserves. What I like as much as preparing the foods in fancy shapes and sizes is getting to use an assortment of my crystal bowls and trays. I will serve the teas in an assortment of Victorian Tea Pots and will use an assortment of Victorian bone china cups and saucers. Not to forget having a cd of chamber music playing Christmas Carols. I may even put a tray of fancy chocolates out for an after treat with a dessert tea. Sorry, I really did ramble, I found myself planning as I was posting. Any ideas would be welcomed. Please feel free.

[Kristilyn1]

Great thread!

Made me think--any suggestions for my fundraiser next Saturday night? I am having a wine tasting party where people will bring a bottle. Just note that this is NOT a cork-sniffing kind of affair. Any ideas on food to serve? Cheese is a given--specifically a baked brie and some other cheeses on a platter with granny smith apple slices. I was thinking spinach-artichoke dip, mini quiches, a salad of sorts, the grape chicken salad sandwiches and some desserts including the lemon-swirl cheesecake. I am trying for a good mix of foods and really don't want to come off as fancy--just good foods to go with many various wines. Also note, this is an open house. Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted. Any cooks in NH who want to come over and help cook--even MORE gratefully accepted!

Kristi

[shoyski]

Kristylin1, how about some fruit and nuts? That always goes well and is super easy to set out for people to nibble on.

My husband and I have an open house about twice a year for all of our friends. It's always a "bring an appetizer" kind of thing. I love to do it all myself but none of these people entertain and feel like they have to bring something. Therefore, I have to hold back since there's always leftovers that people want to leave.

[Gail]

How about prosciutto and melon? Stuffed mushrooms?

BTW: If you folks happen to be tasting any very sweet or late harvest type wines, do throw in something with chocolate.

Sounds fun! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[kendra]

All this talk is making me want to throw a party tonight! I prefer small groups and just make whatever I'm in the mood for. I find that my meals are sometimes dicated by what kind of dishes/new kitchen gadgets I have. I just got a set of great asian dishes so my next party will definitely have an asian theme!

[venus]

Hey Karen, I love your cookie Christmas party. It's a great idea. I just read a book called "You Can Write a Cookbook" that has many ideas for self-published and "gift" cookbooks. You can get it at Barnes and Nobles and amazon.com, and maybe the CL store.

Everyone's food ideas sound so good--I want to throw a cocktail party now. :P

[mightyh]

Seems like Greek is everyone's specialty... I'm ashamed to admit that I don't think I've ever made anything Greek. Can you share some recipes? Is it easy to do?

[food girl]

I am impressed! My dinner gatherings are usually my single girlfriends who come over for my chicken enchiladas, mexican cornbread and caramel brownies(a la Betty Crocker!).

This is all served up with a generous helping of morally reprehensible T.V. programming (usually Sex and the City)!

I host several sit-down dinners each year, but I find myself scrutinizing what everyone eats. I find myself wondering why Matt didn't eat his salad, or why Karen picked out the mushrooms.

I do the big entertaining no-no - I try new recipes out on dinner guests. Does anyone else ever do this?

[valeriek]

Food Girl - I also try out new recipes on guests - usually when I'm asked to bring an appetizer to pass. Sometimes it backfires but usually it works out wonderfully.

All of the parties I throw involve some sporting event. During the fall and early winter I love inviting people over to watch the football game. I always make a big pot of chili with lots of cornbread (and plenty of beer!). The Super Bowl party and Rose Bowl party usually seems to be at my place. I love getting together with my friends for these occasions - we just have such a good time!

[This message has been edited by valeriek (edited 09-25-2000).]

[ginny177]

Living alone,I nearly always use new recipes as a format to entertain. Since my guests know this, they come armed with an adventurous spirit - Makes it fun !

[venus]

MightyH--

Some Greek food is very easy, and some is complicated. Here are a couple basic recipes. If you want my spanakopita recipe, I can post that too.

Tzatziki Sauce (serves 2)


1/2 cucumber, grated
1 clove garlic minced
1 pint plain yogurt (Total Greek Yogurt is preferred)
1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint OR
1/2 teaspoon dried mint

Squeeze all the water from the cucumber and place in a cereal or similar sized bowl. Add the ingredients in the order listed and stir together until everything is evenly distributed. Cover and refridgerate at least half an hour to allow the flavours to blend. Good on everything.

Basic Souvlaki
(all of these measurements are approximate--I adapted this out of a meze cookbook, which I don't have with me)

Juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
6 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon chopped mint (optional)
salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste.

2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 package wooden skewers

In a medium to large container or bowl, whisk together the first 7 ingredients. Place the lamb in the marinade and stir so that it is all coated. Cover and refridgerate for 2-6 hours.

Place the lamb pieces on wooden skewers, about 6 to each one. Place under a broiler, about 6-8 inches from the heat. Cook for 12-15 minutes, turning and basting with the marinade half-way through.

serve with tzatziki

[venus]

I almost forgot--the Souvlaki recipe serves 6

[Mitchdoggy]

Originally posted by karen:
Speaking of Christmas parties, my friend has a get-together over at her house. We all bring a gift to exchange, a dish, and also 2-dozen home-made cookies to share. So we all go home with a beautiful plate of assorted cookies and a gift. This year we are planning to bring our recipes for the cookies, and make a cookie cookbook for each of us to take home.

Open to any great ideas for the cookbook, Karen

That's a great idea. What are the favorite cookies? Do you get a lot of the same kind of cookies?

[Connie]

I usually do the sit-down dinner thing, but I also enjoy hosting pot-lucks. Our table can set 8-10, but it seems like the common numuber of guests is 2. I don't usually follow a theme, but I almost always try new recipes out on guests. They don't seem to mind, as they are usually pretty good! And they know how I am with new recipes. I think my only signature dish is a fresh cranberry relish I take to my mom's on Thanksgiving; I got it from an old annual CL book.

[Michelle H]

Oh I love to entertain as well. Just wish I had a bigger space to do it in. Most of my dinner parties are spur of the moment. Usually based on some really great fresh ingredient I found at the store and then I plan the menu around it. When I do plan ahead I like to do a bunch of Appetizers and some good wine so everyone can just mingle and munch. Some of my signature dishes are usually meatless meatloaf and meatless tacos and Coconut Shrimp Curry.

[Grace]

The kind of party I do most often would probably be brunch. It's what I'm "famous" for among my friends and family.

I usually make Mimosas (of course!), eggs benedict (english muffin with canadian bacon, poached egg, asparagus and hollandaise - low-fat CL hollandaise, that is), cheese blintzes (CL recipe), German apple pancake, Roesti (a german fried potato pancake sort of thing with Grueyere cheese grated into the mixture), bacon or sausage (sometimes turkey, sometimes regular - depends on who I've invited), a huge fresh fruit tray, and something for dessert. I do this for Mother's Day every year - my Mom loves it 100 times more than going to some crowded restaurant. It gives her great pleasure to have her daughter cook for her (I'm pretty much the only real cook in the family). I enjoy it a lot myself. But we really don't entertain all that often because our house is so small, and our table fits only 6 people, and I can squeeze 8 if I put the card table adjoining the regular table, but then I always pray there's no fire or anything, because we're all so squished, we'd trample each other trying to get out!

[karen]

Mitchdoggy,

There are always a variety of cookies. The kinds of cookies brought are up to each individual. Last year I made some wedding cookies (or Mexican cookies that are covered in powdered sugar). Someone made some really nice bar cookies. I think the best way to do it is let each person decide what he or she likes to make.