If you’re like me, you’re trying to recover from all the holiday spending. I went out to dinner so much that I was excited to finally eat at home again. And, of course, my waist was glad too!

It’s time to re-group and make monthly plans with friends to get back on the social track you enjoy. I love the holidays, but I end up doing to many things because I have to or I should. This year I want to bring in people that I enjoy spending time with and do less of the obligatory visits.

Last year six of us began a monthly dinner club that didn’t quite make it through the holidays. I think the last time we met was October. Now it’s 2010 and time to rev that puppy back up.

What’s a dinner club? It’s a less expensive way to get fancy night out. Only it’s in your or your friend’s house. It’s a great place to try out new recipes, drinks, or to show off your sengware dishes.

We limited our group to three couples. You can always have other dinner parties to accommodate your other friends, but this is a group planning effort. Pick your club members carefully. Do they love food and cooking? Show up when expected? If they hate cooking or are picky eaters it could cause too much drama in this kind of setting. You will also need to get input from any other members of the group before you add the next person. It’s important for the group to jell together for the long run.

Mine started up at my 2009 New Year’s Eve dinner party. Six of us complained that we didn’t see each other enough and were praising each other’s cooking. We decided to meet one Saturday night a month. The host would rotate through each couple so everyone got to be a guest as well.

We each bring a dish or two from a pre-determined menu. In our group the host determines the theme, and guests decide what they would like to bring. We do this at the end of the current dinner club for the next month. Usually we have a main dish, some sides, salad, dessert, and a special drink of the night.

In my next post I’ll talk more about creating your dinner club and give you some sample menus. So make sure to check back later in the week!

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Posted by Myriam under Dinner Club & Hostessing & Party Food | No Comments »

It’s fun to have a Halloween dinner party – for kids or adults. Both kinds of parties need some spooky drinks and here are a few ideas that can work for either.

For kid’s parties a traditional sherbet punch can be made creepy by using orange or lime sherbet. Add some ice hands and face in to scare the older ones. Make the ice using a mask and latex gloves as the ‘ice trays’. It’s a little more involved, but check out Martha Stewart’s great how-to here. She uses green food coloring in hers, but depending on what you put in your punch bowl clear ice would be fine too.

You can create a foggy punch by having an outer bowl that has dry ice in it and then placing a second metal bowl inside to actually hold the punch. Don’t use glass though – it could crack from the dry ice.

We covered pumpkin carving last week, but there’s more to pumpkins than traditional jack-o-lanterns. To make a spectacular punch bowl centerpiece use a large pumpkin. You can make it a plain straight line on the top. Just cut off the top part of the pumpkin and scoop out the insides. Or you can get fancy and carve a more intricate pattern at the top of your bowl, something lacy or reminiscent of a chandelier. Place a bowl inside to hold your punch.

You can use ‘ice cube eyeballs’ to decorate a clear glass of soda, or a spooky gin and tonic. Peel small radishes while leaving a few thin strips of red for the bloodshot veins in the eyes, then cut a hole to insert a halved olive stuffed with pimento. Place these in ice cube trays and fill with water. They will be a gruesome addition to any drink.

Not sure what drinks are witchy enough for your party? Here are a few links to get your imagination started:

• Shrunken Heads in Cider
• Fresh from the Lab
• Boo-Nilla Shake
• Black Vodka Drinks
• Bloody Black Current Punch
• Gothic Grog

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Posted by Myriam under Drinks & Fall Entertaining & Halloween | No Comments »

No cool weather gathering is complete without a toasty drink. Kids and grown-ups alike love a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

Having 20 children over for a pumpkin carving party? Get ahead of the game by making a batch of hot chocolate in your slow cooker. You can make large amounts, and it’ll be ready when the thirsty herd is.

For a smaller gathering you can still prepare it in advance, just use a thermal carafe to keep it warm or use a little dipper sized slow cooker. I do this before a fancy sit down dinner with coffee and tea. It lets me enjoy the company of my guests instead of staying hidden away in the kitchen.

Let the kids add their own touch to their drink. It’s amazing how easy it is to have so much fun. Create an area filled with little bowls of goodies to add to their cocoa. Decorate the table with a tablecloth and a few mini pumpkins.  You can also use flame-less candles to add a special touch with no danger to the little ones.  My hot chocolate goody bar usually includes whipped cream, chocolate shavings (milk, dark, and white), crushed peppermint candy, mini peppermint patties, mini marshmallows, and anything else I have on hand that seems like a fit.

If you will have older kids or adults around, try a mixture of ground chili, ginger, and cinnamon for a taste similar to what the Aztecs drank. It can have a kick, so keep an eye on the kids when you let them use this topping. Also try infusing the hot chocolate with a cinnamon stick and some cardamom pods when you make it for a delicious drink that needs no topping at all.

Flavored syrups like vanilla, hazelnut, and almond are another great addition. You can use them in fancy coffee drinks you make at home too. If there will be a lot of adults, bring out the liquors. Bailey’s, Amaretto, Frangelico, Grand Marnier, and even spiced rum make great grown up additions.

Make sure to ask the parents if any of the children have food allergies, before you decide what to put on your topping table. For someone with a milk allergy make your favorite hot chocolate recipe and use vanilla soymilk or almond milk in place of the dairy. Most mixes contain dairy, so you will need to make yours from scratch. It’ll be worth it and you may find yourself doing that for all your cocoa parties. It doesn’t take much time or effort, but it has a huge party payoff!

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Posted by Myriam under Drinks & Fall Entertaining & Hostessing | No Comments »