Flavors 518

Its hard to believe, I have been having salad bar parties for five years! Here's the link back to the post of the first one . You can see my punch was a bit more attractive for that party. The idea is everyone brings an ingredient to add to the salad bar, and then everyone can go down the line and even make several very different salads. It ends up feeling interactive and community building, I think. This is a tradition I've been really happy to keep going because I feel like it was a really great idea to start off with. It doesn't require much cooking which is great for summer months, sometimes people have extra produce in the summer from their gardens or CSA memberships, and its really healthy and refreshing so it just feels perfect for this time of year. I thought I'd break it down how this year went. Alright, so first on this punch... uh what can I say, everyone thought it was like a science experiment. Started out with Joy the Baker's Lavender Lemonade ...

I've long wanted to have a fancy brunch party. We've got a lot of cookbooks, and I read about things that sounds fabulous and laborious like stratas, frittatas, and quiches. Are you really going to wake up on the weekend and start rolling out a pie crust? No, no you are not. I have made in the past mushroom ricotta crepes , cinnamon buns with buttermilk icing , and the first thing I ever cooked on my own from scratch was a goat cheese and leek quiche . Well, we all know the best thing to motivate you to cook fancy things is to invite other people over, and what is more fun than a fancy brunch? Here's someone who likes the idea as much as I do . Martha Stewart also has some ideas , and I love them all. My friend Katie and her boyfriend came over, and I set up a spread of things that could easily be made ahead of time. I don't think having people over for brunch would work as well if you were off flipping pancakes and folding omelets while your friend is talking abou...

I got the idea for a salad bar party a while ago from a podcast on homefries.com . I absolutely love these guys on The Table Set , who also suggested a "Bring Your Own Pizza Topping Party". You could also do a "Bring Your Own Omelet Filling Brunch Party". When I was dogsitting for my coworker back in the winter, I read something in the Red Hat Society Cookbook ( which I made fun of quite a bit ) where you could have a boiling pot of water going, have everyone choose which omelet fillings they wanted, then you put the eggs and the fillings in zip-lock bags, write their names in marker on the outside of the bags, shake them around a bit, and throw them in the pot of boiling water. I'm not sure if that omelet technique would work or not, but I thought the salad bar party concept worked out great. You would never buy all of those separate toppings, so making it a group thing is a way to make it way more feasible. Plus, it is summer and who wants to turn the oven on...

 I've never been a big fan of summer. Last summer was pretty great , but some of my favorite things are fall things like tweed, tea, a roasting chicken, argyle, and acorn squash. I was really into swimming in the Great Lakes as a child, but at age 18, I developed a weird allergy to cold water and pretty much developed hobbies like reading and watching movies to accommodate that allergy. That all being said, here are some cool summer links: Desserts that look like summer foods . And also, how to make a watermelon cake . Fruit infused ice cubes that could be great for cocktails. Oatmeal you don't have to cook . (Wow.)  My plans for the summer include: I'd like to find a new hobby since I am finishing up watching the entire season of "Beverly Hills, 90210". Briefly, a few months ago , I thought my new hobby could be jello . But then the actual logistics of having that much jello around doesn't work that well. Can you call up your friend and say ...

Last night, we had over our new friend and her husband, of JessJamesJake fame, who I met at the All Over Albany party . I thought it would be a good time to use our pasta machine and I totally pimped out my husband's cooking skills ("Do you guys want to come over and eat his pasta sauce?" "Scott, you are going to make some pasta sauce for some people who live around the corner from us!").  The good thing about having people over is you can make desserts that you wanted to make, but thought were too decadent for a house with two people in it. I bought the new Pioneer Woman cookbook when I went and saw her speak in NYC in March. We wanted to make the coffee cake, and this one she posted in 2009 is pretty similar to the one in the book except you'd swap out the instant coffee crystals in the filling for cream cheese, and put a different icing on top (more of a ganache), but the cake is the same. I made some doughnuts from that book back in March. Anyways...

This post has a soundtrack . Now, of course I think it is fun and totally healthy for couples to socialize with other couples. But if you don't think it is neccessary, and also totally healthy for people to also have separate friendships, then you should go read some Rachel Bertsche . It just kills me when I hear people say they force their husbands to go outlet shopping with them - that is why you are supposed to have girlfriends - girlfriends who would love to go outlet shopping! Instead, you see the guys sitting outside the dressing room, totally bored to tears.When I hear someone say their boyfriend is their best friend, and then totally demonstrate that they don't think their friendships are a priority through their behavior, it kills me, but I also think it is not good for their relationship in the long term. Your boyfriend does not want to go shoe shopping with you, and he really doesn't want to analyze "Real Housewives of Any City". Rachel Bertsche s...

We went to a dinner party tonight at our friend's house who did a great job at putting together an Indian meal. We have a couple Indian cookbooks, but we have only made two things. We made a swordfish with a yogurt-ginger marinade once that gets thrown on the grill, and I made chicken tikka back when we first moved in together . For some reason, I've had some weird idea that we'd have to go to an Indian market to get certain items, or that it would be really complicated. I offered to make naan for the dinner, and I used the cookbook An Invitation to Indian Cooking . I'm quickly becoming the girl who offers to make a bread that goes along with the meal you are making for me, which is kind of funny. Here's what I think about making naan: It's got yogurt in it and warmed milk, and you can immediately tell the texture is going to be different than other breads - flakier and not hugely doughy (not like the way the challah rose all over everything and looked l...

Sometimes my boss and I sit around and try to come up with ways to make more money. Yesterday we thought Etsy was a good idea. Today we started talking about all these parties you can have where you sell things. I never knew about half of these. Pampered Chef Tastefully Simple Even Dove Chocolates There are custom handbags .  ( Made nearby in Troy) And the idea that started them all: Tupperware . The only one that actually seems like a good idea to me is Avon , because that is actually not a party and just a catalog. Still, there is something a little wrong about "Hi, I'm your friend - buy some eyeliner?!" Anyone have any thoughts on these? Does anyone actually make money or is it all a way for these companies to infiltrate your social circles and make your friends guilted into buying things from you? 

My fellow book-clubber Elizabeth and I went to Edith Wharton's 150th birthday party at The Mount tonight. There were some beautiful flower arrangements from Gillooly & Co. Design , and some great food from SoMA catering . The gardens are obviously not nearly as exciting as they are in warmer weather, but the inside of the house is amazing. We especially loved her library, and wanted to sit and hang out there reading for hours. Her bed seemed too small for a modern person. The historic toilet had a big sign on it that said "NOT A FUNCTIONAL TOILET", and we thought that was very funny. Some weird guy kept following us through all the rooms, and we thought at a party where the average age was about 65 maybe we were the hot ticket. The food included chocolate covered strawberries (amazing), chocolate hazelnut macarons (fabulous), and lots of cheese. I had pieces of manchego and a soft and pungent cheddar from Rubiner's Cheesemongers . They were also se...

I thought that our New Year's Eve party turned out to be a fabulous time, if I may say so myself. I have a few tips that I can share. As with all entertaining (especially events where alcohol is involved), I think it is important to have lots of water available to drink. People may not think to ask for it, but they are likely to drink it if it is there, and they should drink it.  There is some formula that can probably be worked out in terms of the cost of buying disposable items, and the labor involved in cleaning up items you already own. I think paper plates and plastic cups fit into the first category, but actually that silverware falls into the second category. There are attractive disposable options for forks, but they get up to the price point where it is not worth it. The ones that cost $2 (at Party City ) look cheap. We have a whole bunch of old forks in a box in the basement so I brought those up to use. Normally, I try really hard to serve only finger foods, bu...