Sunday, December 17, 2006

The menu, as promised, but without recipes (yet)

I'm just thinking about putting on a giant pot of caramel sauce, a follow-up to an enormous pot of hot fudge sauce I boiled up today. Every year I give my stepfather an ice cream sundae kit for Christmas. Being the large, hedonistic ice cream fan he is, he never tires of this gift, just as I never tire of his gift to me, a big fat day spa certificate. In his kit, I include a quart Mason jar each of hot fudge and caramel sauces, a batch of his favorite nut-free brownies, some peanut brittle, toffee, purchased raspberry sauce, and maybe some chopped up broken pralines to sprinkle if I made a batch that had some break. I include all this detail just in case any of you are at a loss as to what to give an ice cream sundae lover on your list. If you use it, I hope you get day spa gift certificates out of it!

But the measuring out of ingredients made me realize that I had not yet lived up to my promise on Friday to post my cocktail party menu from last weekend. I don't feel up to actually posting recipes just now, but let me know if you'd like to see some. So here it is, for your perusing pleasure.

Little snacky type things:
  • Marinated olives
  • Tamari roasted almonds
  • Chili spiced pecans
  • Puff pastry parmesan cheesestraws
  • Platter of assorted cheeses, quince paste (to go with the Manchego), and crackers
For the vegetarians:
  • Wild mushroom pate with little toasts and almond crackers
  • Platter of roasted beets and asparagus, and endive leaves with aioli
  • Caramelized shallot and blue cheese dip with roasted potato wedges (a.k.a., oven fries)
  • Hot pepper and smoked mozzarella empanadas with avocado relish
  • Marinated sheep's milk feta, orange, and mint skewers
For the meat-on-toothpicks crowd:
  • Beef and mint skewers with Thai dipping sauce
  • Tandoori shrimp skewers
  • Chicken with peanut sauce and scallions in phyllo cups
And then some assorted little homemade candies and a fruitcake kind of hiding in a corner of the living room, because truthfully I didn't devote all that much time to desserts for some reason. Oh, and did I mention my sour mix? I make rockin' sour mix.

That's it! Gotta run because Husband's trying to get me to watch a movie with him. This weekend's been incredibly busy for both of us and finally we're getting a little time together here if I could just...tear...myself away...from this keyboard...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm hungry now.

Angel said...

God, can I seriously come to your next party? No chips and salsa for you girl! You pull out all the stops! Everything sounded fantastic! You rock!

Mama D said...

Wow. That all sounds amazing. And time consuming. Your guests were very, VERY lucky. No wonder all the food was gone!!

cubmommy said...

We are heading out and just wanted to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas!

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Stopping by some of my favorite blogs to wish you a Merry Christmas!

Angel said...

Merry Christmas Sugar mama!!! Have a blessed one with your family....and, I'm sure, lots of fabulous food!