Pizza Party

I have become a huge fan of happy hour over the past few years. You go out right after work, the drinks are usually cheap, maybe you eat a cheap snack, and you're home in time for dinner. It works out to be ideal both time-wise and economy-wise.

The thing is, though, when you go out for happy hour a lot, it still adds up. And Dr. Scott, Rob, Caitlin, and I were going out to happy hour A LOT. (Plus, we were getting oh-so-slightly sick of going the same places all the time.) So we came up with a solution: move happy hour to our houses and rotate every week. We started out at Scott's, and this past week moved to my house.

 Caitlin and I drinking Laphraoig at Scott's

As hostess, I felt compelled to provide food for my guests. I wanted to keep it fairly simple and casual, but filling. I also wanted to make something that Noe would want to eat when he joined us after his basketball game. I went with homemade pizzas - fairly cheap, pretty easy, and I could offer a variety of toppings.

I cheated a bit - I bought two Boboli crusts and a bag of dough from the refrigerator section of the supermarket. The day before our gathering, I took inventory and built my pizzas around things I already had. I decided to do three pizzas: a pesto/artichoke; a fig/bacon; and a classic Margherita.

For the artichoke pizza, I mashed a few cloves of roasted garlic (purchased from the olive bar at Stop & Shop - didn't have time to roast my own) and spread them on the crust. I then spread a couple tablespoons of pesto (found in my freezer; God only knows how old it was) over top of the garlic. I topped that with some chopped artichoke hearts (I had a can in the cupboard from making spinach-artichoke dip) and some grated cheeses: mozz, provolone, and parmesan.

 Garlic, pesto, artichoke, and three cheese pizza

For pizza number 2, I did purchase a jar of fig preserves. I spread them over the crust like I would sauce, then topped it with chopped bacon and thinly sliced red onion. I topped it off with crumbled bleu cheese (leftover from a bistro steak I made over the weekend).

 Fig preserves, bacon, red onion, and bleu cheese

The third pizza was the classic Italian combo of tomato, basil, and mozzarella. I spread the crust with crushed tomatoes (chunkier than plain tomato sauce). I sprinkled it with some dried oregano and basil from my spice cupboard, topped it with some slices of fresh mozz,and baked it. After I took it out of the oven, I tore up some fresh basil leaves and sprinkled them over the top.

 Classic.

All three pizzas turned out pretty tasty. Scott voted the artichoke the winner. I was a big fan of the bacon/fig/bleu combo. Rob liked the Margherita, but that was mostly because of the chewier crust. We decided to let Noe pick the winner - he went with the fig (probably because he has a bit of a sweet tooth).

(This was a very cheap meal for me to provide, because I happen to be the type of person that has things like imported tomatoes, cans of artichokes, and frozen containers of pesto on hand. But anyone can make a pizza with a pre-made crust, and you don't have to pick expensive or "fancy" toppings. And most of the things I used were not very expensive to begin with. You could buy everything to make any one of these pizzas for less than ten dollars.)

Scott brought a couple bottles of Scotch, one of which we had made a dent in last week. I am really starting to love the smokey, complex taste of Scotch. Scotch is very expensive when ordered in a bar, so
buying it by the bottle has definitely saved us some money (I'll be writing a Scotch post in the near future).

 Scotch and Rob - NOT a match made in heaven,

but what a great photo!

So far, home happy hour has been a huge success (although it does make me want one of those sixties Mad Men-style bar carts with wheels). We've eaten better, consumed higher quality booze, and even saved a little bit of money. Rob's up next - we'll see if he can take up the mantle and continue the tradition.

Dessert Oasis

You'd think I'd be sick of desserts after all the work I did getting ready for and helping at Reel Love on Saturday night. But last night I made homemade fettuccine alfredo for dinner (so bad for you yet so worth it) and I wanted to finish off the meal with an impressive dessert. Two things were working against me: A) Time - I didn't even start making dinner until 7:30 because Noe was at tennis and we were not going to eat until 9:00; and B) Lack of Ingredients - since I hadn't planned to make a fancy dessert I certainly didn't shop for anything.

Impressive looking but so easy to make.

Luckily, there is an impressive-looking yet super-easy dessert to pull out in this situation that I just happened to have ingredients on hand for: Chocolate Lava Cakes. Amanda also uses this as a go-to dessert, as does Gwyneth Paltrow, apparently. If you visit those two links, you will find two different but equally simple recipe for this dessert. However, if you want the easiest version possible - and the one that you might actually be able to make with stuff on hand (unless you keep raspberry liqueur and creme fraiche on hand) - try this version, an adaptation of the Jean-Georges Vongerichten version recently re-printed by Bitten, the food blog of the New York Times. I have cut this in half to make two rather than four cakes - it is easily halved or doubled:

Ingredients for Two

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, plus more to butter the molds
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used a Ghirardelli baking bar I had in the cupboard)
  
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoons flour, plus more for dusting

Instructions

• Pour glass of delicious red wine with big fruity flavors, perhaps Don David Tanat. Sip while making cakes. *
  

*This step is optional.

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Butter and flour two ramekins or cake molds (instead of flour, I use cocoa powder - no difference taste-wise but keeps there from being flour dust on the finished cakes). Tap out excess.
• Beat the egg, egg yolk, and sugar together with a whisk or electric hand mixer until it is yellow and thick (not very long at all).
• Using the double boiler method (see image below) heat the butter and chocolate together until melted. Stir together to fully combine.
  

Double boiling: melting butter and chocolate
in a bowl set over a pan of water.

• Pour the chocolate/butter combination into the egg mixture. Add the teaspoon of flour. Beat until combined.
• Divide the batter among the ramekins or molds and bake for 6 or 7 minutes (sides should be set but center should be very soft. Let sit ten or twenty seconds.
• Carefully invert the molds or ramekins to remove cakes. Serve immediately with whatever accompaniments you choose (I used strawberries and vanilla ice cream last night, but creme fraiche could be good, dust with powdered sugar, drizzle them with liqueur and more fruit...lots of possibilities!)
• Serve immediately (these can be mixed up ahead of time and baked right before serving). When guests cut in to the cake, the warm chocolate center will ooze out.

The finished product!

See how easy that was? The cakes cook so fast that you could do this dessert made-to-order at a dinner party. Does anyone else have any good impressive-looking but easy-to-make food suggestions?

Some Enchanted Evening

As I clean up empty wine bottles and look around at the dozens of empty glasses and discarded party favors around me, I think only one thought: New Year's Eve was a success.

Instead of going out, Noe and I decided to host New Year's Eve at our house (this turned out to be an even better decision than we originally thought as our area of Connecticut was hit with some serious snow and ice yesterday). We decided that I would cook a meal, everyone would donate some appetizers/dessert/booze, and we'd play video games and dance in the living room. In short, the stuff our group of friends does on a regular basis, but with more people and a general air of festivity.

Brian Samas and Sabrina stopped by long enough for Sabrina
to utilize every party favor and Samas to take some excellent photos
(this is one of them).

Dressing up was not required, but most of our guests chose to wear nicer-than-everyday wear (best dressed has to go to Doyle in his tuxedo). I actually got my party dress at Target when I went to buy paper plates and napkins.

I cooked a pan of meat lasagna and a baked fettuccine with asiago cheese - we had about 15 people and with only one small oven, pasta was really my only option (plus, I put these together on Tuesday night and just baked them before the guests arrived, which made it much easier to prep for the party). Katie made one of her spectacular salads, and that along with some good garlic breadsticks and baguettes comprised our dinner. Our friends brought over delicious appetizers and snacks, and our dessert superstars Amanda and Ryan did not fail us - Amanda brought not only chocolate mousse brownies but also her fabulous rum cake (or as we like to call it, "booze cake") and Ryan made his gigantic chocolate chunk - oatmeal cookies.

Samas's camera; photo by Doyle.
Apparently I am seriously contemplating
this glass of wine Amanda is drinking.

We had a really interesting assortment of beers and wines. I brought the Arboleda Carmenere and the XYZin 50-year old vine Zinfandel up from the cellar, Ryan added a bottle of Ravenswood Zin, Amanda added the 2005 Chateau Saint-Nicolas Bordeaux, and Katie contributed our lone non-sparkling white, a California blend called Seven Daughters. The boys made sure the beer selection was equally diverse with selections by Magic Hat, Sam Adams, Leffe, Anchor Steam, Dogfish Head, and more.

(For those of you thinking that we're big-time snobs about now, keep in mind there was also plenty of Cook's sparkler, Smirnoff mojitos in a jug, and Miller High Life.)

Trifecta hanging out with some classy dresses and some good wine -
and getting ready to start dancing!

The evening progresses casually - everyone mingled and ate, poured some drinks, played Guitar Hero World Tour (this game might require a post dedicated all to itself because it is the best video game ever), and those of us who wished to had a dance party in my furniture-less living room. Later on and a few more drinks into the evening, we switched to American Idol Karaoke - on the easiest setting because, let's face it, after a whole bunch of booze and talking over people all night, no one was really in their finest singing voice.

"With a rebel yell, she cried more, more, more!"

John tests out his new microphone stand while Kevin plays guitar.

We did turn off the video games long enough to countdown with Ryan Seacrest, the Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift, and Lionel Ritchie (what was Lionel Ritchie doing in this group? Mediating the feud between Taylor Swift and Joe Jonas?) For the big countdown, there was plenty of prosecco and - thanks to John - an excellent Oregon sparkler by Argyle (75% Chardonnay; 25% Pinot Noir; 100% delicious). Then the singing resumed once more.

"Islands in the stream; that is what we are..."

Noe and John duet.

Noe and I were extremely grateful to have such a good group of friends to celebrate with us this time around. The people at our house Wednesday night were instrumental in turning 2008 from a pretty crappy year into a pretty great one, and we were happy to see them having such a good time at the party.

Happy New Year!

Here's to 2009 - off to a good start that will hopefully continue throughout the year!

Staying Classy

Being classy takes a lot of work. And classy activities - such as wine drinking, cheese-eating, and dinner parties - can sometimes put a strain on the wallets of 20-and-30-somethings who have all just bought houses in the past couple years. However, there are ways to stay classy without laying out massive amounts of cash. Below, some tips for Being Classy on a Budget:

Budget Wine: Think INSIDE the Box

My good friend John - or CT Wine Guy, as you may know him - has been exploring boxed wines for awhile now and because of his blog, I have been able to find several boxed wines that are extremely drinkable and classy enough for most classy gatherings.

Boxed wine qualifies for the class-on-a-budget list because of the bang for your buck. Most boxes of decent wine hold four bottles, and the most expensive of the box wines currently top out at about $25/box ($6.00 and change per bottle - that is cheaper than Yellowtail, folks!) An added benefit of boxed wine is that the new bag and box technology keeps the wine fresher for a longer period of time.

Chardonnay is probably the most widely available boxed wine, and there are a couple worth trying. At John and Katie's recommendation, I tried the Black Box Chard and really enjoyed it (as much as I am going to enjoy a California Chard, that is - they are almost never my first choice). The Black Box Shiraz, which we drank at Amanda's house, was also nice - fruity and spicy.

I would suggest reading John's posts for more suggestions. Plus, then you can mention that you got the recommendation from a classy wine blog and sound like you keep up with these hip sorts of things.

Budget Cheese: Trader Joe's and grocery store selections

The Trifecta is very found of our fancy cheese store. I love the artisan cheeses available at the farmer's market. However, there are weeks when you are short on cash but still need some classy cheese to serve to some last-minute guests.

Never fear: Trader Joe's was made for this sort of thing.

Trader Joe's has a very good cheese selection and extremely good prices. In addition, unlike Whole Foods and other such stores, Trader Joe's does not cut all their cheese to a uniform size, so it is very possible to find smaller wedges of triple-cream brie and Port Salut which in turn cost less money.

(Side Note: Even though Trader Joe's is cheap, it enjoys a certain hipness in classy circles. It is what they would call "Cheap Chic." Bringing almost anything from Trader Joe's to a party will cement your status as hip and classy - even Three Buck Chuck, as long as you make a self-aware and self-deprecating joke about it's cheapness.)

In the event that you have no Trader Joe's close by, you can still find acceptable cheeses in most grocery stores. My go-to grocery store snack cheese is Boar's Head Harvati. This is a creamy (but solid) mild cheese that goes well with most crackers and is offensive to almost no one. A block usually costs between $5.00 and $6.00, but the taste is much classier than that.

Budget Dinner Party: Serve Pasta

The easiest way to cut the costs of your dinner party without sacrificing classiness is to make pasta for the main dish. Pasta itself is cheap and even if you put meat in it, you probably only need about a pound, which is much less meat than if you were to supply your entire dinner party with their own individual Cornish game hen.

My go-to cheap and classy pasta is from Giada DeLaurentis's cookbook Everyday Italian (probably my favorite cookbook ever. Go on Amazon and see if you can find a cheap, used copy). The Orecchiette with Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Rabe can feed six people and be made for under $12. Seriously, check out these prices from a recent grocery store trip:

• 1 lb. box of pasta - $1.34 (you can use penne or cavatappi if you can't find orecchiette)
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe - $1.99
• 1 lb. package of Italian sausage - $3.99 (it was actually on sale for $3.00)
• 1 head of garlic - $0.50
• Small block of fresh Parmesan - $3.16

The only other ingredients in this dish are olive oil and crushed red pepper flakes - kitchen staples. If one of your guests brings a salad and another brings a loaf of bread, you have a classy and filling meal on a minimum budget.

I hope you find this post helpful on your journey to classiness. Classy tips are always appreciated!