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.

Oh, those summer nights (or days)

I always blame work for my lack of blogging lately, but the real thing that has made blogging so difficult lately is that New England really can be an amazing place to be in the summer. I know I hated it when I first moved here, but we moved mid-September - by the time we unpacked and were settled, it was the gross, drizzly shoreline winter (which I'll never love).

But summer on the East Coast (when it actually shows up for a day or two at a time - we're having awful weather this year) can be truly spectacular. And the ocean is a mile and a half from my house, and the sound is NOT infested with jellyfish this year. The water was actually warm yesterday. It was awesome.

Here are some pictures of our group at Amanda's birthday party last weekend at Lake Terramuggus. Who would rather be blogging than grilling out, swimming, and spending time with friends in the sun?

Not me!

Jonas Brothers plates - you know it's a party when...

Dev's vegetable dumplings - Amanda's stroke of genius

Trifecta toasting summer with our favorite summer wine:
Don David Torrontes

Noe and Greg attempt to mow people down in the paddle boat.

Everyone in the lake - I love summer.

Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it?

Last year I wrote a blog about Kevin Doyle's Great Gatsby party. I am glad to report that this year Doyle held the second annual Great Gatsby Party and that the costumes and cocktails were even better. We were lacking Kevin Lester this year, but attempted to make up for his absence with lots of toasting and "Lester-posing" for photographs.

Here are some photographic highlights from the evening:

The early crowd sets up the tent in case of rain.
Luckily the weather held out.

First drink of the evening: the French 75. Recipe appears below.

Trifecta in costume complete with vintage cocktails

Lester-posing

Depression-era Noe looks rather depressed.

Last year we really only made one vintage cocktail, the Monkey Gland. It was tasty, but it's the kind of drink you can really only have one of due to the sweetness factor (well, at least I only wanted one). This year, we all did some research on vintage drinks and had a tasting session at John and Katie's prior to the party. We found several - all involving gin - that we loved. Here are the recipes for our favorites:

The South Side (pictured):

1 1/3 cups fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup Simple Syrup
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
6 ounces Gin
seltzer water

Directions:

Muddle mint, lemon juice and simple syrup until mint flavor has been released. Divide ice and gin evenly between each glass, add lemon mint mix and top off with seltzer water. Garnish with a lemon twist, if desired. Serves: 4

The Aviation:

Ingredients:

2 oz Gin
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur (we used maraschino syrup instead)
1/4 oz lemon juice

Directions:

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake well. Strain and serve. Garnish with a cherry. Serves: 1

*We topped this one off with club soda because the portion was extremely small.

Left to right: French 75, Blackberry Bramble, South Side

The Blackberry Bramble:

Ingredients:

Club soda
1 ounce crème de mure (blackberry liqueur)
1/2 ounce Simple Syrup
1 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 ounces Gin

Directions:

Combine the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a glass, top with soda and float the crème de mûre. Serves: 1

The French 75:
*This one was not truly 1920's but it involved gin and it was tasty, so it made the cut.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar (we used simple syrup)
  
• 2 ounces gin
• 3 ounces plus 1 tablespoon chilled Champagne

Directions:

In cocktail shaker, combine lemon juice, sugar, gin, and ice cubes and shake to chill. Strain cocktail into a glass and top off with Champagne.

Shaken, not stirred.

This past Sunday, my good friends John and Katie came up with the brilliant idea to have a James Bond party. Who doesn't love Bond? (Not anyone I've ever met.) As usual, the party was an excuse for us to dress up, drink somewhat expensive booze, and revel in our own classiness (not really about the reveling part).

John Bond-Felty

Trifecta Bond-ing

The best thing about parties at John and Katie's is they never ignore the details. For the Bond party, they made sure we had all ingredients on hand - or as close as we could get to the original ingredients - for Vesper martinis, 007's signature "shaken, not stirred" cocktail.

The Vesper as written in 1953 by Ian Fleming (Casino Royale) was made as follows:

"Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large, thin slice of lemon peel."

James also drank it in a champagne flute (or "goblet") rather than a martini glass.

Vesper ingredients, circa 2009

The problem with updating the Vesper is that booze itself has changed since 1953. Both the gin and vodka were stronger (Stoli would have been 100 proof). Kina Lillet no longer exists. However, we did our best with Boodles gin and Lillet Blanc. We didn't worry about the glassware since martini glasses are bigger now (Bond's whole reason for ordering the drink in a champagne goblet was for larger portion size).

(For more on the evolution of the Vesper, check out this article from Esquire.)

Anyway, our version of the Vesper as mixed by John Felty was delicious - if you like drinks that taste like booze that is, which I do. It was cold and refreshing and honestly, how can you not love something that has gin AND vodka? Bonus points to the Vesper for being so aewsome that it even looks classy when served in a plastic martini glass.

No one needs to booze to realize that Daniel Craig insanely sexy. The guys may have regretted planning a double feature of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace when they realized they'd be watching with six or seven girls who all sighed in delight every time Daniel Craig graced the screen.

Overall, it was a great party - good movies, good food, good booze, and excellent company. I will be anxiously awaiting the next party - and the next Bond movie, for that matter - but for now, I leave you with photos:

Strawberry Fields with three random Bond girls in black

D-Train with the Bond girls

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!

(Not Quite) Lazy Sunday

I love carving pumpkins. Noe and I had our second annual pumpkin carving party, and here were the results:

Amanda's Count von Count and Kevin's Headless Horseman

Noe's Skull

Jason's tiny creepy pumpkin and Katie's wolves

I carved a kitty pumpkin, of course.

In other news, I (well, Noe) finally hung up the Charles Hull prints that Noe and my mom got me for my birthday at the art fair in Mystic (I had been lusting after these since Noe and I saw them at the art fair in Westerly.) Here are the awesome prints in my kitchen:

Yeah, that pretty much sums up Sunday. I'll write a belated blog about Saturday (Alta Strada and the Duffy concert - both fantastic) tomorrow.

Here's Lookin' at You, Kid.

I love dressing up, and I love parties, so naturally I was way into John Felty's Casablanca-themed birthday party last night. Katie cooked us an amazing dinner of lamb, chicken, squash, potatoes, and green beans; John opened some very good bottles of wine; and several of us sported movie-inspired costumes.

John was Rick Blaine incarnate in his white Oscar de la Renta dinner jacket (which he got on Ebay for a great deal) and black bow tie. Amanda and I chose to go the Ilsa Lund suit and hat route. I scored an excellent 40's vintage suit that afternoon at Peacock Feathers but was unable to find an appropriate hat, so I substituted with a beret. Amanda's hat looked like Ingrid Bergman could have worn it on the set.

We had a great time eating Katie's delectable cooking, playing Guitar Hero, and of course, watching Bogie and Bergman steam up the screen. Here are some pictures - in the spirit of the movie, I turned them black and white:

John and Amanda

Queuing up to fill our plates

John's house is more of a wine joint than a gin joint.

I tried out D-Train's Indiana Jones hat as a substitute for the beret.

The best-dressed people I know:
Me, Katie, John, Amanda, and Kevin (not in a period costume)

We walked around town in these outfits before the party.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a great cookout with friends - and even some family - and I got to wear a pretty vintage dress. I would say it was a pretty good day. Thank you to everyone who came over and sent birthday wishes!

My cake with canned (Betty Crocker) frosting -
the only kind I like.

27 candles is kind of a lot.

Perhaps the jewel of my fledgling vintage dress collection.

"The Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe"

"Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it?"

I personally don't, but Daisy Buchanan, the main female character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby always watched for the longest day of the year and missed it every year. This year, there was no way I could miss it because Kevin Doyle, our own history buff/literary enthusiast, decided to become Jay Gatsby for a night and host a spectacular solstice party, complete with 1920s costumes and prohibition-era cocktails.

Theme parties can be a bit of a gamble: you can never tell if people will actually embrace a theme or not. Doyle felt pretty confident with this party that at least five people would go all out: himself, me, Amanda, Dr. Mark, and Charlotte, all of whom are fans of the novel and enjoy playing dress-up. Much to our delight, every guest but one showed up in some form of a costume.

We picked Jordan Baker as our inspiration for the evening

Most impressive was how the boys stepped up to the plate. None of them went as far as Doyle (who donned a seersucker suit and a straw boater during the day but changed to a full tuxedo when darkness fell) but almost every man there had on some variation of the striped pants/bowtie/old-fashioned hat combination...and they all looked fantastic.

There are no bowties left in New London

Girls costumes are a little bit more elaborate, of course. The easiest thing to do is probably wear the fringed flapper dress commonly found in costume shops. And while that is a very fun costume, Amanda and I were going for a slightly different vibe, the Daisy Buchanan or Jordan Baker vibe - more society girl than flapper.

Mingling with costumes and cocktails

Well, thanks to Amanda's extensive googling, we were able to do it right. We ordered our dresses from Unique Vintage, which specializes in reproductions of vintage clothing. It's a little more expensive than buying the flapper costume, but these dresses are beautiful - good quality fabric, exquisite bead work, and if you follow the measurements on the sizing page, they fit really well. Accessories were collected through a couple trips to Peacock Feathers (the vintage store here in town) and Kohl's, of all places (which is actually where most of the guys bought their hats).

Finding headgear to go with a gold beaded dress took a little work. Amanda lucked out and found a great hat at Peacock Feathers, but while we saw a lot that were period-appropriate, none really matched my dress. I settled for making a sequined headband. One glue gun and a few cheap feathers later, I ended up pretty satisfied with the results.

I have to give mention to Dr. Mark's friend Charlotte for putting together a beautiful costume of mostly vintage pieces. Charlotte looked more like Daisy than any other other girl at the party. Her hair and makeup were perfect as well.

Doyle, Charlotte, and Mark

While we did not receive five crates of oranges and lemons from a fruiterer in New York (nor does Doyle have a juice machine in his kitchen) we did mix up some delicious prohibition-era cocktails and served them in fancy glasses. (We were almost sidelined by the fact that Doyle did not own a zester, but that problem was eventually solved.) One particularly delicious drink Amanda made was the Monkey Gland (weird name, I know) - a version of the recipe appears below:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 oz gin
• 1 oz orange juice
• 1/4 oz grenadine
• 1 dash absinthe

Shake the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, then strain into a martini glass. We garnished with maraschino cherries, but you could probably use an orange slice or peel as well.

It's pretty yummy. If you can't get absinthe, Pernod would probably work.

Of course, elaborate cocktails get to be kind of pain after a while, so after a couple we switched to gin and tonics or similar simple beverages.

As far as entertainment, Doyle set up a croquet set in his yard and we had bocce ball. He also downloaded some jazz-age music in case anyone knew the Charleston (no one did). But most of the enjoyment came from wearing awesome costumes, exclaiming over other people's awesome costumes, quoting lines from the book to the people who hadn't read it, and just enjoying the company in general.

I hope Doyle makes this party an annual event, because I will be watching for the longest day of the year from now on and I'll be very sad if I miss it now that I know how fun it can be!

Me and Amanda

Amanda, Kevin, Noe, me