Party in a Pinch

Shoes and Rainy or Snowy Weather

2012-01-17T09:45:00.001-08:00

You’ve invited 30 guests over for an indoor party and it has been snowing all day. You’ve just cleaned the carpets and mopped the floors. Wet snow covered floors (from guests shoes) not only look dirty, but they can be dangerous causing slip hazards. What can you do?

We had a party like that a week ago. One family that arrived had the foresight to bring slippers to change into after arriving. They brought the comfort of home with them. Great idea!

We have been to parties like this before where some guests take off their shoes and walk around in socks, but others keep their shoes on. It’s no fun to step in a cold wet puddle of melted snow from the linoleum or tile in your socks, brrrr.

If you can afford to, you can even buy slippers in bulk and offer them as a party favor.

Keeping Cold Foods Cold in the Summer Heat

2010-06-21T16:28:00.001-07:00

The good

The day of our graduation party was one of the hotter days of summer with very high humidity. We were fortunate to try out the inflatable salad bar my wife received as a birthday gift. What a great idea!

Just before the guests arrived we filled it with a few jumbo bags of ice and used it to keep the pasta salad, bottled water, ketchup, mustard, onions and cheddar cheese for the chili dogs cold.

The not as good

The food was served outside in our garage and we used steam pans to keep the chili, hot dogs, and pulled pork barbeque hot. The open flame from the sterno cans didn’t help keeping the garage at a comfortable temperature on that hot, humid day. We used a small fan to help keep air circulating, but in the future, I would consider using crock pots instead and having more than one fan running.

We had far too much beer left after the party which you will see came in handy at a friend’s party the following day.

Outdoor Summer Parties and Mosquitoes

2010-06-20T11:42:00.001-07:00

We attended a fairly large graduation party(estimated 600-800 guests) for four high school graduates. The party was well planned and executed considering a violent thunderstorm passed through half way through the party.

The party started at 6:00pm on a Friday evening. A police officer was directing traffic into a well marked grass parking area. A couple high schooler’s were directing the parking as you would experience at a rural summer or county fair. It removed any confusion from the parking process and left party-goers with a great first impression.

There was an ample supply of aerosol mosquito repellant located on tables throughout the outdoor area. Considering the balmy 86 degrees, high humidity, and close proximity to a heavily wooded area, mosquitoes could have proven to be a mass of unwelcome guests. The party planner’s attention to that detail was appreciated.

The party was a dry party (no alcohol), which was probably a smart decision considering the estimated number of attendees.

There were a lot of activities for the kids – basketball, “corn hole”, Frisbee, etc.

The main entree’s appeared to be catered with a few professionals doing the serving and refilling of the buffet. That took a substantial amount of burden off the parents so they could focus on the guests. If your party budget supports it, dedicated servers or helpers improve the party experience for everyone.

The party location had a large garage area with room for all the guests when the thunderstorm rolled though. The house was big enough to accommodate the group as well in the event of high winds or the threat of a tornado.

Highlights

Mosquito repellent
Catered with servers
Parking assistance
Large indoor and outdoor spaces

Summer Party Fun

2010-06-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the start of a long summer of parties beginning with Memorial Day - through a swarm of High School graduation parties, ending with a Fish Fry fresh from the clear waters of Canada.

We attended an annual Memorial Day party, two planned get togethers with friends, and one spontaneous get together following one of the other planned get togethers.

The Memorial Day party had three distinct nice to haves:

Kegerator which made it easy to refill satellite tables of socializing with one hand and minimal disruption via a pitcher.
A semi-professional photographer was capturing moments for posterity including a large group photo.
Someone thought to have a cheese platter and other nibbles for later in the evening - long after our lunch pig-out subsided

One of the planned get-togethers was after going out to eat with the same group at a local restaraunt. Prior to dinner our hosts had a fire in their fire pit that they let burn down. When we arrived, they simply dropped a few logs on the smoldering embers and it blazed right up into a nice campfire with no effort. I'm not sure if that was planned, but it was definately effective. I will add that to my list of deliberate preparation plans for an outdoor party.

Chorizo Quesadilla Cone Failure

2010-01-01T14:42:00.001-08:00

A story about three botched attempts at a hot appetizer using Chorizo (Mexican, not Spanish Chorizo – yes there is a difference).

Background

A long time ago at a Whirlpool training center in Brandywine Creek, Michigan, the five star chef served some kind of quesadilla in a fried cone. It was so delicious, I have been on a quest to create my own version. Before this year I had been making a version I call Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla Cones - which have a story of their own.

This year I wanted to try something different with Chorizo and Chihuahua cheese. The cones work best with small tortillas so the filling to shell ratio is acceptable. At the store, I just picked up the first pack of tortillas that looked small enough. When I got home and realized that I picked up corn tortillas instead of flour, I new I would be faced with some challenges on this appetizer.

Attempt 1

I rolled the half tortilla as I have done in the past (with the flour tortillas) and before I could secure with the toothpick, the tortillas tore in several places and fell apart. Cone failure. I needed a different process.

Attempt 2

Since corn tortillas are more brittle than flour, I thought…. I could flash heat them in a pan of hot Crisco to make them more pliable. It worked through the cone fabrication process. I baked the cone shells at 400 degrees for 13 minutes or so to set the shell so they could be filled without tearing. Unfortunately when they came out of the oven, they were torn near the toothpick leaving a big gaping opening in the side of almost half the cones. Cone failure. Time for a recipe change.

Attempt 3

I decided to make a hot dip instead of the cones. I happened to have seen a recipe that used all the same ingredients I planned to use in the cone filling. I mixed up the filling, which was little more than Chihuahua cheese, Chorizo sausage, and a mixture of sautéed red and green peppers, onion, garlic, and cayenne pepper. I put the dip in a third size disposable steam pan tray and popped it in the oven to get the cheese melting started. When I took the aluminum tray lid off to stir the mixture, the grease from the Chorizo had accumulated at the top of the dip. It didn’t look very appetizing, but it tasted awesome. I wouldn’t call this try a failure, because it tasted great, but it suffered from “judging a book by its cover” syndrome.

Recipe – Hawaiian Hot Dogs

2010-01-01T13:55:00.001-08:00

Ingredients

two packages hot dogs (thinnest you can find)
can crushed pineapple
barbeque sauce (We use Sweet Baby Ray’s)
1-2 pounds bacon depending on thickness (thinner is better)
toothpicks

Directions

We used to use the mini cocktail franks, but for the last two years we haven’t been able to find them anymore so we just use regular hot dogs now.

Cut the hot dogs into thirds to make really short hot dogs. Cut a slit lengthwise in the hot dog, taking care not to cut all the way through the hot dog. Fill the slit with drained crushed pineapple.

Cut the bacon in half. Wrap a half slice of bacon around the hot dog. Secure with a tooth pick. To make ahead, you can bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, turning once. After they cool, I remove the toothpick from each hot dog, the bacon will hold everything in place now. Refrigerate or freeze until before the event. The pre-baking step will cook off most of the bacon fat which will make cleanup the day of the event easier.

The day of the event you can pop these back in the oven until the bacon is cooked, slather with barbeque sauce and bake an additional 10-15 minutes.

Advantages

Kids and adults love them
they are a very robust appetizer – they can be in a hot steam pan for several hours and still taste great
They can be made ahead and heated before the party

Disadvantages

They are a little tedious and time consuming to make (by my standards), but did I mention they can be made ahead and frozen?

Disposable steam pan trays have hidden utility

2010-01-01T13:47:00.001-08:00

This was the first New Year’s Eve party where I used disposable aluminum trays in the steam pans. Everyone knows about how convenient they are for clean up, but I discovered another advantage after the party was over. Because the third size trays I used in my deep pans didn’t touch the bottom, the food wasn’t subjected to as much heat. The meatballs were still in good edible condition at 2:00 in the morning. At the end of the night in previous years, the meatballs were not so appetizing or some of the barbeque sauce or food might be burnt to the bottom of the stainless steel pans.

New Year’s Eve eve

2009-12-30T06:47:00.001-08:00

Yesterday afternoon I pre-cooked two batches of Hawaiian hot dogs. I mixed the filling for the spinach feta filo triangles (spanakopita), and made three kinds of flavored nuts:

cinnamon sugared pecans which will probably get mixed with a batch of almonds prepared the same way.
rosemary and red pepper flake coated mixed nuts
deviled mixed nuts – cumin, coriander, curry powder, paprika, black pepper

I ran a dry run forming cones from the corn tortilla’s I bought for the chorizo quesadilla cones, but they cracked and fell apart too easily. Tonight or tomorrow morning I will try softening the tortillas by heating in Crisco, rolling the cones, securing with a toothpick and pre-baking at 400 degrees before filling.

We also made another test batch of the Sangria. The first batch used a Gallo Burgundy. This batch we used a Cabernet Sauvignon and replaced the Orange juice with Pineapple juice. My wife liked the second batch better. I couldn’t really tell the difference.

Cleaning and preparation

Today we are mostly taking a day off from food prep to do the pre-party cleaning and preparation:

shampoo carpets
mop floors
clean cabinets with oil soap
clean my shot glass collection
move the furniture around to improve traffic flow and increase social gathering space
get all the steam pans out

T-minus 3 days ‘til New Year’s eve

2009-12-29T09:24:00.001-08:00

Preparation for New Year’s eve is in full swing now. We decided to serve Sangria this year. It is a new recipe for us, so we made a small test batch last night. It looks like a keeper.

Last night I also made up 3lbs of homemade meatballs tossed with barbeque sauce (Sweet Baby Ray’s) and popped in the freezer.

Today I hit the elliptical for 45 minutes in preparation for the bacon fest. I just finished another 3lbs of meatballs for the teriyaki sauce which will also go into the freezer.

I just cooked the Chorizo for the Chorizo quesadilla cones and shortly will prep the first batch of Hawaiian hot dogs.

Don’t Ignore the Kids

2009-12-05T11:30:00.001-08:00

If you are having a mostly adult party, but you expect some kids will tag along, please don’t forget to provide food and beverage selections that appeal to them. We were all kids once and many of us have memories of being dragged to people’s houses because the kid-sitter got sick at the last minute (or someone out bid our parents). Try to make them feel at home with juice boxes, kool-aid, or appropriate soda selections and some kid-friendly food.

Try to make an extra effort to make a plate for them upon arrival because some kid’s are shy, but would appreciate the extra effort you take. If you are trying to set an annual tradition, you have to be concerned with guest retention and growth every year. Kid’s that complain they hate going to your party because they don’t like pâté and water, will likely influence their parent’s decision to find something more family friendly to do next year.

Also try to provide fun options for them to occupy themselves like DVD’s, a Wii, or other Kid-friendly options. The more fun they have, the less likely they will be hanging on their parent’s leg making other guests uncomfortable. Mom and dad want to have fun too. If you don’t expect many children, let the parent’s know it is OK for them to bring their Nintendo DS or PSP; you won’t take it as an insult. Please make them feel at home.

Empty your trash

2009-10-20T20:43:00.001-07:00

Make sure to plan for your trash and recycling placement. Your recycling container has to look like the standard recycling containers or else it will have trash put in it. Every year we have put an 8.5” X 11” sign on the recycling container only to have it filled with trash.

Unless you want to empty the trash every hour, use a full 33 gallon trash bag, and make sure the container it is in has room to grow.

Estimated NYE Party Cost

2009-10-10T19:46:00.001-07:00

This post is a typical party cost estimate for a New Year’s Eve party for approximately 40 people (adults and children) based on my past parties. They typically consist of mostly hot appetizers and beverages using the following raw materials:

9 lbs bacon
2 lbs mini hot dogs
6 lbs ground beef
2 lbs cream cheese
1 lb chicken
5 lbs assorted cheeses: cheddar, Monterrey jack, mozzarella, Swiss, Feta cheese
lots of produce: multi-color peppers, green onions, yellow onions, spinach, artichokes
5 cases beer
several liters of wine
6 12-packs of assorted soda pop
5 cans sterno

I usually try to budget around $400-500 dollars for the party in total. Most of the appetizers are created from scratch. Purchasing pre-made frozen appetizers would affect the price estimate.

Meatballs are a robust appetizer

2009-10-10T19:30:00.001-07:00

Meatballs are a great make-ahead appetizer. There is no reason to stress over them. I generally make the meatballs a couple days in advance of the party. I just roll them, bake, and freeze. I put them in a Crockpot with either teriyaki or barbeque sauce about 30 minutes before the party. That is enough time to thaw them and get hot for the first guests. Homemade meatballs can handle being exposed to heat for extended periods and don’t taste mealy like the frozen pre-made meatballs from the freezer section.

Pre-bake appetizers using bacon

2009-10-10T19:24:00.001-07:00

Every New Year’s Eve I make a few items that are bacon-wrapped. I always try to make sure there are no dishes in the sink when the guests arrive. That is pretty difficult if you cook all day leading up to the party. To minimize cleanup with items that are bacon-wrapped, prebake the items 2/3 of the way the day or two before the party so you can get 80% of the grease drained off ahead of time. The day of the party, use parchment paper or aluminum foil on the pan so after baking you can just toss the paper which will not have an excessive amount of grease due to the pre-baking. It also makes it easier to re-use the baking sheet for cooking the next appetizer.

Plan for Last Minute Menu Changes

2009-10-06T16:53:00.001-07:00

The first couple years I hosted New Year’s Eve parties, I optimistically put more items on the menu than I had time to prepare. I realized that it was better to still plan and shop for a couple more items than I will probably make. Why?

I don’t stress out when I run out of time. No problem, that was my optional item.
If I start realizing I am running out of time, I can choose to swap an appetizer that takes more time for an easier item.
If I get a number of last minute RSVP’s, I don’t have to make a rush trip to the store for reinforcements. This happened one year because a last minute snow storm caused several travel plan cancellations, leaving locals without New Year plans.
It gives me something new to make the following day to go with the other “fresh” party leftovers I wrote about in the previous post.

If you want party leftovers, plan for a fresh encore appearance

2009-10-06T16:31:00.001-07:00

Want leftovers?!? Why would I want leftovers? For long buffet style parties, I like to make about 10-15 different appetizers for a party of about 30-45 attendees. Unless you have a super big appetite, it can be difficult to get an adequate sampling of the delicious hors d' oeuvres you slaved over for days. It didn’t take long to figure out that the leftovers that sat out on the buffet for 5-6 hours didn’t have the same curb appeal as the fresh ones.

I routinely hold back a small quantity of the assembled appetizers, pre-cooking, for serving the following day for family and/or any overnight guests or post-party visitors. It makes it easy for a nearly self-serve stress-free meal perfect for post-party winding down.

Forget to Put an Entree on the Buffet?

2009-10-05T16:14:00.001-07:00

From the very beginning of having buffet style serve-yourself parties, I found I needed to have a way to make sure I didn’t forget to put something out on the buffet. I started using a simple worksheet that listed the items to be served. I used it like a checklist. In several years it has evolved to a worksheet that included the following:

name of entree or appetizer
picture of the serving dish/warmer it would be served in
location it would be placed: dinner table, counter, bar, pub table, etc.
A mini checklist to indicate whether the ingredients were prepped/kitted, assembled, cooked (if required)
time I wanted to have each entree in the oven, crockpot, fryer, or stove, if cooking was required
name of cookbook and page number (or other description of where I could find the recipe)

It sounds more sophisticated than it really is. It could simply be a single sheet of paper (or small whiteboard) with a few sketches on it and some dashes/plus marks, and ticks or hashes next to each entree name. The important thing is creating a system that makes it easier for you to get all the tasks done without stressing. Having a worksheet available helps to make remaining tasks visible in case there is anyone around that might be interested in helping you like a spouse, child, friend, or relative. And makes sure you don’t have three dozen uncooked bacon wrapped dates left in the fridge after the party.

In the future, I will add electronic worksheets or software to this website to make planning effortless.

Overnight Guests the Night of the Big Shindig

2009-10-02T16:44:00.001-07:00

If your party is around holiday time, the relatives or good friends might want to attend and stay the night. With all the planning and preparation that goes into the party, don’t forget they will need to eat three squares a day (or at least two).

Plan their meals to be easy to prepare (ideally self service) and not interrupt your party prep. In other words, if you had planned to be using the oven to cook food for the party, make sure the guest meals don’t need to use the oven. Unless you have a commercial kitchen in your home, you have limited capacity to bake, boil, broil, and nuke. This is most applicable when you are prepping for an extended length party like a New Year’s Eve party where you might be preparing six or more types of hot food that you want to last the duration of the party (i.e. you are making a lot of food). Timing is everything.

Strive for Party Auto-pilot

2009-10-02T16:22:00.001-07:00

Your party should be a reward to yourself for a job well done. Try to get all your preparations and cooking completely done before your guests arrive, so you can enjoy every minute of the party with your guests, not working. This takes planning, but this website should be your guide to how to get that done effectively.

Nobody’s perfect, so try not to panic if you are still cooking after the party start time. Depending on the type of party, sometimes you have the “first guest arrival grace period”. Nobody wants to be the first one to arrive so sometimes you have an extra 20-40 minutes before anyone knocks at the door.

Inexpensive bar towels are your friend

2009-10-01T19:57:00.001-07:00

If you are preparing for a party where you are serving several appetizers for 30 to 40 people, I suggest going to your local big box store and purchasing a bulk pack of cotton bar towels. When I prepare for big parties, it takes a lot of prep work and if you are washing your hands frequently, like I do, you will be generating lots of wet hand towels. Minimize the stress and just use cheap bar towels. Your spouse will be happy you didn’t ask them to wash you more towels at the last minute. You should be able to get about 24 for less than $15. I easily go through 8 or more hand towels in a day of food prep. Additionally they can be bleached to get that dark red Chipotle Adobo sauce out of them.

It is also convenient for when someone at the party spills a glass of merlot on your leather recliner (yes, it happened) and you need something to soak it up quick.

Introduction to Steam Pans

2009-10-01T19:45:00.001-07:00

There are a few key kinds of steam pans. There are disposable and stainless steel reusable pans. They come in different sizes and shapes. The standard rectangle pans are the most versatile because they accept a wide range of sizes of pan inserts.

The above is one of mine with the included long pan insert. You can also purchase stainless steel inserts that are 1/3 width pans (3 per) or 1/2 width (2 per). They come in shallow and deep depths which add flexibility depending on what you are serving. For easier clean up, you can also just put the aluminum foil disposable pans in the long pan insert and throw away when the party is over. I almost always use 1/2 pans or 1/3 pans because it makes it easier to have a larger variety of hot appetizers.

The circle style is convenient for some items, but it isn’t as flexible because you can’t use different inserts.

The way the pan works is there is a large outer pan which you fill with some water. The inner pan is the one you put the food in. Below the outer pan is a spot where you put a heating source (sterno can or similar). The sterno heats the bottom of the outer pan, heating the water. The water then heats the inner pan. Theoretically the inner pan temperature doesn’t get higher than 212 degrees Fahrenheit (boiling water), so the food shouldn’t burn, but will remain hot for extended periods.

Steam pans are great for some foods and some events, but not ALL. I will elaborate in later articles.

Stuffed mushrooms - Not Safe for Steam Pan

2009-10-01T19:26:00.001-07:00

If you are having a long party (i.e. food will be out for an hour or longer), don’t put the stuffed mushrooms in a steam pan. They will be sitting in a half inch pond of water. Looks good for raising frogs, not so much for appetizing people.

Try an alternate recipe like mushroom pinwheels (I will update this post with a recipe, when I find it again) that are robust for long exposure to the heat, or just put the mushrooms on a platter.

No Stilton Cheese! I mean it.

2009-10-01T16:54:00.001-07:00

The American Dairy Association probably won’t appreciate this tip, but I am serious… NO Stilton cheese recipes are allowed. There are more than enough other tasty cheese recipes to keep your local dairy farmer in business. In my opinion, it is highly unlikely you will invite more than one person that can handle the strong taste of Stilton (unless maybe you are having a stuffed sinus party). It is like blue cheese, but about a gagillion times stronger.

I like to try a new recipe or two at every party. 2007 was no different. I made a Stilton Croquette which basically consisted of Stilton crumbled into mashed potatoes, rolled in breadcrumbs, and fried. It looked delicious on in the full color cookbook photo. It looked equally delicious in real life. But BLUCK - it tasted awful! It smelled terrible, and I think the neighbor’s dog even ran away for a few days when he caught a whiff.