Here is a great little article by Kathy Hester about throwing a spring cocktail party!  Let me know if you have any planned! 🙂

It doesn’t matter what day of the work week it is, it seems I am always looking forward to Friday. Once the weather turns nice, I have a little cocktail party every Friday on my deck. All that’s required of you is a pitcher or two of your cocktail of the night and some light nibbles.

A cocktail party doesn’t have to be a fancy affair, but you have to have a good cocktail. I grow alot of herbs in pots and they are really taking off. If you aren’t growing any mint, you can pick some up in the produce section of your local grocery. You may even be able to root the leftovers and plant them.

So this week I’ll be making something with fresh mint in it. Mojitos are always good and you can add some pureed blackberries to give it a twist. Another nice drink is orange liquor mixed with lemon juice and muddled mint. It’s easy to pre-make a few pitchers when you get home from work and then you’re done for the evening.

I like to make simple flat bread pizzas. They cook in about 10 minutes and take very little time to prepare. My current favorite is a goat cheese base with roasted asparagus and oyster mushrooms on top, but even a plain Jane red sauce with shredded mozzarella goes over just fine. You can pre-make a few of these and cook them a few at a time in the oven or on the grill. Cut them in small pieces and arrange on sengWare square dinnerware. I love the colors that their mix and match dinnerware add to the table.

You can’t go wrong with homemade hummus either. The newest variation I’ve been making has walnuts in it instead of tahini. You just toast them slightly in the oven and blend them in with everything and a dash of chipolte powder. Any bean puree works great if you don’t have chickpeas. All you need are some cut up veggies, pita chips or bread.

If you start having them every week, your friends will volunteer to bring over the food. Then all you’ll have to do is clean up and think of a new drink every week.