Quick and Easy Dinner Party Plan

Is there another date on the calendar more appropriate for a party than New Year’s Eve?  

After kicking around the “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” question to a couple friends, we decided – “Come to our house!”  It wasn’t until December 30 that we knew if anyone was actually coming over, so now a party had to be planned, STAT!  Lucky for me, I had just visited my hair salon and had read PEOPLE magazine’s Holiday Guide, where I read a perfect (and easy!) party plan proposed by my friend, Brian Worley of Your BASH! Event Production.

Brian’s concept was fun and easy – Pizza Party (with a twist): order a simple (uncut) cheese pizza (or six) from your favorite local pizzeria and have it delivered as guests begin to arrive.  Cut the pizza into strips and provide various dips and sauces for a variety of flavors!

Now, it turns out, our favorite pizzeria is our own house: my hubby makes a great pizza using rosemary herb focaccia dough from Fresh & Easy Market.  Doug rolled out the dough, brushed it with olive oil and sprinkled grated Parmesan.  Baked at 400 degrees for 8 minutes and we had herbed bread strips!  We supplemented the three recipes Brian provided with a couple tapenades, but the hit dip was the Roasted Red Pepper & Sour Cream! (check out the party plan and recipes on Brian’s blog!)

Being New Year’s Eve, I opted to save the Sangria recipe for a summer event and instead, stocked up on some inexpensive Brut sparkling wine and created a Champagne Cocktail Bar: simply pour 1 oz of liqueur into a champagne flute and top with bubbly.  At the bar, we had Chambord, Grand Marnier, Amaretto, Galliano, Pear liqueur, and St. Germain – a variety of flavors for any palate!

So we rang in 2012 with good friends, yummy comfort food and delicious bubbly cocktails – I would say, we are off to a good start!!

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

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