This past weekend, my Fiancee and I threw a oh-so-hip cocktail party. It was a rousing success (if you went and disagree, please comment) but that doesn't mean it was without some areas that could use improvement. So, Sarina and I are determined to be the "us" in imprusvement. It is in my nature to find the "errors" and fix them, to make the next swaray (and there will be a next swaray) even better!
1. Don't get so much booze. We have a tremendous amount of sauce left - not so much beer, but lots of hard stuff. It isn't like it has a shelf life, but I got a little carried away at the packy. On the upside, I've already done the shopping for the next two or three parties!
2. Make sure what you, yourself, are going to drink is top shelf. I pinched pennies on the gin of the night, and was rewarded with waking up feeling like hammered shit. I did hear the Ciroc vodka was fantastic though - so those folks didn't have a skull-splitting headache at 9:30 AM.
3. Pitcher drinks are your friend! I made a pitcher of mojitos and it flew right out of that pitcher with limited work for me. Although the first batch was wicked strong, I stand by the idea. For next time vodka gimlets, cosmos, and mojitos will all be in pitchers so people can shake, pour, and drink. Next time there will be ice, shakers, and glasses in front of 3 pitchers and a laminated sheet of directions. Not that I don't like making drinks, but I would have liked to chat it up more.
4. More food! I thought we had a lot of food, but I was wrong. I went over to grab some for myself and people had taken out most of the savory dishes. We may have had a lot of sweets, but my Fiancee's awesome summer rolls were gone in a heartbeat. So next time more savory finger foods, and definitely more cheese from Formaggio Kitchen. http://http://www.formaggiokitchen.com/
5. Make sure all the food is pleasing to the eye. I made eggplant caviar (like babaganoush), for a dip - due to the roasting process it comes out in a not-so-appetizing brown color. Also, the recipe called for lots of garlic and onions (raw) and it was rather aggressive in it's smell. On a crostini, it tasted really great, but it was a hard sell. In turn, this wasn't very popular.
6. Stupidly, I didn't get little paper plates - so we ran right out of plates pretty fast. Thank God for the "Rinse Only" cycle on the dishwasher.
7. Shrimp cocktail is a no-brainer. Make more of this next time.
8. Task someone with gathering glasses to be washed yet again. Because we ran out of non-martini glasses, I ended up pulling out some red Solo cups. Plain awesome.
9. More than one trash. The kitchen/bar ended up being a popular spot, so the trash was hard to get to. If we had another one by the food, it would have been easier for everyone.
10. Have some non-alcholic soft drinks. We didn't have soda, or sprite, or coke. That was a mistake, especially since it is so cheap. I had some soda water, but that went into the mojitos! I just don't think of soft drinks at a cocktail part. That is an easy fix though!
2 comments:
My good sir:
Although one and various casual observers would report that I appeared to have had a pleasantly droll time at your recent cocktail function (it being that my countenance was constantly adorned with a merry grin, and nary wore a grimace), there were several serious flaws in its (or, if you will, it's) planning and execution:
1. At no point did a rogue gang of flying rocket-ninjas burst through the living room window and torch random party guests with improvised flame-throwers (a la Snakes on a Plane).
2. I did not find an iPod Nano in any of the chocolate-covered strawberries.
3. At no point were any of us able to summon Ba'al to smite our enemies.
4. I was disappointed to discover that absolutely nothing in your apartment violates Euclidian spatial relationships.
5. Although you and your Fiancee went to great lengths to provide your humble guests with an exquisite assortment of food and beverage, none of the provided food items were self-regenerative. (Helloooo, how hard is it to find a vial of monosodium regenerativate at your local Whole Foods?!)
In conclusion, I'd like to point out that I've clearly abandoned the faux-Dickens voice that I used to begin this comment.
I'm working on the non-Euclidian shower as we speak.
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