Prepare the Bar

If you didn't know me between the ages of five and eighteen, you may not know that my birthday was once a big deal. Most years we would have a fairly large party and would smoke some brisket overnight to serve as the main dish. I never really wondered about what they did to prepare the house for the onslaught of people other than clean and make brisket.

This week's farmer's market flowers: snapdragons!

Beware: snapdragons are poisonous--so if you have pets that routinely go where they shouldn't, don't get them! My mom trained Smokey to avoid counters and tables so this isn't a problem for our cat, but do be careful when keeping flowers in a house with pets. Also, did you know that if you click on the pictures, you can see larger/clearer versions of them? Well I am here to remind you that you can.

In a week, Mark and I are having a small group of friends over for a dinner party. It is our first time hosting a party of, um, any number of people in our apartment, and it is now our turn to "prepare the home" for a little fiesta. Over the past few weeks, we've been picking things up here and there that make us feel like we are ready. Part of our efforts involved fortifying our bar.

Inside the cabinet that holds our bar stuff

We started off with some port, gin (we keep Beefeater as a standard and Letherbee), vodka, rum (which doesn't really count because it's dark rum we use mostly for pineapple upside down cake), and Jack Rudy's tonic syrup. We could offer people gin and tonic, a vodka soda, vodka tonic, and port after a meal. We are making a mess of Tex-Mex food for the party, so we needed to add tequila and Cointreau. To round out the bar we also picked up some Campari and Midori. If we really wanted to finish it out we would have purchased some vermouth, sours, bitters, and an amber--but we settled on the above for now. One thing that people sometimes ignore when serving drinks are the glasses, but don't worry because I'll talk a little bit about those, too.

Gin and tonic ingredients with the glass we us

I prefer serving a gin and tonic in a rounded glass with a lightly-weighted bottom. Mark uses different glasses, but they are too heavy for me to use comfortably. The weight and shape of the glasses you choose often depends on personal preference, but with my tiny hands I find round, sturdy glasses feel the best. I haven't met anyone who prefers a square glass over a round or a featherweight to something with a little bit of heft to it, but maybe you are that person and you would be dissatisfied with our glass options. The tonic syrup is one of our favorites, but we haven't tried many others so take that recommendation with a grain of salt. We have, however, had our fair share of gin and Letherbee is my favorite. It is made locally and gets cloudy once it hits ice because of the way it is distilled, which makes for a beautiful drink that also happens to be smooth and flavorful. Doesn't get much better than that, right?

Basic margarita ingredients, plus Midori (a melon liqueur) and sans lime.

 We've only started testing margarita recipes this week so we have a good one for the party on Saturday. I like Midori, so we've been experimenting with putting that into the mix, but tequila, Cointreau, limes, and salt are really all you need. Mark and I love these glasses and just picked up a bunch more of them for the party. They are perfect for casual drinks like margaritas, and also work well around the house to hold q-tips, pens, and single blooms. They come in three sizes (the small ones are great for office items like push pins, staples, paper clips, and the like) and are a great value--perfect for when you are expecting a few people, but don't want to use disposable cups. Did I mention that they stack? Space. Savers.

Port

 Ah, and now we move toward the end of our meal with some port. I personally think that many restaurants serve port in the wrong glasses. Even some of the nicest restaurants we have been to bring out a lovely port in a teensy, tiny, narrow cordial glass that they have filled to the brim. Drinking port like this often feels like being assaulted by strong, raisiny alcohol. In my humble opinion port should be served in a small, short glass with a wide bowl and tapered rim. Served like this it gets to mellow out a little and you can actually smell it as you sip. I found these glasses at Crate and Barrel. The only downside to their size and shape is that you have to tip the glass quite far back to get to your drink, but the pros definitely outweigh this rather insignificant con.

And a quick note on breakfast and going to your local farmer's market:

To make delicious pancakes, add a teaspoon of vanilla, a few dashes of cinnamon, and fresh strawberries

On the left is an organic, store-bought strawberry and on the right is one from Mick Klug's farm that is sold at our local farmer's market. Know your food, know your farmers, and know what your farmers do to your food whenever you can.

Have a fabulous week and enjoy the holiday!