Heavenly Hosting

Cheese Crescent Rolls

When hosting a basic party, I find that the brownies/cookie route quickly gets old. From my experience, it is better to have a variety of food styles for a party... especially in today's health-conscious society. My lovely wife invented (or at least thought up herself) a great easy-to-make finger food that goes well with most spreads. For lack of a better term, we will call these the cheese crescent rolls. To make these wonderful smile-makers you will need nothing more than 2-3 kinds of block cheese and some crescent roll dough. The dough can be purchased at pretty much any major grocery store and usually comes in a tube form that you pop open with pre-cut dough for 10-12 rolls. Cut the triangle rolls into 3-4 smaller triangles and place a dice-sized cube of cheese in the center. Then you take the edges of the triangles and seal the cheese inside. Bake until the outside is a golden brown (some may open a bit, but that is ok). To serve: have several types of dip for the guests to choose from. Jelly is actually a great dip for these, in addition to wasabi-style mustard or peppercorn ranch*.

*my personal peppercorn ranch is made by combining a thicker style ranch with parmesan cheese crumbles and powdered peppercorn. Mix to taste preference.

Fall Drinks

Every autumn the air turns brisk and the leaves turn to various shades of red, yellow, and orange. After a day of being outside, or even a short walk from the car to the house, you may crave a warm-me-up drink. Look no further than the "adult" version of the age-old hot apple cider. There are two variations to this timeless drink. Peach cider requires two parts cider to one part peach schnapps. Add cinnamon sticks and a couple slices of orange to the mix and heat until hot. The longer you cook it, the more of the alcoholic content evaporates out (leaving the peach taste behind). Caramel apple cider is very similar to the first with two parts cider to one part butterscotch schnapps. Add the cinnamon sticks but forgo the orange slices and "Voilà!" you have another amazing drink. If you are in a rush and don't have time to let the drink simmer for 30 minutes or so, add some powdered cinnamon to expediate the process. Bottom line: Your guests will love you and you didn't even have to spend all day slaving over it.

Easy Spread

When hosting a party there is always the concern of having food for the guests, but if you are like me you don't want to have to clean lots of dishes afterwards. Worry no more. I have developed a quick and easy way to have gourmet style food with next to no clean-up. For the first course when the guests arrive I suggest doing some sort of a dipping bread. Most large grocery stores have a bakery where you can purchase various styles of bread. I suggest using something like a jalapeno cheese bread or an asiago cheese loaf. This bread is usually a little more dense and tends to be thicker than something like French loaf. Once you have this loaf, put it in the refrigerator for about 3 hours. This will cause the bread to become a little more rigid and thus easier to slice. Then slice the bread into cubes close to the size of a photography film container. Once cubed, you can store these pieces back in the bag until time to use them. When you are ready to eat, take the cubes out and put them in a bakeware pan and put into a 400 degree oven. 3 minutes later the outside of the cubes should be slightly toasted and the inside warm. Then just take the tray out and serve with olive dipping oil and spices... A guaranteed hit.

Then, for the next course I recommend cutting up several steaks (filet mignon works the best) into similar shaped cubes. Then, you can grill the steaks outside or sauté them inside on the stove-top (I recommend marinating the steaks for 30 minutes prior to cooking). These can be served up with toothpicks and sauces for dipping. Finally, the only thing left is toothpick clean-up and the cooking pans. Bottom line: You'll thank me once you've tried it.

Setting the Tone

One of the key ingredients to any good party has to be the musical selection. Often, I feel that this aspect of the planning is overlooked or just thrown together at the last minute. Every party that I host has a preselected background track that is put together to create a specific ambiance. Over my years of hosting, I've come to realize that the auditory accessory can dictate the very way the evening progresses... similar to how various types of music can effect a consumer's buying habits in a retail environment. For example: if you are interested in attracting/keeping guests that are interested in conversation other than superficial chatter, a background track including the works of George Winston and Jim Brickman will do wonders. The light piano music bores or puts to sleep those that can't keep up meaty discussions and will leave the guests you desired. To slant the party in another direction, you could play Diana Krall or Jack Johnson. The bottom line is this: keep in mind what kind of a get-together you are planning and the kind of guests you want, then choose the music accordingly.