My fixation for cocktail parties is either an obsessive interest in creating bite size marvels, an excuse to create fabulous cocktails or better yet a reason to get friends around to drink and eat for no particular occasion. So for the next couple of weeks I will post recipes for different cocktails and some delicious cocktail food.
The Cocktail Hour
Why don’t we simply enjoy the ‘cocktail hour’ anymore? To me it should not strike in mind half priced drinks, but should more enjoyably signal the end of the working day. The notion of drinking and socializing at a relaxed pace and the fact that you are simply spending time catching up with friends seems some how lost today.
The Italians however, do seem to know what they are doing. Stuzzichini literally ‘taste-teasers’, for example are bite size nibbles that automatically come, free of charge, with your drink in different parts of Italy. These bite size teasers are perfect. For me food and drink should go hand in hand, especially after a hard days work what better way to start to relax. This culinary tradition just shows how little effort needs to be done to contribute to good living.
So while eating and drinking can be a relaxed effortless way to enjoy the end of the day with friends, the cocktail party can bring people together in a more fun atmosphere - Even if for no reason except good conversation. Not to mention, it gives every girl the reason to pull out that little black dress.
Think Breakfast at Tiffanies… Okay so maybe Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn’s’ character) is a little more extravagant than most, but the incentive is still there.
With the colder, wetter months ahead of us, heading out to catch up with friends somehow doesn’t seem to entice me as much. Instead I feel this winter I will be bringing back the vogue of the cocktail party, or just simply relaxing with friends over a simple drink and delicious nibbles of food.
