Cocktail Party

This weekend we had a little cocktail party at our new house. It was an opportunity for our friends to see our house, and a chance for us to ask them their opinions on improvements we should make to the place. The current debate is whether or not the wood wall separating the kitchen and dining room should come down. We want to keep the integrity of the house, although more cabinet space under an island would be so nice.

I love entertaining. Cooking for my family and cooking for others make me happy. I can’t sing, I can’t draw, but I sure can whip up a mean dinner. I like cooking because it is one “creative” thing that I do well. When Alex suggest we throw a little party I was incredibly excited, and the menu planning began immediately. Even though a handful of our guests were unable to attend, I still made too much food. Which meant that I haven’t had to cook much this week (I made vegetable cheese soup with the leftover relish tray and cheese platter). We ate the leftover appetizers for both lunch and dinner on Sunday.

For some reason I did not take any photos of the table full of food or any during the party. Instead I spent my time hovering, making sure we weren’t going to run out of crackers or carrots. Which was silly because we had plenty of both.  I do have a few photos of some of the food I made and over the next few days I will share those recipes with you.

Our house was built in 1962 and the 1960s became our inspiration for some of the food and drinks we served. Alex poured Tom Collins, vodka gimlets, and White Russians and I made a cheeseball, Swedish meatballs, and fondue (just to name a few). I wasn’t around in the 1960s so I did a little googling and found out that a cheeseball was a common appetizer served during that era.

CHEESEBALL
8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used fat free cream cheese)
8 oz block sharp cheddar cheese, room temperature
1 c dates, pitted and chopped up
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c chopped walnuts

It is VERY important your cheeses are soft in order for them to combine. Throw everything besides the walnuts into the food processor. Turn it on, and let it spin until the cheeses and dates have combined.

Scrape cheese out on to some Saran wrap. Using the Saran wrap, press the cheese together to form a ball. Place Saran wrapped cheeseball into a bowl and refrigerate until hardened (I did my overnight).

Place chopped walnuts in a round cake pan or shallow dish. Take the cheeseball out of the fridge and remove the Saran wrap. Roll cheeseball in the walnuts until the outside is covered. Serve with crackers or thinly sliced baguette. ENJOY!