Last night, I had a Thanksgiving Cocktail Party using recipes and tips from my new Amy Sedaris book. It was a HUGE success, I think! Only one semi-minor meltdown in the kitchen (and one potential mess that was averted by the culinary talents of a dear friend), but otherwise everything went great and was SO yummy.
This was the food table. We served:
Amy's famous Lil Smoky Cheese Ball, Tattletail's Vanilla Cupcakes, Stuffed Mushrooms, Crab Balls, Deviled Eggs, Gina's Hot Nuts (Amy's name for them-- I don't know who Gina is), Sangria and Rum Punch Dazzler, and Seein' Peanuts.
These are Seein' Peanuts. Aren't they cute?? My boyfriend made them all while downing Sangria right before the party. He also made all the little signs for the table!
Everyone's favourite was probably the Cheese Ball. It was amazing! Everyone raved and I couldn't take any of the credit. But at least I knew then that I had followed the recipe correctly... This is one of Amy's specialies, and now we know why!
Amy's other specialty is her wonderful cupcake recipe. In the book, she says her cupcakes were voted second best in New York. I had never made cupcakes from anything but a box before these, and it was really different!! They are just so yummy, though!! They're not so sickeningly sweet, and the frosting doesn't have a weird plasticy consistency like the canned stuff. I guess I didn't know what I was missing before I ate these!! Looking at her book, it seems like Amy usually puts plastic picks in her cupcakes, like the wonderful ballerinas, but I couldn't find these when I hit the craft store the day before the party. I didn't have time to shop around, so I settled for some Sponge Bob sugar decorations. Those were still a big hit, even inspiring a few guests to sing the Sponge Bob theme song.
After a few helpings of food, and glasses of surprisingly strong Sangria, we played a team game of my brand new board game: Trival Pursuit 80s edition. The pop culture stuff came fairly easy, but the political and news questions gave us trouble-- understandable considering most of us were little kids in the 80s. All in all, I think it may have been the most successful party I've ever thrown! It was definitely the most satisfying for me. After everyone left, I actually just sat and enjoyed the feeling.
