Jan
5

Gourmet fast food

by Sofia   -   in Cooking  Party planning

Here is a few photos from our New Years eve table as some of you requested. As I said on a previous blog entry we aimed for cocktail food but with some “gourmet fast food” in mind. It´s easy to upgrade these American comfort foods by adding some special touches to them like upgrade for a better cheddar for cheese burgers or add some gruyere to your mac´n cheese, sprinkle your fries with gourmet sea salt or smoked salt or maybe parmesan or add specific gourmet mayo to your sandwiches or burgers ( we used a chipotle mayo that gave it a nice kick). And when the food is served off a silver tray and with champagne the combination is fun and festive. I also bought some fabulous Bloody Mary mix and we made bloody mary shots served with lime wedges and teeny celery stalks. 

Dec
31

Happy New Year!!!

by Sofia   -   in Cooking  Party planning

Tänä iltana tähtisadetikun loisteessa suljen silmäni hetkeksi ja aion toivoa jokaiselle teistä aivan erityisen hyvää tulevaa vuotta! Ja itselleni myös!

Meille tulee illalla vieraita, joten vietämme city- uuttavuotta ensimmäistä kertaa vuosiin.  Lasissa on tänä iltana sampanjaa ja tarjolla perinteisiä Amerikkalaishenkisiä herkkuja cocktail palojen muodossa. Eli täytettyjä mini bageleitä, pikkuruisia juustohampurilaisia ja mini ranskiksia, annoskokoisia caesar-salaatteja, pieniä mac´n´cheese annoksia yms. ja myös makeita herkkuja pienessä koossa kuten mini kuppikakkuja, mini suklaahippukeksejä, mini mansikkapirtelöitä shottikoossa ja vähän muutakin. Tällaiset minihodarit, tacot yms. ovat tulleet aika usein vastaan Pinterestissä ja ajattelin, että ehkäpä on aika kokeilla itsekin valmistaa niitä. Hauskoja ideoita olivat mielestäni ainakin ihan mini kokoiset juustohampurilaiset joiden kanssa tajoiltiin muutama ranskalainen shottilasissa jonka pohjalla oli valmiina ketsuppia. Ei kuulosta kovin hienostuneelta, mutta täältä voit katsoa mitä tarkoitan. Ihan hauska kontrasti sampanjalle ja vähän samanlainen idea kuin Kaartin Hodari ja Hummeri-ravintolassa jossa fast food ja gourmet yhdistyvät.

What are you up to tonight? We have guests coming over so we are hosting a little city New Year´s eve party. Chilled bubbles of course but instead of fancy caviar or oysters we are serving bite sized American style “gourmet fast food” like miniature cheese burgers in pretzel buns with chipotle mayo, thin fries served in a shot glass with ketchup, mini smoked salmon bagels and individually sized caesar salads, tiny waffles with fried chicken bits and the ultimate American comfort food in miniature size… mac´n cheese. For dessert we have American classics in mini size too like small cup cakes, mini cinnamon buns with frosting, tiny chocolate chip cookies and strawberry milkshake shots ( I even happen to have teeny tiny straws!). I think it sounds fun and I like the mixture of champagne and fast food for a fun little soirée.

Have a great night and Happy New Year!!!

Lattemamma

Dec
3

My little star

by Sofia   -   in Party planning

What if I would like to make a lovely little party but don´t know how to cook and bake or don´t have any time for it?

I know a lot of people do not enjoy spending their time in the kitchen or have a partner to take care of the kids while they bake or the patience to involve the kids in the process ( I sometimes just throw them out if they start fighting over spatulas and who gets to lick the batter or frosting out of the bowl). It does not mean everyone would not love to throw a beautiful party for their babies. And it really does not have to. This time we threw a little “soirée” for Cotton Candy´s grandparents on her 5th birthday. No cooking and absolutely no baking. I must say it was a bit hard for me as I always have so many baking ideas to execute but I had decided to spend the whole day with the girls and just have everything made ready. There is definitely many ways to do it but this is what I decided on…

I decorated the room in a pretty simple manner, the kind of party decoration maybe more to my personal liking. Then I walked in to a new Italian deli just opened about a month or two ago that has the most amazing selection of cheeses and cold cuts. We decided on a cheese plate. I just added a few things to it like figs, jam and nuts. I read a little about wine and cheese matching and served wine accordingly. Red wine for the cheese and some Italian sweet sparkling with the desserts. When one is entertaining a small group it´s nice to be able to concentrate on quality over quantity. After the cheese and wine we had a simple panettone cake that are now readily available because of Christmas arriving soon. I sprinkled the cake with a bit of powdered sugar and added birthday candles. It was served with espressos and fragrant tea.