After a rich menu of
caviar toasts and creamy potato-leek soup, serve guests a classic dessert like shortcakes. In this recipe the beloved cake stack gets a Winter makeover. Fresh strawberries are replaced with roasted pears.
Instead of hosting a crazy party on New Year's Eve, invite friends and family over for a decadent lunch on Jan. 1. Begin the soirée in the early afternoon (around 2:30) to allow late-night partygoers plenty of time to recover.
Rugelach is a traditional Jewish pastry made with a cream cheese dough. It's the perfect sweet finish to a
latke happy hour Hanukkah party. The entire menu is finger food including the dessert!
This year instead of hosting a formal
Hanukkah dinner, invite friends over for a festive happy hour. Serve guests a selection of vegetable latkes with a buffet of traditional toppings like applesauce, sour cream, and smoked salmon.
Classic potato latkes are delicious alongside cauliflower curry latkes.
Create an icy cool look for an
Italian Christmas Eve by using silver, clear, and diamond accents.
Cover the table with a damask, sage green tablecloth. Set your nice china on silver chargers.
For an
Italian-style seafood dinner on Christmas Eve, plan on pouring Italian wines and an Italian cocktail called sgroppino. This icy concoction is made with vodka, Prosecco, and lemon sorbet. The recipe serves 2, but it's easily alterable to make a large batch.
The holidays are the perfect time to go all out and make a show-stopping, elaborate dessert. The classic Christmas ingredient,
eggnog, gets an Italian makeover in this stunning tiramisu eggnog trifle recipe.
Since it's like three desserts in one, you'll need to start making this dish at least one day in advance.
On Christmas Eve it's customary for Italians to consume seafood for dinner; they enjoy course after course of rich fish items. Although my family has Irish origins, I thought it would be fun to plan an Italian-style Christmas Eve — this year we'll be eating seven delicious seafood dishes. To get the party started we'll have raw oysters and cold, marinated anchovies waiting for the guests.
With lights, ornaments, and the tree, Christmas is a busy holiday in terms of decorations, but if you let the tree be your focal point, it's easy to create a clean look for
any holiday cocktail party. Set a red table runner down the middle of a banquette. Place
the appetizers on large gold chargers and arrange on the runner.
The holidays are a great time to break out the old punch bowl. I'll be dusting off mine Friday for
a tree-trimming party and filling it with this sparkling pomegranate punch. Made with
Prosecco and no hard alcohol, this red-hued concoction is a sublime blend of pomegranate juice, fresh squeezed orange juice, and limeade.
