Although this post is long overdue from the actual happening, the content is still relevant both from an entertaining standpoint and an emotional one. From previous posts you may recall that our neighborhood is full of wonderful people. So much so that we would gather throughout the year at each other’s home to just hang out. So, it was a bittersweet gathering a couple years back when our close neighbors decided to move back to their homeland of Germany. Although a much larger party was thrown for their farewell, JuanCarlos and I decided to host a more intimate Garden Cocktail Party with our core group. Not wanting to spend time in the kitchen we focused on offering food items that we could make ahead enabling us to just enjoy our time with the whole group one last time.

There were speeches and tears but as always a good time with people who have lived closed by for a long time. Sad as it was, (note the heart on the cake I made had icing dripping down like teardrops in the photo below), it was great to come together and celebrate a big, bold move.

Mara, with her husband Andre tearing up a bit about the yin and yang of moving away.

As I always say, you don’t need a special occasion to throw a party. You just need friends. And that is really what it is all about. Sharing good food, good laughs with people worth your time.

Andre, Vinny and Juancarlos pondering, not what to eat but how we will all feel after their big move. It takes courage.

Here is the menu, and ideas for you to throw a garden style cocktail party. Nibbles of food that not only can you make ahead but also fill up your guests enough that you don’t need a main course and will also help absorb any alcohol intake. Click the links below for more recipe details.

Cheese/Charcuterie Platters

You simply can never go wrong with offering a **Cheese/Charcuterie Platter**: Grapes, **Manchego**, **Dry Cured Chorizo**, Mortadella, Cucumber, **Onion Jam**, Majorero Pimenton

And when something works, double it up. Especially when you have a long table, it’s a good idea to have 2 platters at each end of the table.

Grilled Sausage with Caramelized Onions

Simply grill sausage and slice on the diagonal. Caramelize onions by slowing cooking them in oil and butter until softened and sweet. This could take anywhere from 45 min to 1.5 hrs but can easily be made ahead.

Tortilla Española with crostini

Hearty, crowd pleaser - **Tortilla Española** served with crostini and sliced cucumbers

Pearl Couscous with zucchini

Pearl couscous is heartier than grain couscous and holds up to chunky veggies like sautéd zucchini. Small glasses for individual serving makes it easier to eat. *Note, glasses are turned upside down so no insets, or flying debris gets inside.
How To: Simply cook the pearl couscous in water (1:1.5 cup ratio) for 10-12 minutes. Meanwhile, cut yellow onion and zucchini in small cubes. Sauté onion first until softened, add salt, pepper then zucchini. Sauté until soft but not mushy. Once couscous is done, add it to the zucchini and stir until nicely combined. You can add feta and basil to finish.

3 Bean Salad

Triple Chocolate Cake with Buttercream

I used my favorite recipe from Sally’s Baking for the **Triple Chocolate Cake**. I made this one gluten free and only one layer.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, life is meant to be shared spending time with people you care about enjoying food made and served with love.

Our Miami crew. How we love sharing time with them.

This has been a difficult year. And it’s certainly not over. Although statistics are improving, we are still grappling with the pandemic and its multitude of ripple effects on our lives. From the obvious life and death fears to struggling to stay employed to figuring out how to juggle Zoom calls with toddlers, it has been challenging. (Newsflash: I don’t have toddlers but can only imagine.)

There are so many issues relating to how our lives have been affected, but the one that seems to really hit most people at their emotional core is the isolation. The inability to freely move about and spend time with the ones we love. I know this has rocked me at my center. I miss hugging people. For those you know me, to say that I am a touchy, feely person is an understatement. Hey, not in a groping way, in a caring way. ( Alright, maybe I do want to see how big your biceps are.) It’s a known fact that human touch has healing qualities. Which highlights how counterintuitive it is to try to heal people through a pandemic without that essential restorative, mentally medicinal element. Ironic and heartbreaking, really. But I digress, or should I say wandered off the road a bit.

I miss people. I miss my family and friends, (or as we like to call them, framily) and the joy of sharing a meal and good time with them. JuanCarlos has joked about how much free time we now have during the weekends, since in his mind we used to spend every one of them hosting parties. Not true, and an over exaggeration . But true, entertaining is in my DNA. From as early as junior high and high school I can remember wanting to invite my friends over for a meal or to play games and enjoy snacks. I preferred it over going to a stale beer smelling bar, filled with billows of smoke, raucous noise and tons of other people with whom I didn’t care to share my time. What a nerd. That that nerd would grow up to enjoy entertaining as a later career shouldn’t come as such a surprise. But here we are, without the ability to do just that. Yet, as we learned from last post, I still found a way.

In all honesty, I’ve been struggling about which posts to launch since so many of them feature groups sharing food. To post them feels either disingenuous or taunting. I don’t want to be either. But as I rummaged through photos, rather than feeling sad and longing, I instead felt hope and anticipation. So, I’m posting this to put out the positive energy that this kind of gathering can resume soon. With that wish at hand, it seemed appropriate to provide some options for make ahead appetizer ideas for your future event. And so, lifting myself up by my house slippers, I’m sharing a moment when we gathered for a few nibbles with our dear friends in our Miami apartment. These handful of simple appetizers might be the perfect strategy to ease our way back into entertaining after a long reprieve.

Sometimes the best way to enjoy one another’s company is to make the food portion as easy and carefree as possible. Serving appetizers that can be enjoyed cold or room temperature allows the host(s) to remain with the party and not in the kitchen. Pre-made and/or ready to assembly right before guests arrive is the ideal way to have everything finished, and allow the fun and conversation from being interrupted. You know I love putting out a big spread. Whether it be a multi-course meal or tapas style, I’m known for my abundance. But there is a beauty to simplicity.
And that was the focus of this gathering several years back.

And don’t forget the drink. It’s also important to have a partner that does their part in hosting. JuanCarlos is always at the ready serving up beverages. P.S. also one of my favorite shirts. It’s a party wrapped around a party!

Just because these were nibbles didn’t mean that it wasn’t substantial. On the contrary, it was filling and satisfying. Every one of these dishes were made ahead of time.

Cucumbers provide the cool and refreshing, grape tomatoes the sweet and the sardines bring the salt. An all in one bite.

Sardine Lettuce Wrap Skewers

Food that you can pick up and eat are perfect appetizers. Wraps fit that bill, so do skewers And this appetizer combines both.

Using a good quality Spanish sardine and some fresh, crisp veggies made this no cook appetizer fast to prepare and easy to enjoy. Spain is famous for its high quality conservas; fish in tins. One of my favorite brands is Cabo de Peñas. Simply skewer Persian cucumber* rounds, grape tomatoes. Then using romaine lettuce cut into 3” pieces, tuck a piece of the sardine in each creating a taco-like envelope to hold the sardine.

*Persian cucumbers are smaller and have less seeds and better for skewering. If you can’t find those, use English cucumbers and cut them smaller. If you can only find regular cucumbers, then scoop out the seeds, and cut them into small chunks.

Pulpo - Potato Skewers
Pulpo, Spanish for octopus, is one of those items that I always buy pre-cooked either in a tin or vacuumed sealed. Trust me, it’s delicious and SO much easier than cooking octopus. The Mediterranean countries are known for serving the most delicious octopus, so you can’t go wrong with any from Italy, Spain or Greece. I have two favorites: again , Cabo de Peñas in a tin and the vacuum sealed package from Don Bocarte*. (Even the famous NY Times writer Florence Fabricant agrees.)

To make, cut small new potatoes in half, boil until tender but not overdone or they will fall apart when trying to skewer them. Season with salt and pepper, then skewer them alternating between potato and octopus. Drizzle with good olive oil. It’s that simple.

*Please note that the Don Bocarte vacuum pack is only available at Despaña Soho store.

Light and crisp, the sweet shrimp and the creamy avocado complement one another against the slightly bitter endive.

Shrimp & Avocado Endive Boats

Grill or sauté shrimp that have been seasoned with salt and pepper. Let cool, then cut them into small pieces. Cut avocado into small cubes, toss with shrimp and then spoon both into endive leaves. Make a quick creamy topping by combining either greek yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche with finely chopped red onion and cucumber and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Although this salad has cooked veggies, it is served at room temp.

Room Temp Bean & Veg Salad

Sauté small cubed red/orange peppers, zucchini and summer squash with red onion in oil, salt and pepper. Make a quick vinaigrette of crushed garlic, lemon zest and juice, dried oregano and olive oil. Mix the sautéed vegetables together with chick peas, cannelini beans, and pour dressing over the entire mixture. Serve at room temperature. (Of course, this can also be served warm, but the point is to not have to be in the kitchen.)

3 Bean Salad with raw veggies. A slightly difference version offering a completely no cook option. — **3 Bean Salad with raw veggies.** A slightly difference version offering a completely no cook option.

For a completely no cook version: use raw red/yellow peppers, grape tomatoes and cucumbers plus black beans and toss with an herb dressing. Replace the dried oregano with fresh parsley, cilantro and mint.

Grilled Salmon

Cut salmon into 2” squares. Season with salt and pepper and using olive oil, sear in a cast iron pan. That’s all this needs, or maybe a squeeze of lemon right before serving. This can be made ahead, refrigerated and served either cold or room temp. The small cubes makes these much easier to eat and requires no utensils. Pick it and pop it in your mouth.

Is there anything better to please your guests than a platter full of dairy rich bites? I think not.

Cheese Platter
The ubiquitous cheese platter. It never gets old and it’s everyone’s favorite.

You know what to do here. Place a variety of cheeses on a platter and fill up and around with crackers, nuts, fruits and jams. Remember color blocking and keeping each element together to create focus and visual appeal. Too much scattering just creates visual clutter.

And just like that you have a hearty table of nibbles perfect for no kitchen distractions. I miss all my peeps and this post gave me hope and inspiration for the next time, hopefully soon, when we will all meet again, and be able to safely blow out candles on a cake.

Although this may seem like a similar shot, it’s important to include because we can see John’s face and it includes JuanCarlos.

WAY before the pandemic when no one thought twice about blowing onto to the top of a cake!

We miss our friends and we miss Miami. And we are counting the days until we can all do this again, safely and with tons of love and laughter.

To wrap up, here are a few visual reminders of the sunshine, sunsets and the pure glory of our second home, Miami, and a couple of other reasons why we miss it so much.

Our favorite spot on Miami Beach where we place our chairs and towels and hang for hours.

The view as we walk along the miles of Miami Beach boardwalk.

The stunning sunset from our apartment. You can see why we love to sit on our terrace and enjoy a cocktail.

Another one just because it’s so calming.