spike it

When it comes to ice cream floats, two options come to mind: root beer or Coke. I never thought there was more to the float world.

Then, one quiet day, the folks of Tastings in New York told me about an entirely new float. These floats were a giant hit at their summer parties. They involved alcohol. Also fruit. The visionary creation? Prosecco floats!

Bon Appetit introduced Tastings to the light-alcoholic-fizziness-meets-strawberry-sorbato combo. And the drink is, I’ve decided, the perfect hot-day refresher. It's also such a pretty addition to a bridal or baby shower. And while Bon App’s homemade sorbato (sorbet-meets-gelato) sounds delicious and not-that-hard-to-make, my approach is especially low-tech.

Spiked Floats

Place 1-2 scoops of store-bought sorbet of your choice—Haagen-Dazs’ strawberry, raspberry and peach are all great. Fill glass with Prosecco or other sparkling wine; 7 Up also works for a teetotaler version. Add 3 or so raspberries or other pretty fruit. Serve.

And be forewarned: This opens up an entire world of spiked floats. After this, I was an unstoppable-spiked-float force. I created what I call a Southern Spritzer by adding the leftover peach sorbet to 7 Up and bourbon and am officially smitten with this drink. I’m now contemplating my next spiked float move….

question of the week: songs of summer

Seems like every summer there's a new batch of songs that get everyone singing and dancing at parties. And this summer has no shortage of catchy beats and quoted lyrics. 

Tell us what tunes you'll be rocking at your get-togethers this summer. (Unless, of course, you're so 2000 and late.)

twiigs.com

4th of july recipe roundup

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Fireworks, check. Charcoal briquettes, check. Sunscreen, check. You're ready for your big 4th of July party. Or are you? Do you have a that cocktail that everyone's going to be asking for more of? How about a summery dessert?

Never fear — we've gone back into our recipe vault to bring you some oldies but goodies to cap off your bash.

• Frozen whiskey sours: They're sweet and citrusy and the perfect cocktail to chill the masses while waiting for the sun to go down.
• Watermelon granita: This dessert takes the ultimate summertime fruit and freezes it into delicious icy goodness. We even tell you how to spike it for the grownups.
• Fruit dip: It doesn't get any easier than this creamy concoction. With ingredients you probably already have in your cabinets, you can whip it up and just add fruit.

a little layering

 

Sometimes you want your cocktail to say “America.” I know I do. So with July 4th on the horizon, I decided to create a red, white and blue striped beverage to toast our country. I figured learning to layer a drink would be easy enough.

I was wrong.

Not that I was unprepared. I did some research on layering drinks and discovered heavy liquids should go at the bottom, lighter ones at the top. So I decided to start with a grenadine syrup-based concoction; blue curacao would be my middle; and a light, white-ish Prosecco would top the whole thing off. The layers would be in the nontraditional red, blue and white order, but people would get the idea. Also discovered during my research: You should pour liquids over the back of a spoon to help them disperse.

get the scoop

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I love ice cream novelties. By which I mean, I will happily accept any frozen treat served on a stick, squished between two cookies or served in a small tub with a flat, wooden, totally unhelpful spoon.

I've also just realized that I'm a fan of novelties in the field of ice cream too. Here are three cool ones:

• Ice Cream Scoop & Stack — These cylinder-shaped scoops look extra fancy and make it far easier to stack on a cone. (Cuisipro)
• Power Scoop & Well — We all have our tricks for cutting through ice-cold ice cream, but this combo takes it to another level. The microwavable bowl heats up water and keeps it hot (unlike the traditional cup of water method), and the scoop has a pointed tip to dig into the hardest ice cream. (Prepara)
• Ice Cream Sandwich Molds — Wouldn't a good ice cream sandwich taste even better if it were shaped like a star or a heart? Sounds hard, but these molds seem to make it easy: First you use them to cut the cookie shapes, then you use the press to make the ice cream middle. (Tovolo)

chocolate fix, fixed

I have this horrible habit of attempting far more than is reasonable when I entertain. Lately, I’m trying to rein myself in.

I had a successful foray in restraint when I prepared an Easter dinner and decided to nix the homemade apricot custard tart I was planning in favor of a build-your-own-s’meeps station. The s’meeps were a hit (mainly for their sheer kookiness), and, quite frankly, a good lesson for me in successful-yet-totally feasible entertaining.

So when friends invited me over for dinner recently and gave me dessert duty, I decided to go interactive again. But this time with five-minute microwavable individual chocolate cakes.

First, I’ll give you the recipe—it’s from a forward my mother sent me that doesn’t list the original source of the recipe. (Sorry, Original Source Person—speak up if you’re out there!) Next, I’ll tell you how my friends and I fared on the project.

question of the week: potluck preferences

So you receive an Evite invitation, and you usually reply, "What should I bring?" Right? Potlucks are the default for many people, and for good reason: They're easier and more economical for hosts, guests are guaranteed to like at least one dish, and everybody gets to feel involved in the party. 

But let's be honest, sometimes potlucks can be a bit of a pain. As a host, you could end up with 5 mac and cheeses and nothing else (actually, that sounds like a pretty good party), or you could find yourself assigning dishes to each person...or having to endure some nasty, fun-reducing food-like concoctions. And as a guest, you have to figure out what to bring and find a way to transport it to the place you're going without it spoiling or spilling all over you. Good luck with that.

twiigs.com

party by numbers: engagement party

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Reader Holly wrote in to get ideas and suggestions for an engagement party she's throwing for her sister and brother-in-law-to-be. We thought a Party by Numbers post would be the perfect way to get her started.

Invitation: Pick one of the invitations in our Wedding / Engagement category. If you want to make it more personalized, you can change the main image to one of the couple. Just choose any invitation with a background or color scheme that you like, then click the "Upload New Main Image" button.

Here are some important details to keep in mind:

• Mention your relationship to the bride- and groom-to-be in the invitation. Traditionally, the parents of the bride throw the engagement party, but nowadays, anything goes.
• Etiquette suggests that only wedding guests should be invited to the engagement party. There are exceptions to this rule (like if the wedding will be family only or in a far-off locale), but it's a pretty good rule to stick to in almost all cases. Make sure to get a guest list directly from the couple and/or their parents.
• Giving gifts at engagement parties is strictly optional. Don't include where the couple is registered in the invitation — let guests who want to bring a gift ask you directly.

Food and Drink: Since toasts to the couple are the main event at an engagement party, you'll want to have plenty of bubbly on hand. This can mean champagne, but if you want to save a little, cava, prosecco or any sparkling wine will do.

Stick with serving finger foods instead of a full meal. It'll promote mingling between the families and among the guests.

Special Touches: Keep the couple of honor in mind for the party décor. Adding lots of photos to tabletops is always a good bet for sprucing things up. Also incorporate things that are specific to the couple. For example, I went to an engagement party where the couple had gotten engaged in Hawaii, so the hosts pulled in subtle tropical elements — hibiscus flower arrangements and background music from The Beach Boys and the Blue Hawaii soundtrack — without going overboard on a theme.

Want even more rules of engagement? Check out our engagement party guide.

popcorn roasting on an open fire...

We all know what happens when you mix graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows with an open fire. Answer: magic.

Attempt the same feat in your kitchen and you get something pretty great, but it's not the same. So, does the same hold true when you take popcorn out of the kitchen? With this Grill Popper from Nordic Ware and a campfire or outdoor grill, you can find out.

Bring it camping, tailgating, to the backyard grill. And that mesh lid? It becomes your serving bowl. Awesome!

Fun with pancakes

Have you noticed an increase in expensive kitchen gadgetry for kids, like bendy man spatulas and mouse measuring cups? The aim is to make cooking fun for children. Hello! Put away the credits cards and just do this: Clean an empty plastic ketchup bottle and fill it with pancake batter.

The opening is perfectly sized for making funny pancakes. Before the ketchup bottle discovery, the most I could do to impress my toddler was drop two blobs of batter into the skillet to make a lopsided snowman. Now I can spell names and create turtles, flowers, puppy dogs, caterpillars and bunny ears (well, that one looks more like the “peace sign” hand gesture, but whatever). The point is, the sky’s the limit, almost.

Here are a few tips:

• If you’re spelling a name in batter, write backwards so the pretty, golden brown side will be on top when you flip it.

• Since the batter expands, it's best to stick to shapes with rounded features, avoiding sharp angles and triangles. Sadly, that means no kitty ears.

• Use ¼ more mix than your recipe calls for. Otherwise the batter will be too thin to hold a shape.

• To fill a standard 24-ounce ketchup bottle, use about 3 cups of batter.

• Add a tablespoon a flaxseeds for a tasty health boost. Flaxseeds are a great source of Omega-3s, but they also add a mild nutty flavor to pancakes.