Although I love having friends and family over to visit, I am the world's laziest hostess. Whilst I love fancy meals and admire anyone who has the brainpower to work out meal timings (Mark) and delicious recipes, I am not one of them. If we ever have people over, I tend to go with my tried-and-tested combination of pizzas, homemade bread, lots of nibbly snacks and plenty of booze. It's not fancy but it sure is fun!
This bread is always the pièce de résistance of any social gatherings that we have. I sometimes use a packet mix of Parmesan and sundried tomato but if I am feeling more adventurous I use our bread-maker to mix up a dough using 1 tsp of yeast, 14 oz of strong white flour, 15 g of butter, 1 tbsp of milk powder, 1 tbsp pf sugar, 1 tsp of salt and 280 ml of water. I sometimes add garlic or rosemary but tomato and cheese really is the best combination! Once it has made a dough (45 minutes) I knead the mixture and add it to a tray in roll shapes and bake for 15 minutes. These quantities can make a loaf or a 'tear and share' bread but the latter is better if you have a group of people over. I really love our bread-maker and the fact that you can have fresh bread within an hour never fails to cheer me up!
The contents of our alcohol cabinet taking up a good portion of the table (ahem). We usually just buy lots of crisps, a big bag of salad and cook some new potatoes to keep everyone nice and full- no-one has complained of being hungry yet!
When I was offered the opportunity to review 'The Lazy Hostess'- Babe Scott's new book, I was intrigued. It promises to cover everything from drinks, to food and even inspiration for your outfit. (I wore a snazzy jumper and jeans combo for this meet up!) Although I cringed at some of the phrases used to describe the book (putting the 'ho' into 'hostess' being the main one) I actually really like it. The book is filled with fun quotes and easy to follow cocktail recipes (always key for me as I never know what to make/buy!)
In the name of science (!) Sophie and I decided to try and make the sinister sounding 'Mafia's Kiss' which had only 3 ingredients. I am a massive fan of Amaretto and cranberry juice so anything that manages to combine these two ingredients will definitely get my seal of approval!
I would guess that the majority of people would have at least 1 out of the three ingredients required for this cocktail so it is ideal if you need to make something at short notice that still looks and tastes fancy. Thank goodness for Mark who managed to take a photo of this before we drank the entire jug and spent the rest of the evening giggling our way through Tangled and Dirty Dancing! I particularly like the fact that the book gives quantities for both individual drinks and pitchers, it definitely helps to be able to scale your quantities up or down!
Use equal parts of vodka and amaretto and then top up with cranberry juice for a truly delicious cocktail! (I am writing this at work and can't remember the exact quantities the recipe says to use but I will update this when I get home...)
This book would be the perfect gift for someone heading off to uni or just moving into their own house- it is fun but still comprehensive enough to ensure that your party goes with a bang!
What is your signature cocktail?
P.S. This book was sent to me for review
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13 comments
That bread looks sooo tasty! I should definitely start thinking of investing in a bread maker! The book sounds like a great addition to my shelves too!
Really loving your blog, will follow right away!
http://itsnel.blogspot.co.uk
ooh that bread looks good. Lidl have great bread and cake mixes where you just add oil or water, so easy but looks like you did it all from scratch ;) xx
Wow, so impressed by the bread! I wish I could be one of your guests haha. I'm suddenly starving.
Tara x
oooo i cant wait to host small dinner parties when we move into our own place. this book looks great xxx
ps thank you for your kind words. things are much better
That bread looks so good! And I love amaretto and cranberry, definitely need to try it with vodka in too. x
such a sweet post - i love hosting dinner parties xx
Oooft that looks like the perfect party! I'm liking the look of your alcohol drawer contents though ;) <3 Claire @ Jazzpad
very cute!! :">
xoxo,
rae
http://raellarina.blogspot.com/
Sounds a fun night, and that cocktail sounds yum.
Good work on the bread!
x
This bread looks amazing!
x
Your bread looks AMAZING! I've been making bread lately and I love the fresh bread that comes back at me, I forayed into foccacia this weekend which was fun.
I reckon the best way to host is to prep in advance. I cook/prep as much as possible so it just needs heating/leaving in the office/dumping on plates. I also seriously rate your approach. In my opinion, sociable food is the best thing for friendly gatherings.
yummy yum yum! It still looks like a great spread! I love hosting things like this but it gets so expensive, doesn't it! x
Thanks for having me Mia! The bread was lovely; tried and tested and well... I must have eaten at least half of the loaf!
I may have to borrow the cocktail book... my version of home-made punch tasted nice but looked so unappetizing! Good thing we were a tad tipsy to care hey Mia?
Sophie xxx
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