抖阴ap

DIRECTIONS

Pour the cherry-flavored syrup in a martini glass and place the cherry on top. Top with papaya or mango. Carefully pour the vodka over the fruit. Top with a bit of ice.

Makes 1 serving.

(Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens magazine, December 1999)

ARTICLE

CONCORD, N.H. – Forget pairing foods and wine. I need help matching up appetizers and cookies.

This will be our second year hosting a holiday cookie-swap party, a festive, if fattening, way to get together with friends while enjoying good food and drink without having to do all the heavy lifting in the kitchen.

The concept is pretty simple: Invite a dozen or so friends or couples, asking each to bring two to three dozen of their favorite holiday cookies (depending on the number of intended guests).

During the party, your guests can sample the various cookies. At the end they get to take home a few of each.

It’s simple, but it still benefits from a bit of planning. For example, be sure to ask guests to include in their R.S.V.P. the type of cookie they will bring. This will make it easier to avoid a dozen batches of chocolate chip cookies.

Also, we learned that left to their own devices, guests sometimes are too polite to assemble their own cookie assortments at the end of the evening. Thus were we left with dozens and dozens of cookies after last year’s gathering.

Our solution this year relies on pastry boxes we bought from a candy and baking supply shop. Now as guests arrive, we plan to set aside half their cookies right away and divide them among the boxes. As guests leave, we will hand them variety boxes ready-to-go.

And though I wasn’t organized enough to do it this year, I also like the idea of asking guests to send me their recipes ahead of time. Especially if the recipes are e-mailed, it’s quick work to arrange them into a booklet to send people home with.

So that’s the party plan. But back to my original problem – what to serve with all those cookies.

Obviously, the first rule must be – nothing sweet. And since this isn’t a sit-down party, everything should be finger-friendly.

Coming up with complementary foods can be tough since you don’t have control over a good chunk of the menu (and some guests likely won’t tell you until the last minute what they are bringing).

Start with drinks. Soda and wine are our party staples, but for this gathering we also like to offer guests a choice between two mixed cocktails. Last year our invitation offered guests the chance to vote between several options and we served the two most popular.

This year we’re being less democratic. To go well with everything, and help cut through the sugar rush, cocktails should be mildly sweet and acidic. Cranberry juice-based drinks are a nice choice, and have the benefit of being festively colored.

This year we’ve opted for a cranberry, tangerine and pomegranate Champagne punch and a cherry martini, the idea being that only the martini will require actual bartending once guests arrive.

For food, I wanted to keep it simple. The day of the party there will be little time for complex preparations, as we’ll likely be cleaning and baking last-minute additions (to round out the party, my wife and I usually each make several varieties of cookies).

Sticking with the color theme set by the drinks, we’ve decided on skewers of cherry tomatoes, tiny mozzarella balls and fresh basil, and mini sweet peppers stuffed with herbed goat cheese. Both can be made ahead of time and are easy to eat.

Next week: the cookies!