Party, party, party!

It's been a busy weekend for us in the party department. We had our 'French chateau' gig on Friday night, Saturday we went to our old neighbourhood for a Christmas party, and last night we had some of our new neighbours in for drinks and nibbles.

Now if there's one thing the Americans do well, it's entertaining. Lavish menus, huge feasts, co-ordinating tableware and lots of effort to create the ultimate party. Since we moved here, entertaining for me has been much more stressful than it ever was in England. As you Brits know, English entertaining is more about the quantity of booze and the different flavours of Pringles that you can lay out. Perhaps a few mince pies (homemade if you're lucky), some nuts and a sprig of mistletoe to break the ice. Well that's how it was for me in the past anyway. The focus for me was more about spending time with my guests and not having a panic attack if the plates didn't match the napkins.

So when Joe and I decided to have a little gathering of neighbours at our house, we vowed to keep it simple and focus on getting to know the guests. No stress allowed! We did make some of the food ourselves but kept it simple - homemade mince pies using Tiptree mincemeat and ready-made pastry (SO much easier!), my famous ham and Parmesan pastry swirls, some spiced nuts and of course, home made cocktails. For the rest we took a trip to our local Italian deli in West Chester, Carlinos. Now this deli is really like one you would find in New York or London. It's stacked full of fresh pasta, sauces, pizza, breads and pastries all made on the premises. The selection is mouth-watering, and I just know for one that my Dad will have a field day in there when he and Jeanne visit in April!

We had been into Carlinos a few months ago and tasted some bruschetta and garlic crostini that they had at a tasting station in the shop - delicious! We had to have some (and bought extra to make sure there were left-overs). They have a huge selection of cheese from around the world so we put together a cheese board and bought some of their fresh bread and crackers and yummy grapes to accompany it all. Joe stocked up on booze and ice, I burnt some of the mince pies(!) and took an emergency trip out to Wegmans for more pastries, we lit the fire, laid out the food and drink.....all done! We had a party waiting to happen.

We had 12 guests - all immediate neighbours and all but two we had met before in the street, at Halloween or at our own front door when they had come to welcome us to the neighbourhood (something else the Americans do so well). Joe did a sterling job of getting drinks made and topping up throughout the evening and I made sure I got around to chat to everyone, and really did manage it. No stressing over the food, the dust I could spot on the floor, the screaming baby upstairs or the very warm fire that gave everyone a rosy glow.

Our mission to get to know everyone better was fulfilled and at the end we even said to each other, 'let's do it again next year'.

P.S. For the grandparents amongst you who noticed the 'screaming baby' bit, we did actually go and get Lucy and she joined in the fun for half the evening. It was pretty noisy and she is always one for a party so there was no abandonment going on :)

There was nothing quite this extravagant at our party...the white paper plates and unmatched napkins that I found in the sale bin in Wegmans did just fine :)