Advent Calendar December 10

 
Christmas Party.

The Saffa and I decided to host an open house holiday party this year.  We thought it would be fun to invite our friends by for some food and drink so we could see everyone before the end of the year and before we headed off to the States to spend the holidays with my family.  Knowing it was a busy time of year, we made the invitation for an extended 8 hours and asked people to drop by when convenient for them and stay as long as they liked.

The Saffa and I went into a shopping, cooking and baking frenzy in the days leading up to the party.  We made way too much food but we had a blast doing it.  After years of hoping that the Kitchenaid mixer price would come down to the realm of affordable for the common folk in Europe (compare 240-320 USD to 400-500 EUR), I finally gave up and we decided to by a Kenwood kitchen machine.  We gave it a good workout for the holiday party and since and I will say that although for a pure mixer, I still like the Kitchenaid better, the attachments on the Kenwood have been really cool (citrus juicer, blender, food processer and the yet to be tried juicer, meat grinder and some of the slicing and dicing blades).



For posterity, our menu:

Appetizers
Nuts
Cheese Platter
Smoked Salmon Spread
Cocktail Meatballs
Spinach Artichoke Dip
Veggies and Hummus
Chicken Liver Paté
Baked Brie en Croute
Crackers and French Bread

Desserts
Gugelhupf
Mini Cheesecakes with Blueberry Topping
Christmas Cookies (Spritz, Linzer Cookies, Vanilla Kipferl, Michigan Rocks)
Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream
Fudge

Drinks
Augustiner
Red Wine
Pink Prosecco
Homemade Egg Nog (Recipe from Betty Crocker, this was outstanding!)
Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows
Coffee and Tea

We lit the fire all day, the weather cooperated with a beautiful, steady snow all day, our Christmas tree glowed and it was a warm, cozy day filled with fun and friends.

I would happily do it all again next year but would simplify the menu a bit as there was just too much food for the number of people and I think some of the dishes got lost in the crowd, if that makes any sense.




We're all warmed up for the holiday season and ready to make our way over to the US on Wednesday!

Posted from Munich