Build a Bar: Bourbon

A few years ago some friends and I ran in a race called The Bourbon Chase.  The Bourbon Chase is a 200 mile overnight relay.  It was the first of many overnight relays but that’s a whole other Oprah.  The race course routed us along the Kentucky bourbon trail from Bardstown to Lexington.  Part of the fun of these relays is the 8 or so hours of downtime when the other half of your team is doing the running.  So, along the way we were able to stop and taste the bourbons at various distilleries.  Shortly thereafter, I would marry a native Kentuckian, which would only peak my interest in the brown water.  I love incorporating a Bourbon Bar when hosting a party in the fall/winter.  I started this tradition with our first Friendsgiving and have loved adding new elements every year.  I love the idea that people will begin to expect and look forward to the Bourbon Bar at each of our parties!  Another perk of having a constant throughout your parties is the ability to save what you don’t use for an upcoming party.   Here are a few tips to get you started when setting up your Bourbon Bar. 

Go big or go not so big:  Each year at Friendsgiving we have a simple Bourbon Bar.  We set out a few of our favorite Bourbons with some fancy ice cubes, a few bitters, and some bourbon laced apple cider. Always a crowd pleaser.  This year for Craig’s birthday we decided to take it up a notch and expand on our Bourbon Bar by adding all the fixings for various mixed bourbon drinks.  Both are acceptable and well received but one takes a little more preparation.  Decide just how involved you want to make the Bourbon Bar.

Pick your poison:  As I mentioned, we have a few favorite Bourbons (Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, Belle Meade Bourbon, Weller, Woodford Reserve) that we always incorporate in our bourbon bars.  This is nice because you know you will always have an excuse to drink the rest of the bourbon you didn’t finish.  We also like to talk to the guys at our local liquor store.  They are always helpful when picking the right bourbon for the right occasion.

Decide on Drinks:  Craig spent some time looking up bourbon drinks and their ingredients as we prepared to set up our bourbon bar.  He printed out the recipes on some stock paper we picked up at Office Depot.  We also grabbed an index card ring holder, punched a hole in the recipes, and came out with a cute recipe book to put out on the bar.  This was an especially fun addition as it encouraged some folks to try new drinks.  All they had to do was follow the directions. 

Grab some Glasses:  When you set up your Bourbon Bar, it’s fun to have different glasses for friends to choose from.  I like to put out sippers in case people prefer their bourbon neat.  Highballs are also great for most bourbon drinks.  I also like to incorporate different glasses both tall and short adding some visual interest to the table.  Phone a friend if you don’t have enough glasses!  If you’re my age, it’s unlikely you have glasses for a party of 40.  Don’t be ashamed to borrow but do take good care of other’s things.

Focus on the Fixin’s:  One of the most important pieces of the bourbon bar is the fixins that go along with all of the drinks.  Once you decide on your drinks be sure you have all of the fixins out for folks to make their drink of choice.  You can use various bowls, vases, glasses around your house to put these out. 

Build the Bar:  Last but not least you need to set up the bar.  Presentation is an important part of making this work.  Craig and I like to set up a party like we would like to experience it.  Imagine grabbing your glass, picking your bourbon, including some bitters or adding a twist.  The bar should flow as if you were making your own drink.  Make sure you have all of the necessary bar tools, shot glasses, shakers, stirrers, etc. I’ll share my favorite bar tools in an upcoming blog!

Have Fun! Now that your bar is set up, have fun and relax! Remember that your friends are there to see you, not your fabulous entertaining skills!

Build a Bar: Pallet

When you’re renovating a house, you have to be prepared to take the good with the bad. There is dust everywhere.  Loud noises all day long.  Displacement from routine.  The jobsite can be messy, including piles of discarded building materials that seemly never make it into the dumpster.  Scrap lumber, piles of broken brick, and trash.  I had a day off during construction and noticed some wood pallets laying against the back fence.  It was a slow day on the site. I had pinned and re-pinned this bar on Pintrest and decided to give it a go.  

via

I grabbed the pallets and began discussing my plan with my contractor and Craig.  Once we talked through the scheme, I set off on building.  I sweet talked the fellas into helping with the project (I even got to wear the toolbelt for a photo shoot with the finished product). I measured (twice), cut (once), and assembled.  All you need is a circular saw, a drill, and a few wood screws. A few short hours later, I had myself a finished pallet bar.   I absolutely love how it turned out.  It’s the perfect addition to our parties!  

Craig through together a rough sketch of the bar that we built. Disclaimer: you may need to tweak a few things here or there depending on the actual pallets, but this should give you the idea.  For example, we added a shelf in the back to keep the bar from racking (moving side to side for us lay people). It’s an easy way to make a statement piece.  It’s lightweight and can be moved around to wherever it’s needed.  Get out your power tools and get to building.  Once you’re finished sit back, crack open a beer and admire your work!

Hunker Down

Last week I talked about the glass overhead door we installed.  I can’t wait to open that guy up and enjoy the spring weather.  But, Craig tells me I can’t wish time away.  So for now, I’ll enjoy my fireplace.  One of the goals of the addition was to ensure the new house didn’t scream new house.  We were purposeful to tie certain elements from the existing house into the new space and made intentional design decisions to make the new fit seamlessly with the existing.  More on that later.  Next to the overhead door, the fireplace is the element that you likely notice right when you walk into the new space.  We wanted to be sure it felt like something that had been there forever.  Our contractor brought us a few different brick samples to choose from.  We went with one that had a little wash on it so it had the appearance of older brick.  We also chose to do a flush joint instead of a tooled concave joint that you typically see in residential construction these days.  The design of the shape of the chimney was important to me as well.  I wanted the chimney to have a constant taper. Stylistically, it just felt more traditional to me, but with a bit of a kick.  {No, I did not know what any of this meant until I started looking at fireplaces.  I started with pictures and feelings, my husband and contractor did the rest!}  The final fireplace design decision was to pick the perfect mantle.  Remember the open shelving in the kitchen?  The 100 year old floor joists?   We had a couple boards left and decided to use them as mantles both on the indoor and outdoor fireplaces.  I’m really pleased with how they both turned out.  The tools and log holder were both steals from the flea market and a local estate sale.  They were perfect for our space!

Let's Start at the Very Beginning

Any good meal begins with a good appetizer.  Yesterday I wrote about making easy desserts that are foolproof for entertaining! Today I want to share some of my favorite easy appetizers that are great for any kind of gathering.  These appetizers are made from ingredients that you keep in the pantry just in case someone pops by and you need to throw something together.  All of these are also guaranteed crowd pleasers and folks will rave about your entertaining skills. Think, girl’s night, wine, and apps.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Pimento Cheese Crostinis: My girlfriend Kristi told me about these at our recent girls weekend. Grab some French rounds, pimento cheese, and honey from the store.  Fresh Market has wonderfully premade French rounds but you could also use slices of French bread.  Preheat the oven to 350. Place slices of French bread or crostinis on a baking sheet.  Place a scoop of pimento cheese on each slice and bake for 2-3 minutes.  Drizzle with honey and serve immediately.

Bacon Wrapped Dates: Bacon.  Need I say more?  We are a Wright’s Brand family.  Grab some pitted dates (do not forget to get pitted) and toothpicks.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Slice each piece of bacon into thirds. [Aside:  Craig said if I have to tell you which direction you shouldn’t be in the kitchen anyway]. Wrap each date with a 1/3 slice of bacon, place a toothpick to tie the bacon tightly around the date.  Place on a greased baking sheet and bake on 375 until the bacon is crispy. Roughly 20 minutes.

Marinara Puffs:  Y’all. I tried serving these once and caused a grease fire.  That’s how bad my guests wanted them.  We took our lives into our own hands.  [Luckily, I had an extinguisher handy and phoned a friend to grab some salsa and guacamole from the local Mexican restaurant as a back-up plan].  To make the marinara puffs pick up some puff pastry from the freezer section.  In addition, shredded Parmesan, olive oil, salt and cracked pepper, and marinara sauce.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Unfold and stack two sheets of puff pastry on a baking sheet and slice into one-inch squares.  Brush olive oil across the pastry sheets and cover with shredded Parmesan.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place the pastry squares into the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Pour the marinara into a serving dish for dipping.  Serve with toothpicks and enjoy!

Oh this? I just whipped it up...

“Oh this? I just whipped it up…”  You know those people that make entertaining seem so easy?  I try to be one of those people, but I’m too honest.  I want to share all of the details, decisions, and processes that allowed me to get to party time.  I see dessert as an opportunity to put an exclamation point on the evening! We recently started a small group with some friends from church.  We meet once a month after all the kids go down and the host provides drinks and dessert.  We plan to meet on Thursdays.  This means  hosting after a long day at home with the kids and/or at work.  Getting the house ready for hosting and putting something on the table can be daunting, even if it’s as simple as a drink and a bite of dessert. Here are a couple of my favorite simple go-to desserts.

Individual Ice Cream Sandwiches: I bake two dozen chocolate chip cookies and pick up a pint of Neapolitan ice cream.  The Neapolitan ice cream allows you to make vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream cookies.  It gives the guest a choice! To fix, grab one of the cookies, add two spoonsful of ice cream, and layer on the second cookie.  Use the spoon to fix the edge of the ice cream to make it look nicer.  Wrap the sandwich tightly in saran wrap and place in the freezer until you’re ready to serve. Put these over a bowl of ice and pass out amongst party goers. These are quick and easy.

Fudge Pie:  I love serving fudge pie with ice cream anytime of the year! Nothing says tasty like fudge pie with peppermint ice cream.  Definitely a crowd favorite!  If you’re here in Nashville you can pick up a fudge pie at Martins BBQ Joint on Belmont or you can make your very own using this recipe that my friend Laura shared with me.

Laura's Chocolate Chess Pie 

* 2 sticks of blue bonnet margarine

* 3 squares of unsweetened baker's chocolate (in the orange box in the baking section)

* 2 cups of sugar

* 4 eggs

* 1 tablespoon of vanilla

* pinch of salt

* 2 regular pillsbury pie crusts (try to get regular and not deep dish)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Completely melt the butter and chocolate squares together on a lower heat on the stovetop.  Remove from stove and add the sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt.  Divide evenly between two pie crusts and cook for approximately 40 - 45 minutes... perhaps a little more or a little less depending on your oven.  Super easy and so good!  I have also made multiple little ones for parties if you can find the mini pie crusts (obviously cooking time would be much less if you do these individual ones) I make these before work when I’m planning to serve in the evening.  The best thing about this recipe is that it makes two pies at once and is super easy! 

Individual Cupcake Servings:  I read about this recipe on Style Blueprint and it’s a foolproof dessert to cap off a summer dinner!  I recently purchased twelve of these Weck Jars to have handy for entertaining.  They can be used for sauces, garnishes, individual sides, etc.  The sky’s the limit with these guys.  For the cupcake dessert, I picked up twelve strawberry cupcakes from a local bakery.  Vanilla cupcakes will work as well.  Place some strawberry jelly on the bottom of the Weck Jar. Then, place the cupcake on top of the jelly (wrapper removed).  Top the cupcake with some whip cream, and snap the jar lid back into place.  Keep this dessert in the fridge until you’re ready to serve!