We came out west on a 6-month contract, planned to stay in our current housing for up to three months and just celebrated the beginning of our third year here.
So, some of the neighbors have been very kind to us since we arrived and we wanted to toast them for welcoming us to the neighborhood. We held a brief coctkail hour and I made several hors d’oeuvres.
Spicy hazelnuts and almonds
Marinated Kalamata olives (drain olives, add garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes and cover with olive oil)
Veggies (celery, carrot, cucumber, cherry tomato) with a dip of 1/2 mayo and 1/2 sour cream with s&p, lemon juice, chives
American cheese platter with Beehive farmhouse cheese, Maytag blue and Seal Bay triple creme, all with assorted crackers
I’d tried to prep our dinner to follow the party so caramelized some onions for an hour. The entire house smelled like onions when we arrived home from lunch so I added an onion dish, pissaladiere, the French onion/anchovy pizza. I just had time to make, rise and bake the dough and we had too much of the onions so that was the dish! That was a hit and a couple of guests want to know how to make pizza dough.
It was a success and it was an honor to thank these neighbors (several couldn’t make it) for welcoming us into the community. I always love making food for family and friends. It’s a lot of work but worth it with good conversation and a fun lunch, dinner, brunch or cocktail party. Cheers! Dee
Cooking with Dee 