One of my favorite things in life is hosting small parties. I am not a big fan of the huge party, but a small, intimate gathering with some of my favorite people gives me life. Before bb, I used to host a girls wine night all the time. I would spend a whole day cooking and just go all out. Since bb, I usually don’t have a whole day to spare for cooking. But my love for hosting has not gone away.

We thought we were going to be in our condo through the holidays, then our plans changed & everything happened really fast and we ended up closing before Thanksgiving. I loved how warm and cozy our home felt around the holidays, especially when it was filled with my loved ones. So I had to host one more wine night before we moved. But we were mid move & life was crazy hectic, so prep needed to be almost effortless. I love how a charcuterie board looks, and I wanted to take it to the next level…a charcuterie table! I prepped everything that day during naptime, and set it on the table about 15 minutes before everyone got there.

Everything was served room temperature. If things need to be served hot, hosting can tend to get a little hectic. I wanted to be able to enjoy my company, my wine and the food. So the entire menu was room temp. It was SO easy!

THE MENU

SALMON

prepared in olive oil & herbes de Provence seasoning and baked at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Served with red onion, tomatoes, cucumber, hard boiled egg and crackers

ROASTED VEGGIES

shallots, brussel sprouts, sweet potato, mushrooms & caramelized onion. I cooked them all in a skillet with olive oil, salt & pepper earlier in the day, then let them come to room temperature

ASSORTED CHARCUTERIE

selection of salami, prosciutto, and cheeses with accompaniments (grapes, crackers, bread, & olives)

BURRATA & TOMATOES

I splurged for the really good, freshly made burrata from Eataly and served it with heirloom tomatoes & basil!

SPREADS

cream cheese spread, fig spread, honey, olive oil & balsamic

 THE WINE

I really do not know much about wine. I know what I like and I know what I don’t like, but beyond that I am clueless. I want to learn more and love doing casual tastings with friends who won’t judge me when I cannot distinguish flavor profiles and miss the blackcurrant undertones in a cab. So here is how we did our really casual tasting! I picked three wines from the same region in France with slightly different grape varieties. I grabbed a $8 bottle (my go to cheap bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s and the only one of the three I have had before, Laurent Dublanc Côtes du Rhône), a $18 bottle and a $40 bottle. I wanted to see which one turned out to be everyone’s favorite doing a blind tasting.

It was so much fun sampling and seeing which was everyone’s favorite. The $8 and $40 were the winners. I loved that we could pick at the food, sample wine and chat at the same time. There was no pressure to sit down at a certain time, because all the food was room temp! And I wasn’t running back and forth from the kitchen, because everything was on the table before anyone got there.

If you’re looking for an easy, beautiful and tasty way to host a holiday party, I would highly recommend!

Happy Holidays!

xoxo