Do-It-Yourself Parties For Holidays

Press, Volume C, Issue 29702, 21 December 1961, Page 2

Do-It-Yourself Parties For Holidays

Numb with fatigue, some hostesses feel nothing but a vast relief when their party is over. This year, the Home Science Extension suggests do-it-yourself parties for the hostess who entertains at Christmas or New Year. The hostess provides the makings and the guests do the mixing. This way everyone has fun.

On a warm summer evening. serve ice-cream for supper. Make it, or buy family size blocks. At supper time serve the ice-cream on a flat dish—a silver tray, low crystal bowl, or a choice china plate. Surround it with bowls of ice-cream sauces, whipped cream, cherries and nuts, so guests can make the sundae of their heart's desire. There is no need for anything more, but sponge fingers, macaroons or meringues can accompany the ice-cream if you insist. Finish with hot coffee. Buzz fresh strawberries or raspberries in a blender, or use their jams thinned with wine or liqueur: mix lemon honey with passion fruit; make a hot chocolate sauce; for caramel sauce, boil a tin of sweetened condensed milk for two hours, thin with coffee and flavour with rum; open a tin of crushed pineapple; flavour hot mincemeat with brandy. DIPPING AND DUNKING Take a tip from American hostesses and serve dips at a 5 o'clock party. They eliminate all those hours of making sandwiches and savouries. Instead, place bowls of savoury dip on large platters and surround each with bite-size biscuits for scooping up the mixture.

Crisp crackers, fried shrimp slices, rye wafers cut into three, potato crisps are all examples of suitable bases. Try them with Oriental Dip Combine 1 cup mayonnaise and 1 cup cream cheese. Beat well. Add 1 clove garlic mashed with 4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon chopped parsley 1 tablespoon chopped chives 2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger 1 tablespoon soy sauce } cup finely sliced celery. If necessary, thin with top milk. When celery is not available, use celery salt, and add some sliced brazil nuts for crunchiness. Sticks can be used for dunking, too. Try carrot, celery or cucumber sticks with a cheese dip. Cut the vegetables into finger lengths and stand them in ice water in the refrigerator till they crackle with crispness. Drain them well and stand them in colourful mugs or bowls and serve them with cheese dip. Cheese Dip Grate Jib tasty cheese finely and beat in

4 cup salad dressing or cream Add 1 tablespoon sherry 'optional! 1 teaspoon French mustard 1 tablespoon tomato relish Few drops hot pepper sauce (or Worcester sauce) Few grains pepper. If necessary, use top milk to thin to dipping consistency.. WINE AND CREESE There are a dozen or more varieties of New Zealand cheese available which have been favourably commented on by overseas experts. Introduce them to friends at a wine and cheese party. On flat platters or wooden trays arrange an assortment of cheeses: colby, herb cheese, havarti, gouda, blue vein, gruyere. and so on. Surround them with a selection of biscuits—rye wafers, oatcake, crackers, bran biscuits —as many as you like of the pla: to-be-buttered varieties. New Zealand has a growing reputation for its own wines, especially the dry types of red and white. Be venturesome and serve some of these, or play safe with sherry. Some guests may prefer coffee, which is not strictly correct, but very pleasant nevertheless for all that.—From the Home Science Extension, University of Otago.