Hey y'all,

I just thought of this question because the weather is slowly warming up and people feel more apt to hang out for a few drinks together instead of bundling up from the cold. I have been having the neighbors by once in a while (not counting big game nights people go so crazy over) for birthdays and and winter holidays, and have a pretty set repertoire of what I normally throw together for drinks an yummiles, but I need some fresh ideas.

Tell me, if you're invited to somebody's house for dranks, what kind of stuff would you like to nibble on to compliment your boozin' & schmoozin'? Keep in mind, it's not dinner, just drinks and bites to while away a good hour or 90 minutes before everyone moves onto whatever the rest of their respective plans are for their evening. I want to put something yummy on your stomach to soak up the booze, but not feed you as if you're going out for a Michelin restaurant review. So...what would you most like to eat at a cocktail party to compliment your drinks and (hopefully) prevent you from getting too tipsy? I'm up for frou frou, veggie, retro-borderline tacky, all of it...

brie toasts

glazed meatballs

Fine Ottensen...I'm in.

What time should I come over?

Whatever you make is good, I'm not picky.

Finger foods that won't get your fingers too dirty.

I love fancy cheese. I love crudites w/fancy dips.

Something sweet but not too sweet is nice as well, like chocolate covered fruits or small bites of brownie or something.

Hamburger or Turkeyburger sliders.

Dalia11 said:

Hamburger or Turkeyburger sliders.

I made veggieburger sliders this week and they were pretty tasty!

Bruchetta is great!

I love the mini/sample set ups. Very cute, very tasty, very easy to manage at a cocktail party.

This weekend I'm going to Vegas and I want to try a "Dirty Shirley" cocktail. I hope it's as yummy as it sounds.

Dates stuffed with goat cheese, then wrapped in prosciutto and baked. They look like cigar butts, but

Mini-Knishes

Olives soaked in vodka and vermouth with a splash of olive brine.

ok maybe bacon rapped Bleu cheese and habanero stuffed shrimp

ZombieKitten said:

Whenever I go to parties everything seems to have cheese or shrimps so I don't eat anything usually

That's why I made this thread, so when you (and friends like you) come by, I can have something simple that you would like... I want to create Fingerfulls of Happy that are tasty and soak up the alcohol...you know, like little bites of satiation

CarrieMpls said:

Finger foods that won't get your fingers too dirty.

I love fancy cheese. I love crudites w/fancy dips.

Something sweet but not too sweet is nice as well, like chocolate covered fruits or small bites of brownie or something.

Do you know if there's anything to the old wives tale that sugar exacerbates drunkeness? It's something I heard repeatedly from my mother and her 29,000 sisters growing up, and to this day I'm actually still wary of mixing sweet treats with alcohol for having people (potentially) fall stone cold drunk off a chair.

Although...these days in Hamburg it seems impossible to go anywhere without people serving Cake Pops. Is this a yay or nay? More for hanging out with girls and can the guys get into this, too?

Ottensen said:

CarrieMpls said:

Finger foods that won't get your fingers too dirty.

I love fancy cheese. I love crudites w/fancy dips.

Something sweet but not too sweet is nice as well, like chocolate covered fruits or small bites of brownie or something.

Do you know if there's anything to the old wives tale that sugar exacerbates drunkeness? It's something I heard repeatedly from my mother and her 29,000 sisters growing up, and to this day I'm actually still wary of mixing sweet treats with alcohol for having people (potentially) fall stone cold drunk off a chair.

Although...these days in Hamburg it seems impossible to go anywhere without people serving Cake Pops. Is this a yay or nay? More for hanging out with girls and can the guys get into this, too?

...can you make those in the "special brownie" version???

Ottensen said:

CarrieMpls said:

Finger foods that won't get your fingers too dirty.

I love fancy cheese. I love crudites w/fancy dips.

Something sweet but not too sweet is nice as well, like chocolate covered fruits or small bites of brownie or something.

Do you know if there's anything to the old wives tale that sugar exacerbates drunkeness? It's something I heard repeatedly from my mother and her 29,000 sisters growing up, and to this day I'm actually still wary of mixing sweet treats with alcohol for having people (potentially) fall stone cold drunk off a chair.

Although...these days in Hamburg it seems impossible to go anywhere without people serving Cake Pops. Is this a yay or nay? More for hanging out with girls and can the guys get into this, too?

I don't think it's true, or if it is it's a minimal effect.

But it's also why I said a "little" something. Cake pops would be perfect. They're all the rage here too, btw. A little something sweet to enjoy but you don't have tons of calories.

Dalia11 said:

Hamburger or Turkeyburger sliders.

I did sliders for the first time for a cocktail party for my Dude's birthday a couple months ago!!! they were so easy, and everybody was sooo happy. I also made my batch of first potato skins in I don't know how many years since I left America.

It's so funny how these little bites that are completely normal in the US, if you introduce them to a new group of people in an entirely different country, their reaction is akin to the arrival of somebody's Meesiah No one here had ever seen these before, so everyone was freaking out in a good way) and saying "soooo zis is a tiny hammm-bu--gah for ze fingas, and cul-on-nawry po-ta-to witz fine cream!!! Zis combination is genius!!!"

Nothinbutjoy said:

Bruchetta is great!

I love the mini/sample set ups. Very cute, very tasty, very easy to manage at a cocktail party.

This weekend I'm going to Vegas and I want to try a "Dirty Shirley" cocktail. I hope it's as yummy as it sounds.

Oh..now this looks like a "Happy" drink

Classic Version

Parallel Universe Version :

Shirley Temple is killing me up there in her Mae West style dress

CarrieMpls said:

Ottensen said:

Do you know if there's anything to the old wives tale that sugar exacerbates drunkeness? It's something I heard repeatedly from my mother and her 29,000 sisters growing up, and to this day I'm actually still wary of mixing sweet treats with alcohol for having people (potentially) fall stone cold drunk off a chair.

Although...these days in Hamburg it seems impossible to go anywhere without people serving Cake Pops. Is this a yay or nay? More for hanging out with girls and can the guys get into this, too?

I don't think it's true, or if it is it's a minimal effect.

But it's also why I said a "little" something. Cake pops would be perfect. They're all the rage here too, btw. A little something sweet to enjoy but you don't have tons of calories.

I don't think ingesting sugar with alcohol will make you drunker, but it will make you fatter - and make your blood sugar unstable.

The human body looooooooves alcohol as fuel. It'll burn alcohol before anything else - fat, carbs or protein - because it's easy. So the calories you eat while you're drinking will be stored as fat.

Alcohol also has a destabilizing effect on your blood sugar - which is exacerbated if you consume sugar (in mixers or food) while you're drinking. Want to really put it over the top? Throw some caffeine into the mix. A hypoglycemic episode (when blood sugar drops precipitously) will amplify what was previously just garden-variety intoxication.

Having had a number of these, I can tell you they're also scary as hell.

PurpleJedi said:

Ottensen said:

Do you know if there's anything to the old wives tale that sugar exacerbates drunkeness? It's something I heard repeatedly from my mother and her 29,000 sisters growing up, and to this day I'm actually still wary of mixing sweet treats with alcohol for having people (potentially) fall stone cold drunk off a chair.

Although...these days in Hamburg it seems impossible to go anywhere without people serving Cake Pops. Is this a yay or nay? More for hanging out with girls and can the guys get into this, too?

...can you make those in the "special brownie" version???

I duuno- I never understood how ya get away with baking special brownies in the oven without everyone on your street being able to smell it anyway! Maybe try one of these for quick assembly, with a lot of Lemon Mist or Ocean Breeze air freshener around Besides, if we can't trust SEARS to handle our deepest hopes and aspirations for proper home making, who can anybody trust in this world???

Baby Cakes 12 Cake Pop Ma...mp; Grills

To be sure though, we might need to run this by SEARS customer service hotline

Genesia said:

Dates stuffed with goat cheese, then wrapped in prosciutto and baked. They look like cigar butts, but

I see the wrapped dates here in the refrigerator section of most stores (Spanish tapas are big here)...I really need to check and see if any arevailable are stuffed with cheese- because that is taking it to a whole 'nother level !

Oooh.... another tapa you might like (!), I eat this at an Iberian restaurant sometimes- goat cheese wrapped in bacon

and then the bastids drizzle it with balsamic reduction . Now I'm not entirely sure, but honestly, I think this is what crack must taste like.

Genesia said:

CarrieMpls said:

I don't think it's true, or if it is it's a minimal effect.

But it's also why I said a "little" something. Cake pops would be perfect. They're all the rage here too, btw. A little something sweet to enjoy but you don't have tons of calories.

I don't think ingesting sugar with alcohol will make you drunker, but it will make you fatter - and make your blood sugar unstable.

The human body looooooooves alcohol as fuel. It'll burn alcohol before anything else - fat, carbs or protein - because it's easy. So the calories you eat while you're drinking will be stored as fat.

Alcohol also has a destabilizing effect on your blood sugar - which is exacerbated if you consume sugar (in mixers or food) while you're drinking. Want to really put it over the top? Throw some caffeine into the mix. A hypoglycemic episode (when blood sugar drops precipitously) will amplify what was previously just garden-variety intoxication.

Having had a number of these, I can tell you they're also scary as hell.

Oh yep. This I know from personal experience... and thanks for the reminder since I would like to go to the beach this summer

and the alcohol burning : that would account for all the stick figures galavanting across the earth who appear to live on Vodka and nothing else. This is the science behind the dearly departed lo-carb guru Dr. Atkins -advising us in the 90's to pick booze on the rocks over a sugary sweet at parties.

Hypoglycemic episodes! Is this something related to a pre-disposed condition (ie Diabetes), or can it just happen out of the blue to anyone with the wrong mix of things, as it were?

Ottensen said:

PurpleJedi said:

...can you make those in the "special brownie" version???

I duuno- I never understood how ya get away with baking special brownies in the oven without everyone on your street being able to smell it anyway! Maybe try one of these for quick assembly, with a lot of Lemon Mist or Ocean Breeze air freshener around Besides, if we can't trust SEARS to handle our deepest hopes and aspirations for proper home making, who can anybody trust in this world???

Baby Cakes 12 Cake Pop Ma...mp; Grills

To be sure though, we might need to run this by SEARS customer service hotline

OK...let me know how that works out for ya!

Ottensen said:

Nothinbutjoy said:

Bruchetta is great!

I love the mini/sample set ups. Very cute, very tasty, very easy to manage at a cocktail party.

This weekend I'm going to Vegas and I want to try a "Dirty Shirley" cocktail. I hope it's as yummy as it sounds.

Oh..now this looks like a "Happy" drink

Classic Version

Parallel Universe Version :

Shirley Temple is killing me up there in her Mae West style dress

Ottensen said:

PurpleJedi said:

...can you make those in the "special brownie" version???

I duuno- I never understood how ya get away with baking special brownies in the oven without everyone on your street being able to smell it anyway! Maybe try one of these for quick assembly, with a lot of Lemon Mist or Ocean Breeze air freshener around Besides, if we can't trust SEARS to handle our deepest hopes and aspirations for proper home making, who can anybody trust in this world???

Baby Cakes 12 Cake Pop Ma...mp; Grills

To be sure though, we might need to run this by SEARS customer service hotline

Right, right.

.

.

I have never tried those cake pops they have them all over the place and now I'm not doing sweets, so it'll be a while before I'll try one.

.

.

Looking at all these tasty nibbles I'm just blanking, I wanna try them all. yum.

[Edited 4/26/13 11:26am]

Ottensen said:

Genesia said:

Dates stuffed with goat cheese, then wrapped in prosciutto and baked. They look like cigar butts, but

I see the wrapped dates here in the refrigerator section of most stores (Spanish tapas are big here)...I really need to check and see if any arevailable are stuffed with cheese- because that is taking it to a whole 'nother level !

Oooh.... another tapa you might like (!), I eat this at an Iberian restaurant sometimes- goat cheese wrapped in bacon

and then the bastids drizzle it with balsamic reduction . Now I'm not entirely sure, but honestly, I think this is what crack must taste like.

i'll have the infected dwarf penis please

Stuffed Mushrooms

Spinach quiche

Brie and Toast

Apple slices and cheese

Girl, just like James used to day, whasaneva you fix, it's gonna be fonky! I know you can burn!

Ottensen said:

Genesia said:

I don't think ingesting sugar with alcohol will make you drunker, but it will make you fatter - and make your blood sugar unstable.

The human body looooooooves alcohol as fuel. It'll burn alcohol before anything else - fat, carbs or protein - because it's easy. So the calories you eat while you're drinking will be stored as fat.

Alcohol also has a destabilizing effect on your blood sugar - which is exacerbated if you consume sugar (in mixers or food) while you're drinking. Want to really put it over the top? Throw some caffeine into the mix. A hypoglycemic episode (when blood sugar drops precipitously) will amplify what was previously just garden-variety intoxication.

Having had a number of these, I can tell you they're also scary as hell.

Oh yep. This I know from personal experience... and thanks for the reminder since I would like to go to the beach this summer

and the alcohol burning : that would account for all the stick figures galavanting across the earth who appear to live on Vodka and nothing else. This is the science behind the dearly departed lo-carb guru Dr. Atkins -advising us in the 90's to pick booze on the rocks over a sugary sweet at parties.

Hypoglycemic episodes! Is this something related to a pre-disposed condition (ie Diabetes), or can it just happen out of the blue to anyone with the wrong mix of things, as it were?

I still follow the Atkins rules regarding adult beverages (for the most part). Did you know that Guinness is a low-carb beer?

Obviously, having something like diabetes would increase your chances of having a hypoglycemic episode, but they can happen to anyone. If you'd care to try one out (I don't recommend it, but...) just go out and start drinking Jack Daniels and Coke on an empty stomach.

I firmly believe that most instances of people getting violent (or weepy) when they're hammered are more about hypoglycemia than the alcohol, itself. I've had complete meltdowns when I've been drinking and haven't eaten enough. (I'm not diabetic, but have had hypoglycemia since my teens. That's why I eat a relatively low-carb diet.) In fact, all my friends know that if I start to melt down (with or without alcohol), they need to feed me, STAT. When my sugar is low, I am not my normal, rational self.

[Edited 4/26/13 12:35pm]

Genesia said:

Ottensen said:

Oh yep. This I know from personal experience... and thanks for the reminder since I would like to go to the beach this summer

and the alcohol burning : that would account for all the stick figures galavanting across the earth who appear to live on Vodka and nothing else. This is the science behind the dearly departed lo-carb guru Dr. Atkins -advising us in the 90's to pick booze on the rocks over a sugary sweet at parties.

Hypoglycemic episodes! Is this something related to a pre-disposed condition (ie Diabetes), or can it just happen out of the blue to anyone with the wrong mix of things, as it were?

I still follow the Atkins rules regarding adult beverages (for the most part). Did you know that Guinness is a low-carb beer?

Obviously, having something like diabetes would increase your chances of having a hypoglycemic episode, but they can happen to anyone. If you'd care to try one out (I don't recommend it, but...) just go out and start drinking Jack Daniels and Coke on an empty stomach.

I firmly believe that most instances of people getting violent (or weepy) when they're hammered are more about hypoglycemia than the alcohol, itself. I've had complete meltdowns when I've been drinking and haven't eaten enough. (I'm not diabetic, but have had hypoglycemia since my teens. That's why I eat a relatively low-carb diet.) In fact, all my friends know that if I start to melt down (with or without alcohol), they need to feed me, STAT. When my sugar is low, I am not my normal, rational self.

[Edited 4/26/13 12:35pm]

I get extremely crabby when I'm hungry. I do my best to temper it but it's incredibly powerful how irritable I am when I need to eat. My bf has learned this lesson.

PurpleJedi said:

Ottensen said:

I duuno- I never understood how ya get away with baking special brownies in the oven without everyone on your street being able to smell it anyway! Maybe try one of these for quick assembly, with a lot of Lemon Mist or Ocean Breeze air freshener around Besides, if we can't trust SEARS to handle our deepest hopes and aspirations for proper home making, who can anybody trust in this world???

Baby Cakes 12 Cake Pop Ma...mp; Grills

To be sure though, we might need to run this by SEARS customer service hotline

OK...let me know how that works out for ya!

Nuh uh, this was just for you, to make those er, um, dude pops