Holiday Host’s Diary #2: Bed, Bath, and Slab Bacon
My party for forty in my 650 square foot apartment is just four days away.
Here’s some sources that I count on when I’m cooking for a crowd:
While I am not a fan of big box stores, my weekend trips to Bed Bath & Beyond will make serving this large crowd more affordable.
My partner and I want our guests to eat off “real” plates and drink from glass glasses. Ever year, we re-stock our supply of Nuance Stemware Sets. They’re just $9.99 a dozen. With the 20% off coupons that are floating around this time of year, that’s $7.99 or just 66 cents a glass.
The red wine glasses in this line look dumpy and un-generous. I use the white wine glasses for red too. Don’t forget to open the case and look for broken ones before you buy, just like eggs.
At Bed, Bath & Beyond, I also picked up some serving spoons for $7.99 each and 15 glass plates for $.99 each. They aren’t stunning stuff, but I didn’t want to over-spend on something that we’d only use a couple times of year. The cut glass look of these cheap plates will blend with my clear glass Fostoria American good dishes.
I tested my Christmas Estouffade of Beef recipe on Sunday. The recipe requires slab bacon. Slab bacon is different from standard pre-sliced bacon and isn’t available in any of my local grocery stores. I knew it was available at
Schaller and Weber
Is the stereotype true that guys hate asking for directions? I really don’t like asking people in stores where things are, but I’m sure glad I asked the butcher at Citarella for slab bacon or I never would have known they carried it.
I’d like to have pretty salad servers. I’m convinced they will encourage more people to dig into the salad. Since I’m under budget on glassware, I’m heading to
Global Table at lunch to see what I can find.
My Christmas stew recipe also calls for pigs feet. I went to
Western Beef
I’m making some changes to the menu based on your suggestions from my last party post. I’ll finalize the menu and post that tomorrow.