All that Glitters is Gold! - Part1

Imagine me needing a part 1 and 2 to a blog post to feature a collection. This time though, it's not necessarily due to it's size as much as it's location. Half of my gold glitter plastic-ware collection is in one of those deep cabinets that has too many things in front of it to warrant me getting it down just yet. Never fear it will make an appearance eventually. After all, everything has to get packed up one way or the other!

For now, you'll have to settle for what was easily accessible and now packed up. My favorite in the part 1 collection is the Petite Hi-Snacks set made in Burbank California by the Alexander and Wilson Company. Frankly, I'd like to throw a party just with snack set trays. It'd be fun to see all the guests walking around trying to navigate their glass in the cup holder whilst piling their plate with yummy tidbits and trying to enjoy both at once. I am sure my dog would be following everyone around though waiting for the inevitable spills and drops. The more I think about it the more this party would be for him... hmmm.... I'll have to wait for a special birthday for him to warrant such a feast! In any case, these snack trays are marvelous, complete with their box. Funny, on the inside of the box it says....."do not use as ash trays"....hee hee


I also love the little coasters in their stand although I never understood how these make good coasters. Capturing water I am sure they do well, but they are not flat on the inside so setting a glass on the raised star designed seems to welcome a mess to come along. Nevertheless, they make a nice display. Rounding off part 1 of the gold glitter collection are much more sensible party food trays, and essential bar ware of a jigger and stir sticks. I'll admit I didn't pack the jigger. It is necessary for the perfect cosmo and since I have more time left here I might need a perfect cosmo or two to get through this process! In case you are wondering the cosmo is easy, but I'll warn you, I like it limey and not so cranberry-y:

CollectoratorToo's Perfect Cosmopolitan
1 large part vodka (overfill if it's a bad day)
1 small part fresh lime juice (I usually overfill that too)
1 small part triple sec, curacao or if you can't afford it cointreau is best (I am on a budget because of moving so it's triple sec for me!)
1 small part cranberry juice

Make a pitcher and serve up in a modern size martini glass with a game of skip-bo out in the sun room. Trust me you will have fun.

Turn Out the Lights - The Party-Ware is Over

Oh thank goodness... I was getting a little tired of packing party-ware. Mostly because it was reminding me I need to throw more parties! There's one more little set of bowls that technically could be party-ware, but I am going to throw it in the kitchen-ware category instead or leave it for staging! whew!

The last box of party-ware I packed was the miscellaneous party-ware box. This box contains the rest of the bowls I inherited from my grandmother and my Auntie. Because I got so little from them, I am hard pressed to get rid of any of them even though they are a totally random mismatched set of bowls that I forget to use. The fun pieces in this box though are the wacky Karoff plastic leaf nut sever that is really more of a conversational piece than functional party-ware. Basically, you push the top and voila the leaves open to share their nutty goodness! The other interesting pieces that remained were the monkey pod wood pineapple bowls and pineapple toothpick/napkin server. I know I have too much stuff because I totally forgot to get these out for CollectoratorOne's Hawaiian themed birthday party last year. That's what you get when you don't have enough space and things are stuffed in every available and sometimes illogical storage space. oh well. next time.

I also packed up my cheese ball server. Yes,  have a separate dish for a cheese ball. I suppose you could also put a butter mold in there or some other round food stuff like a small wheel of brie cheese with chutney (mmmm!)  but I like to think of it as a cheese ball server. I like making cheese balls as it's great leftover party food to snack on later. My absolute favorite snacks are leftover party food. I could eat for days on that.  I haven't quite entered into the realm of making party food just to have it around, but I am not putting it past me. I use my aunt's cheese ball recipe kicked up a notch for my husband's Louisiana spicy food taste. Thought I'd share it with you since all of this talk about party-ware makes me want to serve some up. Course that'll have to wait as I've packed it all away...

CollectoratorToo's Cheese Ball

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/8 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce (I used Louisiana hot sauce)

4 ounces shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese  

Measure out 1/3 cup pecan halves (then chop them up)

1 teaspoon dried parsley

In an electric food processor or blender, combine cream cheese, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and hot pepper sauce. Pulse until well blended. Add Cheddar cheese and pulse until the Cheddar is fine, but still visible. Shape the mixture into balls or logs (I find it easier to put the sticky glob into plastic wrap first then shape it).  Whether you put it in plastic before or after you shape it into a ball make sure it’s eventually wrapped in plastic and then place in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. During this time, chop up the pecans and mix in the parsley. Put pecan mixture into a shallow bowl or plate. Remove cheese ball from freezer and roll in the pecan mixture, pressing the pecans a little into the ball. Rewrap in plastic and store for an hour or so before serving. You can freeze it as well at this point if you needed to.

I'm ready to move on now to the top of my hutch now which contains my most of my bar-ware glasses and a variety of other nifty star/snowflake-laden pieces that are non-bar related. Basically if it is black, gold or both, has stars or star like objects on it, it lives in the top of the hutch.