Christmas Parade Party Buffet!

A Christmas post, kittens!

This year I had a party for the Christmas parade because it goes through my neighborhood.

ALL THREE HOURS OF IT.

I shit you not. It was like the Macy’s Day parade. But with meth addicts and Tea Party floats.

Look! There were actual balloons!

And basically every marching band in Maryland. Plus a ton of really, really, really good Star Wars cosplayers. Darth Santa was my favorite.

Anyway, I threw a parade party. I even decorated my house and stuff. Like, I put lights on my porch and everything.

Here is my sweet little tree:

In addition to Weenie Wreath (which will make it’s annual appearance at Christmas Eve along with Egg Nog), I made an assortment of snicky snacks from a variety of cookbooks (two of which are new acquisitions, courtesy of my dear friend, Dillon).

I am featuring the retro dishes. First, I’ll start with the punch. Go to the jump to see the food.

From the 2-in-1 International Recipe Card Collection (1977), it’s Scandinavian Punch!

Card 201 features a traditional smorgasbord (I do LOVE a smorgasbord), so it was perfect for my parade party full of nibbly things.

I followed the recipe to the T. I even found Aquavit! My one deviation was the Christmas Ice Ring. “Arrange small red, white, and yellow roses and holly springs on ice…” AS IF! I sliced up some red and green apples and put ’em in the mold.

The mold WOULD HAVE BEEN quite lovely if you could have seen the apples. And the thing is, I looked up how to have clear ice rings and it said that if you used distilled water it would be clear. Well, I used distilled water and look at that photo. You can’t see a damn thing. Oh bother.

Not that it mattered in the end. Like any good party punch, I just kept refilling the bowl with ice cubes and random amounts of the original ingredients.

And it was delicious!

I’m telling you–punch is the way to go with parties. Just have punch and tell other folks to bring wine and beer. You don’t have to worry about mixers or fancy glasses. It’s fantastic for a open house type of party as this was.

Now let’s get to the food (there are TWO new cookbooks to look at!)

I was gifted this 1972 gem by Dillon when I was home over Thanksgiving.

And it IS a gem because I made three different treats for my Christmas Parade Party Buffet!

(also, FYI, this is only one of SIXTEEN volumes–that’s fucking insane)

Here it is. It was a zesty spread! I thought it was yummy. Excellent with crackers and apples. And it was the perfect size for my little heart mold!

NEXT!

Copenhagens! I used teeny-tiny canned shrimp because I had them in my house. Actually, I had all the ingredients in my house, which is why I chose them. Also, that description sold me–“one just coaxes you into having another…”

Eh. Not so much. They were okay, but perhaps more suited to a spring/summer affair…? Although it does feel like spring. It has all month long.

NEXT!

This was another dish that I made because I had all of the ingredients on hand.

I thought this was good, which is odd because I do not like canned tuna. Go figure!

And I just had to do something Liberace! I mean, he was part of my Christmas decor!

Initially I was going to do Liberace’s deviled eggs, but I went with this other recipe from Liberace Cooks! :

I should have gone with the deviled eggs.

No one liked it. But, (waste not want not!) I must say that the spread was really good on pasta. Like, super-good on pasta. So, I’m gonna put that in the vault because this and whole-wheat/high-fiber pasta would be really good diet-wise since the only red-flag ingredient is mayo.

Moving on! I received this book from Dillon as well:

It is awesome (and in mint condition!), but I can’t find a publication year anywhere in the damn thing. I’m gonna go with 70s because of all that macrame–although the Astrodome opened in 1965. Why ask about the Astrodome?

Because of this countertop microwave recipe:

ASTRODOME DIP! This was simple enough. And tasted just fine–although one packet of soup mix would have sufficed. I have no idea why it’s called Astrodome Dip. I googled it. “Astrodome Dip Recipe” results in THIS SONG . Just a heads up, “Got a bitch…” seems to be the majority of the lyrics.

Finally, from the Mike Kalina’s Pittsburgh Cookbook, I put some chipped ham barbecue in the crock pot. 

If you’re a regular reader, you know that I’ve made different versions of this before.

Not surprisingly, the chipped ham was a huge hit. I just put a basket of tiny party rolls next to it. It was gone in a flash!

I’ll probably end up having this party again next year. I kinda have to. I mean, I live on the parade route!

Anyhoo–to my regular readers, I know I’ve definitely been AWOL with the blog; but although I have not been posting, I’ve been cooking! For instance, I made card 99 during this party–but I’m saving it for later.  DiS! cards deserve their own posts.

Should I even tell you that I’m making the LAST DiS! 1972 card on Christmas Day? Well, I AM!

I’ll be back after the 25th! A holly jolly Christmas to you and yours. Cheers!