12 Holiday Party Hosting Tips

12 HOSTING TIPS

 It's the most wonderful time of the year as they say.  Studies say that decorating your home for the holidays makes you happier.  I started in October.  I have been hosting a Hallmark Movie Bingo Party at home for the past few years in November.  It's a time for my friends to get together before the holidays and chill and watch movies all day.  I don't get to chill because it takes me weeks to prep for these parties.  I am told I am pretty good at hosting so I will give you some of my tips from this year's party.

First, pick a Theme. it will guide you through all of your choices.  I saw a really cool movie theatre display at Michaels inspired me this year.  This year's colors are Black, white and red.  It's classic, elegant and dark but still festive.

I have bingo sheets for everyone and picked up little prizes for anyone who gets a line or fills a page.  I got highlighters instead of the bingo dabbers so that everyone has a different color so they can tell which one is theirs if they walk away.

1.  Get your snacks organized.  This year I got a great divided section carrier to organize my snacks.  I used a lot of Halloween chocolates and each kind of snack has a little container that can be removed. There is also a lid that snaps on top.  Once everyone grabs their snacks the container can be covered and put away.  I used to have huge trays that I would have to bag up what was left at the end of the night. This eliminated that for me.

2. Personalize whatever you can.  This year because of Taylor Swift fever in Toronto this week I made Friendship bracelets for my friends.  Something they can keep as a reminder of the party.

Their glasses will be personalized and they can personalize their caddies and soup mugs if they choose to.  

3.  The selfie and the self-serve.  I found little caddies on Amazon that I will give to my guests for them to load up their snacks and a drink, like a kid's tray at the movies.  

4.  I also found some Holiday t-shirts at the dollar store so that we can take a great group photo that is themed.

5.  Think decor and self-serve.  I like to have candy canes for anyone to grab because it's minty and also it acts as festive decor.

I try and set up as much self-serve stations as I can so that I am not bouncing around and not actually participating in the party.  I am more directing by the time the guests arrive.  I will probably make Cranberry and mint water this year.  I have mixed it up over the years.  And Hot Cider and some mini cans of soda. 

6.  Gift bags,  this year I recycled some Sephora bags because they fit my theme colors, black, white and red.  I found cute mini Santa hat headbands also going toward making a festive selfie.  In the bag is a mini card and some other little gifts.  Sometimes I make these bags as things to use during the party like hats.  

I make these bags and do this party instead of getting my friends Christmas presents.  I create an experience with little take-home gifts.

I went a bit mad this year because I had a bit more money to spend but you can do it as big or small as you like.  I started small with more snacks than anything else.  It was too many snacks so I kind of scaled back this year.

7.  Food.  We have been doing a cookie swap for the past few years.  My place gets filled with cookies and snacks.  I try and make as much room for everything as I can.   I asked that everyone bring 2 dozen cookies for each batch they bring.  I got a headstart by making the dough for these peppermint chocolate chip cookies and rolling them and freezing them so I only need to bake them the day before.

I try and get as much food prep done in advance as I can.  This year I am making chili and I froze ground turkey and added the chili spice before I froze it so I just need to dump into a crock pot with the rest of the ingredients.  Speaking of a crock pot.  I have been using it for the past couple of years so that I can make something and leave it to warm so that the food stays at the proper temperature whether people are late or want seconds later on.  I leave it in the kitchen so people can serve themselves.  

I also put a pot on the stove with Apple Cider and spices and let that simmer on low.  It makes the whole place smell fantastic and it's such a warm hug in the winter.  Also left simmering for anyone to refill their cups at anytime.

8.  Containers and serving utensils.  Sometimes I like to give my friends mugs to take home so that I don't have to wash them all at the end of the night.  This year I found big soup mugs with lids that they will use for the chili.  They can take them home if they wish.

9.  I am also going to use some old stemless wine glasses that will be a crafting item.  Everyone can paint their names on them and then use them for their drinks.  This insures that they don't mix up who's drink is who's and also they can take them home because they become personalized and an art project.

10.  Im going lighter on the appetizers this year.  Opting for some mini cheese balls and crackers.  This covers the savoury snack along with chips and popcorn.  And then there are the chocolates and candies for the sweet tooths.

I will set up the chili and the toppings on the kitchen counter.  Leaving the mess in the kitchen hopefully.

11.  Things to do.  Along with the painting of the wine glasses, this year I am adding an ornament making craft.  I will do an acrylic dip and people can also draw on plain ornaments.  Also something to take home.

12.  Packing things up.  I made sure I got a bunch of ziploc bags in case people don't bring big enough containers for the cookie swap or if there is anything else to take home or put away.  I also got little rubbermaid containers to pack any food.  There shouldn't be much except for the toppings maybe.

And last but not least I found some huge Santa sacks that everyone can pack their cookies and their crafts and gifts into so that they have 1 bag to carry it all  home.

Ricky + Oliva's in Leslieville

RICKY + OLIVIA - Restaurant Opening

 A friend was looking at my blog and I realized that it had been a year since I had been inspired to write anything on this blog.  I have been working on my other blog with some film reviews and realized that I hadn't had a lot of food inspiration in a while until I went to the newly opened Ricky + Olivia's in Leslieville.

This post is late.  I intended to post it after my visit in May but got too busy.

I first encountered Chef Ricky Casipe at one of the many Food Events at Festivals I used to go to before the 2020 lockdowns.  Ricky caught my attention for his friendly smile and his food always blew me away.  It was perfectly cooked and always had some sort of twist you couldn't quite figure out.  It always had great seasonings without drowning in salt,  which my body appreciates.

I was invited with other food bloggers to the restaurant he was at called Hawthorne and I visited it a couple of times, always enjoying the food.  I think the second time I encountered Olivia who also started working there.  She was another friendly face.  I also saw them together at Yonge and Dundas square for a Local pop-up that I checked out while I was on my lunch break from my office across the street.  

I can't tell you how many times I saw them around town but I was happy to see them whenever I went to a food event.  Their food was always my favourite.  

Then the lockdowns hit and they moved to doing private events at a Winery in Niagara. I hadn't seen them for many years, but I knew they were doing some pop-ups here and there but nowhere near me.

I was excited when I found out they were finally opening their own restaurant in Leslieville.  The unfortunate thing though it's way the other side of town for me but at least it's in Toronto.

I decided I wanted to go there for my Birthday dinner with my friend after they had just been open for a couple of weeks.

I was not disappointed and felt like the good old days seeing friends in new places.  I think they were surprised to see me, it had been such a long time.  Ricky was busy behind the open-concept kitchen so I got to say hi as I was being led to my seat.

We were seated at the back of the small narrow restaurant just before the patio entrance.  

The even funnier thing was that about 20 minutes later a foodie friend came in with her partner and they were seated just next to us. 

The first thing I saw at the table was a Birthday Card.  It was signed by all the staff.  I  never saw that in all my time going for dinner on my Birthday and I mentioned to Olivia that it was very special.

They inherited a slushy machine when they got the place and they used it to make 2 boozy drink concoctions,  one was coffee-based and the other cherry-based.  We ordered both of them.  I liked the coffee one the best.

I asked Olivia why they chose to open in Leslieville when most of the food biz people they knew were all in the Queen, King, and the Dundas West areas of Toronto.  She said they lived there and liked the area.  Also, the rent is much cheaper and there is a lot less traffic.  I do feel that they are the ones that may get others to relocate and change the area.  Chef Lynn Crawford used to be in the area and the block she was on shifted a bit to be more food-centric, so will see if their industry friends go east.

We ordered a bunch of things including:

Caesar Salad

Hoogenboom Family romaine, Parallel Brothers’ beet tahini, hickory stick+deep fried saltine crumb, Monforte toscano

R+O Burger

double 4 oz beef patty, pickle aioli, house Brighton cheddar "cheese whiz", lettuce, sesame seed brioche bun

1/2 Chicken

roasted and grilled, hot sauce beurre monté, tahini ranch

French Fries

R+O fry seasoning, wilted lettuce mayo

Everything was amazing.  I think my favourite dish was the Cheeseburger. It had so much flavour and was perfectly juicy without being a mess.

The fries had some sort of secret in the seasoning mix, it may have been brown sugar but I'm not 100% sure and I bet Ricky probably wants it to remain a secret.

The Caesar salad was mind-bending with the addition of beet tahini as the dressing.

And the chicken was your basic Sunday Roast chicken taken up a notch.

I have had a lot of Birthday disasters in my life but this one was memorable in a good way.

I love to support nice people who are also very talented, and I bet the next time I get a chance to go it will be hard to get a table.

I just wish it was my neighborhood joint.  I don't have anything like it where I live, unfortunately.

 

ADDRESS

Restaurant Ricky+Olivia

996 Queen St East

Toronto, ON

HOURS

Dining Room Thursday-Monday 5-10pm

MAKE A RESERVATION — Ricky + Olivia (rickyandolivia.com)

Sial Canada Show 2023

 The Sial Canada Show returned to Toronto after a few years of online and only Montreal shows.  They are Montreal Based. It returned to the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place from May 9 to 11, 2023.

Noteable were the Montreal Celebrity Chefs in attendance with products and demos such as Chuck Hughes, Stefano Faita and Michele Forgione.  The lone Torontonian was the eclectic Matty Matheson who is also involved in the show The Bear.

I haven't been to the show for a few years so there were a few notable differences.  

The one thing I noticed was that the show seemed smaller this time.  The one thing that was the same was the amount of cheese vendors because of the Cheese Competition.  I couldn't try all the cheeses unfortunately,  there were 3 rows of them.  That's a lot of cheese.

The presentations seemed to be set up differently.  There was a cuisine stage and an area for the cheese pairings but I didn't see the speakers stages.

I got there around 11 and went through the whole show by 1:30 which is pretty fast for the size of the show.

The reason it was faster was that we decided to only try a couple of cheeses.  We have seen most of them already at different shows and we were looking to sample new things.

This show is catered to food distributors more than food bloggers.  We did feel the lack of interest from some of the vendors.  We were there to sample new things and share the things we liked that will be coming to restaurants and grocery stores in the future.

I was quite surprised at home many of the vendors had booths with just a display of packaged products without samples.  The other noticeable thing was that there were many vendors who were on their phones and seemingly ignoring attendees walking by the booths.   

I understand that they are only interested in sales but we could find a product we love and share it with someone that is in the position to purchase that product.   This is not a reflection of the event organizers.  It was organized well.

What I noticed were the dominating products were:

• Rice and grains
• cured hams
• Olives and Olive Oil
• Pickled products
• snack foods
• sauces
• functional beverages

We didn't try many samples but most of what we tried was very good.

Favourite samples of the day:

• Matty Matheson's Brisket sliders with his special sauces
• Stephano Faita's penne with his vodka pasta sauce
• Bison Tacos, my friend said she didn't like gamey meat and liked it.
• Milzu Hemp Crunch in Grilled Paprika.  they were round crunchy snack balls, healthier than chips.  One of the innovation award choices.
• Long Chips in Bacon flavour - long flat chip strips with perforated sections.
• The Bio Safe- Sour Cherry Mixology.  - It tastes like a fresh sour cherry drink.
• Siciliana sodas in Lemon and Blood orange- I went back for more because it was so refreshing and not too sweet.
• Chocolate covered everything fruits and nuts.  I tried the chocolate covered strawberries and it was so flavorful.

We didn't get to try the Sial Innovation Award winners but we did get a sample of the aluminum bottle.

Here are the 2023 Winners:

Gold medal: MILLENNIA TEA INC for their FROZEN SUPERFOOD TEA, a raw organic tea made

from camellia sinensis with flash freezing preserving nutrients. (millenniatea.com)

Silver medal: LOC INDUSTRIES INC. for their PLANT-BASED EGG SUBSTITUTES (WHITE, YOLK, WHOLE) from Yumgo by Alternative Kitchen, a plant-based range of allergen-free powdered egg substitutes. (locindustries.com)

Bronze medal: LA PRESSERIE for their COLD PRESSED COCKTAIL MIXERS, a frozen mocktail base with cold-pressed ingredients. (lapresserie.com)

Own the change - Special award: KINGSTON ALUMINUM TECHNOLOGY INC. (KAT) for their

SHAPED ALUMINUM BOTTLES for beverages using less aluminum. (katinc.ca)

And the winners in the Olive Oil Competition were:

Here are the 2023 winners per category:

• Aromatic flavour winner: Basil Fused EVOO by Sarafino - Famiglia Pata (Italy)
• Ripe Fruity winner: San Bartolomeo by Soc. Coop. Agr. San Bartolomeo (Italy)
• Intense fruit flavour winner: MonoCultivar Coratina Bio Extra Virgin Olive Oil by Monini SpA (Italy)
• Medium fruit flavor winner: Pago FG Picual by Hacienda La Serrata, S.L. (Spain)
• Light fruit flavor winner: MonoCultivar Frantoio Bio Extra Virgin Olive Oil by Monini SpA (Italy)

Find all the 2023 winners here: https://sialcanada.com/en/olive-dor-competition/

For the Sial Start Up winners per category:

Beverage Category, Souper Troopers claimed the 1st Prize
with their delicious shelf-stable chicken broth in convenient single- serving packaging. 

The Heal Tea secured the 2nd Prize with its
selection of organic, low-carb, plant-based herbal teas in recyclable cans. 

In the Technology or
Service Category, Spatula Foods took home the 1st Prize with their gourmet flash-frozen ready
meals prepared by top local chefs.

 

What I would like to see at the next show is more panels,  samples of all the innovative products and a seating area in the show to stop and have a drink and get organized.

Some of these products may be available already but more will be coming to your grocery or specialty store or restaurant soon.