What I Always Bring to Happy Hour:
Also: why this Friday is my favorite day of the year & why gathering matters so much to me
Just in time for my favorite day of the year, my go-to happy hour essentials! I know I’ve mentioned it before, but the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend is my favorite day of the year, because in my book, Memorial Day Weekend is the kickoff to summer, and I’m a forever-and-ever summertime girl.
For many years, we would go to the lake for MDW—boat rides, beach days, sunsets—but for the last several years, we’ve stayed in the city, and that has its own magic, too…the city is quiet and the weather’s amazing, and we spend as many hours as possible on the lawn and the rooftop and the patio.
As you know, we have a much-beloved happy hour rhythm for our friends and neighbors—we do it most weekends through the winter, but our frequency steps wayyyy up when the weather’s nice, partially because it’s such a delight to be outside in the nice weather, but also because we can invite so much more freely when we’re gathering outside instead of when we’re confined by our tiny apartments.
This is how it works: we text around about time and place—courtyard or patio, or someone’s apartment if the weather’s awful. The more, the merrier, and everyone brings something to share—a bottle of wine or chips & queso or cupcakes from Billy’s Bakery.
Sometimes there’s a theme—like fall favorites or Tex Mex, but oftentimes it’s just a delicious mash-up of takeout and what we happen to have on hand, sometimes recipes we’ve been wanting to try and sometimes old crowd favorites that stay in heavy rotation.
In terms of recent trends, currently we’re very into the Trader Joe’s Buffalo Chicken dip, any kind of onion dip, and big bowls of potato chips. For a while, we were in a nacho and queso phase, and last spring I think I served whipped ricotta in one form or another every week.
One of my core beliefs about hospitality (or anything, maybe?) is that you’ll do it more often and with more joy if you’re prepared. If every time you have the impulse to invite people out for happy hour, you have to go on a hunt for a blanket and you have to make a special trip to the store for cups and napkins, how often are you really going to do it?
But if you have a list and a plan, and you keep all those things you need on hand, it’s an easy yes every time the impulse strikes. At this point, I think I could be out the door in about 90 seconds, because I keep all our happy hour accoutrements assembled and ready—that way it’s never a huge lift, and I get to spend more time in the sunshine with people I love and less time panic-shopping at the terrible Target in Herald Square, for example ;)
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