All About a Book Party
and why gathering matters...
Last week my friend Ada and I co-hosted a really really fun book launch party for our friend Abbott. It was an absolute delight to celebrate, catch up with friends, eat and drink and laugh together on a very cold January night.
Ada and I sometimes have dinner together and brunch together, and we text each other book and movie recommendations, but mostly what we do together is throw parties. And as I write this, I’m realizing she’s definitely not my only friend for whom our primary shared activity is co-hosting…for years when we lived in Barrington, I threw as many parties in Kristi’s lovely kitchen as I did my own, and Jennifer and I are in constant party-planning mode. My friends Mark and Julia I co-hosted a really fun wine-tasting night, and Mark and Kyndi and I put together a gorgeous Thanksgiving for our families and a few others…I guess what I’m trying to say is “friend with whom I throw parties” is not a title that belongs to only one person in my life…so really, how lucky am I?!
Back to Ada—in fact, the first party Ada and I threw together was last summer, and it was a major, major milestone for me…one of those moments when you can actually feel your life changing in real time. I don’t think I ever even told her that, and it’s a story I’ve been wanting to share here for a long time…how’s that for a tease? Sorry…this is a story about a book party, not that party :)
By the way, in addition to being a party host extraordinaire, Ada is a brilliant writer—I was a big fan of her writing before I met her, and when we did meet at a party, I was fairly chill at first, “Oh, you’re a writer, too? What kind of writing do you do?”…but then all of a sudden it clicked…”Wait, Ada? Ada CALHOUN? Ada Calhoun who wrote Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give and Why We Don’t Sleep? I LOVE YOU! Aaron, I love her. I know her! I love you!” No chill. Absolutely none. Zero. (But also: life’s too hard and too short to play it cool. Chill is overrated.)
At dinner in the fall, we decided to throw a January party—holidays done, nothing fun happening, great time for a party…and then we realized another writer friend’s book was coming out this month—there it is: BOOK PARTY!
You know I love being a writer, and part of the job as I understand it is not just the writing, but also being a generous part of the writing community: endorsing books, supporting other writers, recommending books, etc etc. I’m pro-books, not just my books. I’m pro-reading, pro-bookstores, pro-libraries. It all matters to me, and celebrating another author’s book launch feels very much like a central part of what it means to be a writer.
Okay: party details! Abbott’s wonderful (dark, smart, creepy in a good way!) book Where You End is set in the 70s in Philly, and it has some cult aspects that involve ultra-creepy rabbit costumes (Are you intrigued yet? You’ll love it!), so that’s where we started from a theme and menu standpoint.
In the first couple pages of the book, she writes this beautifully evocative description of an Italian hoagie, so we knew we had to have those. After extensive research, Abbott decided that the Italian from Faicco’s on Bleecker would fit the bill, so we ordered three, cut them into two-inch squares with frilly toothpicks, and stacked them on a cake stand as the centerpiece of the table.
There’s another great scene in the book that involves tomato pie, which is a Philly classic. My neighbor Julia is an expert baker, so we sent her the recipe from Corropolese Bakery and asked her to replicate it, and the party guests from Philly had their minds blown at how good her version was. She also made cute/creepy/DELICIOUS bunny rabbit cookies that were basically the hit of the night.
So the Italian hoagies and the tomato pies nailed the Philly side of things, and the bunny cookies (and the signature cocktails—more on those later!) hit the plot points of the book. The rest of the menu was a nod to fun 70s cocktail parties—sweet and spicy meatballs, onion dip & chips, a cheeseball, deviled eggs and pigs in a blanket.
For the meatballs, I did a twist on the classic apricot jam and barbecue sauce—instead of apricot jam, I used mango chutney, which added a little heat. I used three bags of Trader Joe’s Frozen Party Meatballs, and equal parts barbecue sauce to mango chutney. (Meatballs aren’t that hard to make from scratch, but I find that in this situation, a frozen meatball is just fine.) I kept them in a covered pan in the oven at 300 so that I could refill the platter throughout the night—easy and delicious, and I will absolutely be adding them to my cocktail party repertoire.
Deviled eggs definitely are already part of my repertoire—I make them with cornichons and everything bagel seasoning, because I find them a little bland if they’re made with only mustard and mayo. And in the last several months I’ve landed on a new way to make them with a lot less work: welcome to Lazy/Spicy Deviled Eggs :)
Boil, peel and halve the eggs, and then mix up mayo and dijon—and if you’re feeling extra spicy, feel free to throw in a little minced shallot and some red hot sauce. Then dollop a little on top of each half—no need to scoop, mash, refill! Then sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning and top with a cornichon.
In fact, I was in a rush at Thanksgiving, and I didn’t even mix the mayo and dijon—I just plopped a little scoop of each on each egg half, then the seasoning and the pickle…sooo easy and so good. I sometimes just make a couple for myself—with a ruffly slice of mortadella with pistachio, it’s the perfect afternoon snack ;)
Two more things: I didn’t even have a chance to take a photo of the pigs in a blanket—that’s how fast they went. Literally, I pulled a third pan of them out of the oven, walked away for a minute before moving them from the sheet pan to a platter, and by the time I came back, the sheet pan was empty!
Similar to the meatballs, I have made them from scratch, but to be honest, the Trader Joe’s version—the Parmesan Pastry Pups—are so so much better than homemade. I made a little creamy honey mustard sauce for dipping, and three whole pans were gone in record time.
As I was putting together the menu I realized that between the Philly angle and the 70s vibes, there were not a lot of vegan/vegetarian options, so at the last minute, I added a mezze platter: hummus and muhummara, pita, cucumbers, kalamatas, grape tomatoes, sliced red peppers, and dolmas. This is one of my go-to moves—an easy/ delicious/stylish way to add lots of veggies and fresh flavors to any menu.
In our party-planning division of labor, I do the food and Ada takes care of the drinks, and this time around, she did two book-themed cocktails: The White Rabbit and the Cult Leader. The White Rabbit was a lemon/mint/vodka cocktail, and the Cult Leader was a (delicious!) pomegranate-vodka drink. Highly, highly recommend the signature cocktail plan—it means no one is mixing individual drinks, which is a big job for a party that size, and it adds a fun nod to the theme.
Part of why I’m telling you allllll the details about this particular party is because I really do believe all our lives are enriched by gatherings, and I want to give you one million ideas for how to make them happen. I’m not imagining, necessarily, that one of you out there is saying, “OMG! I was just thinking of a party with a 70s/Philly/creepy bunny theme…thanks for the menu ideas!” But I do think sometimes we don’t throw parties and plan gatherings because we get overwhelmed by the menu planning and shopping and logistics, and I’m very very passionate about making it easy, making it possible, making it do-able for every single one of us.
That’s why I talk about it so often and in so much detail, because I really believe it’s both do-able and very very meaningful. That night at Ada’s, I watched old friends reconnect. I watched strangers share stories and laugh together, finding common threads in their own lives and stories. I watched a friend who’s just beginning his writing life grow in confidence by the minute as people asked him about his writing, and my heart basically exploded with excitement for him. I met a writer whose work I absolutely love, and I told her so, and she cried—because being a writer is weird and lonely, and sometimes we need to hear that it matters to another living breathing human person. Connection matters. Showing up matters. Telling our stories and holding each others’ stories matters.
It’s not about the meatballs or the hoagies, but also great gatherings rarely happen without food—we’re hungry people, hungry for all sorts of things, and the food matters and the gathering matters, and that’s why I’m talking about it every chance I get.
You don’t have to have a theme or an elaborate menu, and it’s 100% acceptable (celebrated, frankly!) to buy most of the things you serve from the frozen section at TJ’s. Just send the invitation, gather up your people, open your door, repeat as needed. In a world of rampant isolation and loneliness, it matters. It really, really matters. Here’s to spending our time (energy, money, heart) on what matters.
XO—S