P.S. At Greek Liquor Night, You’re Responsible for Your Own Cheese Pies!
PLUS what to read, watch, listen to, and more!
Hi friends!
With the start of September upon us, I’m back again with P.S. – my monthly recap of the month before. Andrew is back in school, and I’m squeezing what I can of the last warm weeks before the air turns crisp and fall is fully upon us.
If you’re short on time today, the key below can help you jump around:
🍽Tales From My Adventures in Hosting
🛍 Surprisingly Useful Products I *Highly* Recommend
📚 Worth the Read
🎧 Worth the Listen
📺 Worth the Watch
👩🏾🍳What to Cook this Week
🎥 Reel Roundup
Note: Links preceded by an asterisk (*) are affiliate links that allow me to collect a small commission when you purchase something I’ve recommended. That said, I can promise I’ll only ever share items I love. Buying through these links is one way to support me and my small biz. ❤️
🍽Tales From My Adventures in Hosting
Since moving, we’ve gladly welcomed a revolving door of visitors into our new home. Through some trial and error, we’ve settled into a tour routine that always starts with a drink. Invited to peruse our bar cart, our guests are given the highlights – *the wine we’re obsessed with from Italy, the restaurant-worthy canned cocktail (served with a side of celeb drama), and the best affordable Mezcal money can buy! But, inevitably, the list always pauses on the same clear bottle with a blue label. The Ouzo. “What’s this one?” they ask, and Andrew launches into the Ouzo spiel.
Now, if you read last month’s P.S, you already got the Ouzo spiel:
“Greece’s national spirit, this liqueur made by distilling grapes, is a new fave of ours. It has a strong anise taste and is meant to be sipped, often served with a glass of water that can be mixed with the liquor. I’ve always preferred hard liquor (read: shots, lol) over cocktails or beer/wine because too much liquid really hurts my stomach (IBS problems, smh), which makes Ouzo an ideal drink!!”
Inevitably, the drink that got the spiel is the one folks wanted to try. But Andrew wasn’t having it. To him, Ouzo is an experience. And yes, he did want to share that experience with friends and family, but only if he was doing it the *right way*. For him, that meant correctly sized glassware, *a quality ice bucket + tongs, and *the perfect cube-shaped ice. He just didn’t have the setup, which meant no Ouzo for you.
This exchange played itself out no less than three times before we inevitably found ourselves getting clowned at a party: “How are you gonna tell someone all about Ouzo and how great it is and refuse to share??”
But finally, Andrew was ready. Equipped with the tools needed for a superior Ouzo experience, Andrew flipped the drag on its head: “My place. Friday. Ouzo night!”
A casual, fun, laid-back opportunity to connect with three of our friends! Except neither Andrew nor I (read: especially Andrew) are capable of being that “laid back.” Extra is pretty much always the name of the game, and before long, Andrew started laying the groundwork for a fully themed Greek dinner party. For the week leading up to the evening, he researched and tested at least seven different Greek recipes, making many of them repeatedly in a relentless pursuit to ensure he’d nail it. I’m not exaggerating when I say I tried everything we served at least three times in the week (Andrew is a teacher with a summer break, allowing occasional indulgences into all-day cooking).
We told our friends to come hungry, but the full extent of our foray into hosting was left as a surprise.
When Friday finally arrived, the seven recipes Andrew had planned suddenly seemed extremely ambitious. Most critically, he ran out of time to prep the Sfakianes Pites (aka cheese pies with honey)! Andrew was seconds away from tossing the entire plan when I had an idea – what if we used the dough he already made and had people assemble and fry their own personal pie as a pre-dinner activity? Gold. Being unprepared might actually result in some fun for all of us! Later, Andrew told me he’d read about a similar concept in *An Everlasting Meal, a great read on any day where the idea of cooking sounds better than the practice of it.
When everyone arrived, we put the group to work. The challenge – try to make the best cheese pie in the group (spoiler alert: it wasn’t me). It was really fun and, honestly, probably even better than if we’d finished them on time. Other food highlights included this hummus (the true star of the night), this made-from-scratch pita (surprisingly easy), and this beet dish (sure to convert even the most hesitant salad eater).
I’ve always loved hosting, and getting to do it in our new house is really helping me feel more at home since moving. For a while, I was kind of sad about leaving our old apartment because of all the memories that space held. It’s an adjustment to be somewhere new because memories need time before they can nestle their way into the corners of a new space. But hosting seems to fast-track this process a little, giving us an event to hang good feelings on – a reason to feel nostalgic for memories in a new home we’re still getting to know. <3
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Join our paid community to unlock the rest of this issue, including:
🛍 Surprisingly Useful Products I *Highly* Recommend
📚 Worth the Read
🎧 Worth the Listen
📺 Worth the Watch
👩🏾🍳What to Cook this Week
🎥 Reel Roundup