Have a BLAST this 4th
By Casey Gillis on Jun. 28, 2007
One of the biggest challenges to throwing an Independence Day bash this year is that the holiday falls on a Wednesday, smack dab in the middle of the workweek.
But you can still throw a rollicking Fourth of July party — with a little help from your friends, say Kristina “Morgan” Rose and Deandra “Brooksie” Brooks, authors of “The Recovering Sorority Girls’ Guide to a Year’s Worth of Perfect Parties.”
They suggest hosting a potluck, where each guest brings a dish to be shared among the group.
“It allows you to deal with the fact that it’s a mid-week holiday, and it allows you to stay away from the barbecue,” Rose says. “… It frees you away from the grill. In Lynchburg, it gets pretty hot, and the last thing you want to do is spend three hours in the afternoon standing next to something that’s burning.”
It also gives your guests a chance to express something about themselves and their backgrounds, she says. So encourage friends to bring a dish that will highlight a specific region or culinary tradition.
“You have to know your guests,” Rose says. “If you have a friend from Louisiana and they make a killer jambalaya, it would be a sin to not have them make it.”
If your guests are at a loss of what to bring, Rose and Brooks recommend telling them to bring vegetables, casseroles or cold salads (Brooks says using yogurt instead of mayo in a potato salad will keep it lighter).
As for main courses, tell friends to bring in shredded pork or turkey with barbecue sauce.
Cheri Barauskas, general manager at Meriwether’s on Boonsboro Road in Lynchburg, says to look at the grocery store to see what ingredients are fresh this time of year, then create your dish from there.
“Look at what you can find in your favorite magazines and what your favorite restaurants are serving as specials,” says Barauskas, who is in charge of the restaurant’s catering. “(It will give you an idea of) what’s fresh and what’s seasonal to bring your menu together.”
If you go with the potluck idea, dessert should be up to you, Brooks and Rose say in their book.
They’ve got the perfect item: the cupcake flag, 40 cupcakes frosted and arranged to look like one big American flag (see recipe on Page 18).
“It’s fun, it’s easy (and) it photographs really well,” Rose says.
Plus, adds Brooks, they’re already divided up into individual servings, so there’s no cutting required.
Another refreshing dessert option is a sorbet, which Rose says isn’t as hard as it sounds.
“The thing about homemade sorbet is it looks really complicated,” she says. “But its not really cooking. It’s stirring.”
To work in those patriotic colors, Web site PartyAmerica.com recommends making a strawberry and blueberry shortcake, topped with a little dollop of whipped cream.
If a potluck doesn’t sound appealing, you can always revert back to the classic barbecue with hot dogs, burgers and other grilled items.
PartyAmerica.com says to make sure you have a wide variety of condiments for your guests to smother their burgers and dogs with — including a selection of cheeses, ketchup, mustard, pickles, mushrooms, bacon, grilled onions, salsas, barbecue sauces and Thousand Island dressing.
Side items could be watermelon, corn on the cob, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad, macaroni salad and potato chips.
Barauskas says that fresh salads with something from the grill are popular right now, as are grilling fruits, like peaches with a little brown sugar on top.
“Things that don’t have to be refrigerated will hold up on the buffet table,” she says.
Another option you have is to make some sort of wrap, says Susan Peverill, owner of the Academy Café in downtown Lynchburg, which also provides catering services (see her Thai Chicken recipe on Page 18).
“It’s really easy to eat because it’s all in a wrap,” she says.
Buy colored tortillas — in this case, in red, white and blue — to brighten things up a bit.
Peverill says to pair the wrap with a nice fruit salad made up of whatever is fresh at your local grocer, like cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple and mandarin oranges. It’s easy to make too — all you do is combine the fruits in a bowl and mix it up.
“I like to (make) things that are colorful and healthy,” she says.
For dessert, she recommends cookies or brownies.
You can cook brownies the night before, and they’ll still be good the next day. With the cookies, prep them the night before, but don’t bake them until the last minute.
Rose says another area where you can really incorporate the red, white and blue is in the cocktails that you serve.
Try making watermelon margaritas, blue lemonade coolers and pina coladas.
Another refreshing summer drink is sangria. All you need for it is a great bottle of wine, fruit and some corn syrup, Barauskas says.
Whether or not you use the ideas recommended here, the key to throwing any good party is thinking ahead.
“Planning is the key word,” Barauskas says. “Do as much ahead of time (as you can). Have the grill hot and the beer cold.”
Party Tips
The Sorority Girls recommend starting the party around 4 p.m. That way, it will wrap up in time for you and your guests to watch local fireworks displays.
Use red, white and blue paper plates, utensils and tablecloths. To save money, don’t be afraid to recycle leftovers from other holidays — odds are you’ve got some red cups and cutlery lying around from Christmas.
A beach pail makes a great utensil holder at the end of a buffet. Plus, they’re relatively inexpensive at your neighborhood drug store.
Borrow tables and chairs from your friends and neighbors so there’s enough seating for everyone.
Instead of a cooler, fill up a kiddie pool with ice and drinks.
Decorate with American flags and red, white and blue streamers and balloons. Wrap the streamers around trees, posts and fences in your backyard, and attach the balloons to chairs and tables. Display smaller American flags as centerpieces, and hang the larger ones around the yard in a prominent, yet respectful manner.
Pull those white Christmas lights out of storage and string them in the trees in your yard. Not only is it a beautiful decoration, it’ll add extra lighting once it gets dark out.
Spray your backyard for insects a few hours before guests are scheduled to arrive. It’ll keep the bugs away, but the smell of the insecticide should be long gone by party time. Also stock up on citronella candles and bug spray, too. The more you do to keep the bugs at bay, the happier your guests will be.
To keep guests occupied before and after they eat, organize some lawn games, like croquet, volleyball, badminton, lawn darts, ping-pong or bocce ball. This will “get people talking,” says Deandra Brooks, co-author of “The Recovering Sorority Girls’ Guide.” “It gives them something to do other than sit around and talk about how hot it is.”
Sparklers are a must at any Fourth of July Party — just make sure you’re careful and that you supervise any children handling them.
Since there’s a limited number of tunes that truly capture the spirit of the Fourth, Brooks and Rose recommend playing whatever music you and your friends usually listen to, be it Top 40, country, or classic rock.
Incorporate a water element to combat the heat, whether it’s sprinklers for the kids to sprint through or misters to cool the adults.
Sources: “The Recovering Sorority Girls’ Guide to a Year’s Worth of Parties”; http://www.PartyAmerica.com
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