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What was your mom's go-to meal or horsedoovers when she hosted a dinner party?

When times weren't THAT lean. Even working class folks had guests to dinner sometimes! Barbecue? Buffet? Dining room sit down?

(Notice the bottle of Chianti.)

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by Anonymousreply 105November 13, 2019 4:04 AM

horsedoovers

by Anonymousreply 1November 7, 2019 8:38 PM

Celery sticks with cream cheese/green olives and salty juice. Mmm.-good!

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by Anonymousreply 2November 7, 2019 8:40 PM

Omg R2!

I was just about to post celery sticks and clam dip.

by Anonymousreply 3November 7, 2019 8:41 PM

Is that okra at least pickled?

by Anonymousreply 4November 7, 2019 8:43 PM

We didn't really have people over much. Dad was a grouch when alive and my mom was overwhelmed already with just us kids. My family mainly went to potlucks. The "moveable potluck" was all the rage in the mid to late 80s where one family went to one house for one course, then moved on to the next. My mom usually tried for appetizers (dip and chips and cut up veggies) or dessert (cool whip pie or Jello-no bake cheesecake).

by Anonymousreply 5November 7, 2019 8:45 PM

Thanks. I had never heard of such a party. How many houses could be squeezed in?

by Anonymousreply 6November 7, 2019 8:47 PM

R6 it was usually at least 5 homes. Appetizer, salad, (or add soup ) two mains and a dessert.

by Anonymousreply 7November 7, 2019 8:48 PM

An entire street of tidied up houses! Clever.

by Anonymousreply 8November 7, 2019 8:50 PM

My parents hosted a cocktail party at least once a year. It kind of rotated among the neighbors. Typical 70s noshes, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon on melba toast. For dinner parties, chicken cordon bleu was my mom's go-to. She did Cornish game hens once and my dad complained it was too hard to eat. For fancy dinners she would do a beef tenderloin or a crown roast. I remember helping my sisters make a Baked Alaska for one dinner party. Messy and labor intensive.

No one brought their kids to a cocktail or dinner party. My siblings and I were banished to the basement for the duration and only allowed to come upstairs in case of life threatening medical condition.

by Anonymousreply 9November 7, 2019 8:52 PM

[quote] What was your mom's go-to meal ... when she hosted a dinner party?

Gin and regret.

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by Anonymousreply 10November 7, 2019 8:53 PM

Deviled eggs

by Anonymousreply 11November 7, 2019 8:56 PM

Yes we were banned as well, but usually had something special to occupy us - like new records or some crafty thing. My parents were not smokers so cigarette smoke mixed with perfume was intoxicating and glamorous.

by Anonymousreply 12November 7, 2019 8:58 PM

Stuffed celery (cream cheese, not peanut butter which I thought was gross), olives (Green and black), pearl onions, gherkins, and deviled eggs (which I've never liked).

by Anonymousreply 13November 7, 2019 9:35 PM

What was the point of deviled eggs as a horsedoover? Heavy and fatty. Sop up the booze? Didn't they ruin guests' appetites?

by Anonymousreply 14November 7, 2019 9:39 PM

Lasagne.

by Anonymousreply 15November 7, 2019 9:42 PM

We did not have dinner parties.

by Anonymousreply 16November 7, 2019 9:42 PM

Cream cheese spread between two slices of Gallo salame (yes, that's how they spell it) and rolled up.

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by Anonymousreply 17November 7, 2019 10:50 PM

Lipton onion soup dip and Ruffles!

by Anonymousreply 18November 7, 2019 10:50 PM

Company Casserole, (poor man's lasagna)

by Anonymousreply 19November 7, 2019 10:56 PM

OP is an uneducated Philistine. The correct term is WHORE'D HERBS.

by Anonymousreply 20November 7, 2019 11:00 PM

My mom use to make cream cheese mixed with dill wrapped in crescent roll dough. It was actually pretty good

by Anonymousreply 21November 7, 2019 11:10 PM

Gallo salami is the best! (in the rolls, not pre-sliced)

The only time my parents had people over was Christmas or New Years. My mom made a modified version of "Matambre" a flank steak roulade filled with ham, celery, carrots, hard boiled eggs, and olives. She was generally a lousy cook, but this is one think she aced.

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by Anonymousreply 22November 7, 2019 11:12 PM

Frozen daiquiris (original lime flavor) using this Minute Maid frozen limeade. Very good, actually.

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by Anonymousreply 23November 7, 2019 11:18 PM

Mama was kind of trashy, so she would serve a spam salad in aspic for hors d'œuvres.

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by Anonymousreply 24November 7, 2019 11:23 PM

Prosciutto wrapped around slices of melon. Bruschetta with mozzarella and fresh basil drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Thin crusted pizza with fig preserves fresh arugula, thin slivers of fresh Anjou pears, and goat cheese. little bowls of black olives.

Dinner was usually Lasagna, or homemade ravioli with ricotta, in a meat sauce. Fresh green salad with oil and wine vinegar Italian dressing and garlic bread.

by Anonymousreply 25November 7, 2019 11:25 PM

How old are you, r25?

by Anonymousreply 26November 7, 2019 11:32 PM

I was about to ask, too, R26. Sounds like a late '90s meal.

by Anonymousreply 27November 7, 2019 11:34 PM

Seafood casserole

by Anonymousreply 28November 7, 2019 11:41 PM

Quiche. Ham and cheese and a veggie one.

by Anonymousreply 29November 7, 2019 11:42 PM

My mom's main specialty meals for dinner parties were beef stroganoff, coq au vin or chicken caccitore with homemade noodles. On rare occasions, she made her own specialty, boasted rockfish in white wine, fresh thyme and lemon.

She was an amazing cook and very versatile, making everything from pies with her own crusts (and homemade mincemeat) to Eggs Benedict (homemade hollindaise sauce, too), and even clam chowder. And she never used a measuring spoon.

by Anonymousreply 30November 7, 2019 11:55 PM

R5, R6, Loved my Camp Fire Girls annual Christmas progressive dinner. Appetizers like barbecued meatballs made in the oven at one house, jello fruit salads at the 2nd, main dishes with tater tots at the 3rd, and always dessert at the final place who had a player piano where we all sang Christmas carols. Favorite annual holiday tradition.

by Anonymousreply 31November 7, 2019 11:58 PM

Mine was a single working mom who had no time for things like dinner parties.

by Anonymousreply 32November 8, 2019 12:00 AM
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by Anonymousreply 33November 8, 2019 12:01 AM

Mom didn't do dinner parties; she wasn't much of a cook, tbh. She did smallish "card parties", and served a big spaghetti casserole with a side garden salad, both pretty much foolproof.

by Anonymousreply 34November 8, 2019 12:09 AM

a big bowl of chilled shrimp with home made cocktail sauce, Pickled Herring, Smoked oysters, several cheeses, chips & Dip

by Anonymousreply 35November 8, 2019 12:11 AM

[quote]My mom use to make cream cheese mixed with dill wrapped in crescent roll dough. It was actually pretty good

That sounds delicious. It's nearly dinnertime and I'm really hungry, but that cream cheese thing is all I can think about.

by Anonymousreply 36November 8, 2019 12:39 AM

Stuffed pork chops. Delicious.

by Anonymousreply 37November 8, 2019 12:43 AM

My mom at 85 is still a great cook. She still has a gaggle of girlfriends, most of which are much younger but the all agree my mom is the best cook of the bunch. However, with her age she can’t do heavy lifting, so that’s were my and my BF step in, the chopping, the roasting etc. growing up in her household taught me and my sister to be good cooks. But BF couldn’t boil the proverbial water before we got involved and now he’s very good in the kitchen thanks to my mom.

But to the topic at hand her good to fancy dish for special occasion was leg of lamb with a mustard crust. She’s Brazilian so she mastered food from her native land, and my dad was of middle eastern decent and dishes learned how to cook Arabic food as well and then of course food from her adopted country American cuisine.

We grew up in the 70’s and 80’s never went out to eat, she cooked every day. And I’m thankful for it.

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by Anonymousreply 38November 8, 2019 1:07 AM

We ate a lot of lamb growing up. Years later I worked a decade with Saudis and yum, the lamb roasts!!! Eat with the right hand.

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by Anonymousreply 39November 8, 2019 1:11 AM

She'd put out a tray pf various olives and pickles, salami filled with cream cheese and chives, deviled eggs, and water chestnuts wrapped in bacon and marinated in soy sauce and brown sugar, baked in the oven until the bacon was crisp. And fondue, with little cubes of Italian and rye bread. My sister and I were assigned to help her.

by Anonymousreply 40November 8, 2019 2:31 AM

Caviar on toast points. With onion, capers, and chopped hard boiled egg.

by Anonymousreply 41November 8, 2019 3:01 AM

Gin and Cheez-Its

by Anonymousreply 42November 8, 2019 3:05 AM

reply 38

by Anonymousreply 43November 8, 2019 3:18 AM

I screwed up on the previous post. I meant to say that R38's mother is kind of a dream mom. Making people feel welcome through food is a great unrecognized gift.

by Anonymousreply 44November 8, 2019 3:21 AM

Party potatoes! I still make them and they are a hit every time! Basically a potato casserole. Super tasty. Even the biggest snobs I know love ‘em.

by Anonymousreply 45November 8, 2019 3:34 AM

Once the chip and dip serving set made an appearance, along with Lipton soup mix onion dip and a freshly opened bag of Ruffles, as someone mentioned above, that meant PARTAY.

I’d pour myself a ginger ale on the rocks and circulate my 8-year old self amongst the guests. Glamorous? YES. But that was just my life.

by Anonymousreply 46November 8, 2019 3:56 AM

Yes, ginger ale is very glamorous.

by Anonymousreply 47November 8, 2019 4:07 AM

Ah, ginger ale. It seemed like magic when I was a child. The only time we ever had it is when there was a cocktail party at the house (maybe 2-3 times a year) and on NY Eve. "Us kids" got banished to mom & dad's bedroom with our tray of party foods and some ginger ale in those little clear plastic party glasses. And we *better not* spill it on the carpet or in the bed!. We got to stay up late and watch TV in the bedroom until the party was over. It seemed so special.

by Anonymousreply 48November 8, 2019 4:13 AM

Paella--both risotto style and "dry" style.

Fried plantains--sweet and savory.

Fried yucca.

Black beans and rice.

"Cuban" salad: cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and avocado. "American" potato salad.

Flan and coconut flan for dessert. Also assorted cheeses served with homemade preserves (coconut or cherries).

Espresso, wine, beer and assorted sodas. Also margaritas, daiquiris and Spanish cognac.

Always several choices and tons of food.

Since our dining room was in the same space as the living room, we would move the dining room table and the kitchen table into the garage with the leaves on both. My aunt and uncle would bring over extra dining chairs if needed.

They would also bring my grandmother's rocking chair over if she was attending.

I'm sure the white people in our neighborhood made fun of our garage dinner parties.

by Anonymousreply 49November 8, 2019 4:49 AM

Ruffles & clam dip (home-made with cream cheese & canned clams).

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by Anonymousreply 50November 8, 2019 4:59 AM

My mother wasn't much of a cook. My parents hosted bridge parties. I think they served mixed nuts, cheese and crackers, and olives. She had ladies over for coffee. I remember the big coffee urn and candies arranged on a tiered dish.

by Anonymousreply 51November 8, 2019 5:38 AM

What are party potatoes? Are they same as funeral potatoes?

by Anonymousreply 52November 8, 2019 10:31 AM

What's a dinner party?

by Anonymousreply 53November 8, 2019 11:55 AM

My mother always liked to have a theme. So sometimes it was Italian, other times Middle Eastern, or Chinese or Indian food. It was always good, because she was an awesome cook.

by Anonymousreply 54November 8, 2019 11:59 AM

For her bridge club - onion dip and clam dip with Bugles and Chicken in a Biskit crackers.

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by Anonymousreply 55November 8, 2019 12:19 PM

My mom liked to do buffet dinners, if I remember correctly, and would do a big beef tenderloin or ham, with some kind of rich casserole like an asparagus casserole with bechamel sauce. I also remember a lot of cheese balls. Marinated crab claws.

by Anonymousreply 56November 8, 2019 12:25 PM

No dinner parties, but when the grandparents visited, dad would buy a bottle of Seagram's 7 and every night, they would have highballs!!!

by Anonymousreply 57November 8, 2019 12:51 PM

R24, I've seen Porsche girl and -- sometimes -- even like Spam, but that is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.

by Anonymousreply 58November 8, 2019 1:26 PM

Standing Rib roast with a horseradish & sour creme concoction with Fresh Dill. Even now.....

by Anonymousreply 59November 8, 2019 1:28 PM

Food at our family dinner parties growing up was quintessentially 70's, bland, safe, suburban "Brady Bunch" cuisine---baked ham, steak, chicken divan or cordon bleu, lasagna, French cut green beans almondine, candied carrots, scalloped potatoes, lime/pear jello salad mold. My parents (now in their 80's) ALWAYS served whiskey sours. Elderly aunts and uncles would give us kids their booz soaked maraschino cherries from the bottom of their glasses. Good times.

by Anonymousreply 60November 8, 2019 1:54 PM

Cream cheese smoked oyster roll (canned smoked oysters). Very delicious. I think Wheat Thins was the cracker of choice.

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by Anonymousreply 61November 8, 2019 4:54 PM

So very much cream cheese in everyone's lives!

by Anonymousreply 62November 8, 2019 6:54 PM

Another oldie but goodie horsedoover of yesteryear that I still like to put out is a block of cream cheese topped with jam (either raspberry or pepper jelly) and served with saltine crackers.

by Anonymousreply 63November 8, 2019 7:10 PM

Being native Southern Californians, probably 99% of the entertaining my parents did was backyard barbecues, for that's what they'd been brought up with. These were wonderful affairs, with no expense spared. The 2-inch-thick steaks would be marinated in my dad's special burgundy marinade starting the day before. My mom would make her famous potato salad, and there would be the obligatory green salads (plural), chili beans, toasted garlic french bread, and usually some exotic vegetables, such as asparagus with cheese sauce, artichokes, green beans with slivered almonds and bacon, and/or carrots cut julienne in butter sauce. The dinner would be preceded by cocktails. Very strong cocktails made with top-shelf liquors. And of course there were the obligatory deviled eggs, chips and dip, olives, celery sticks and all the other accoutrements. Ginger ale, Coca-Cola, fruit juice and milk were available for the kids. These were barbecues, but not the trailer park variety.

I only recall a couple of times when our entertaining was done indoors, and both times it was raining so we couldn't go outside. They were so uneventful I can't remember anything about them.

by Anonymousreply 64November 9, 2019 2:23 AM

Fuck. I just got a hankering for smoked horsedoovers.

by Anonymousreply 65November 9, 2019 2:27 AM

R64 wins. That sounds fabulous.

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by Anonymousreply 66November 9, 2019 7:42 AM

The go to hors d'oeuvres were - softened cream cheese spread on a plate, topped with cocktail sauce and a couple cans of crab meat, served with Triskets, wedge of brie covered with apricot jam and baked in puff pastry, wine cheese ball rolled in nuts. Entree was either beef burgundy, or beef stroganoff..... When they retired to the living room, I was the coffee service waitress -- had my own tray and everything. What a queen I was. Mom looked like Liz Taylor -- she usually wore a turtleneck sweater and a hostess dress... Dad looked like a dark haired Steve Lawrence - sportcoat and tie......we were the fashionable family on the street.

by Anonymousreply 67November 9, 2019 8:19 AM

Fondue

by Anonymousreply 68November 9, 2019 9:16 AM

They were known as "whoredoors" around my house. I still joke about "cham-pag (hard g)-ne and whoredoors". My mother would often do fondue and she had a "hostess" dress that was not as hideous as it sounds. It was hot pants under a long split dress. Hers was white crocheted lace with a low, square neckine, almost to the ankles and the sides were split to show off the hotpants. She had the figure to pull it off too. She looked fabulous.

Yes, the kids were always banished and I wish it was still that way. I can't count how many times an adult party has been interrupted by attention seeking "indigo" children whose parents force guests to watch the cheer routines or new gymnatics moves of their staggeringly ordinary spawn.

A few years ago I attended a few "moving cocktail parties". Those are fun.

by Anonymousreply 69November 9, 2019 9:28 AM

When she hosted bridge parties, Mother made frozen grasshopper cocktails. The ladies kept the blender going all night.

by Anonymousreply 70November 9, 2019 9:35 AM

Another thing I remember were the strawberry daquiries my mother's crowd made. Rum, frozen strawberries and frozen pink lemonade in a blender. Absolutely delicious. I've tried to copy the recipe but it's not the same. We've decided the pink lemonade is made differently now.

by Anonymousreply 71November 9, 2019 9:39 AM

I hated moving dinner parties when they were a thing. How annoying to travel from one house to the next with everyone stressed about sticking to a strict timeline. You just get comfortable somewhere, and may be in a conversation with someone, and the alarm goes off that it's time to move to the next house. They took forever. Not to mention how dangerous it is to be driving around dunk.

by Anonymousreply 72November 9, 2019 9:40 AM

"softened cream cheese spread on a plate, topped with cocktail sauce and a couple cans of crab meat"

I make this except I also take some thawed pre-cooked shrimp and line the plate.

by Anonymousreply 73November 9, 2019 9:43 AM

R72, most moving parties are in a small area so people can walk. In my old hood, we used golf carts because it was a very small, island community.

by Anonymousreply 74November 9, 2019 9:44 AM

Every New Year's day my parents would host a Velvet Hammer party. Lots of hors d oeuvres-cocktail wieners in sauce, crab meat, cream cheese with chili sauce and club crackers, cocktail meatballs, veggie tray, and veggie pizza with some type of ranch sauce,. These were the main ones I remember. We also were banished to the basement. Our reward was one of those chocolate chip cookie pies. We could gage the alcohol intake based on the volume of conversations upstairs. Crazy, but there never was any concerns with drinking and driving for many years. Eventually they were concerns and the parties quickly mellowed.

by Anonymousreply 75November 9, 2019 9:53 AM

[quote] What a queen I was.

Oh honey R67, judging from the way you told that story, you still sound like a QUEEN.

by Anonymousreply 76November 9, 2019 12:28 PM

You people with the adult cocktail party stories, are hilarious. Especially told from your childhood perspective.

It made me wonder if any of the adults at these parties were sleeping with each others' husbands or wives? Any "swingers?" Any drama?

There must have been SOME neighborhood gossip, to go along with those appetizers.

by Anonymousreply 77November 9, 2019 12:30 PM

R77 I was just thinking the same! All these good looking people and the women in their fancy hostess dresses...

by Anonymousreply 78November 9, 2019 12:33 PM

[quote] she usually wore a turtleneck sweater and a hostess dress.

Both, r67? That seems OTT.

by Anonymousreply 79November 9, 2019 12:36 PM

My parents used to host cocktail parties before they would go out for an evening, or to a show. We had a big family, both my parents came from 10 and none of them really had friends outside them. They socialized mostly every weekend, and I would stay with my grandparents who lived upstairs (which I loved). They would have mostly wine and beer, maybe a couple of mixed drink choices (I remember a Whisky Sour and a Tom Collins, each had special glasses to be served in). For food, it was simple, mostly 70s fair - deviled eggs, crackers, cheese, pepperoni. She would usually make small spinach pies and a big pizza cut into squares. Of course, you could see no one from the waist up with all the smoke. Everyone was all dressed up, my mom had a fox stole she always wore and she always had beautiful cocktail dresses as did all of my aunts. The men were all in suits and smoked cigars. Dinner parties always were pot luck, but my mom always had a big salad and pasta, her go to was usually steaks on the grill in the summer and a chuck roast in the winter, or sometimes roasted chicken. Dessert was never a big thing for us, usually lemon squares from the bakery and always coffee. (they used to call it Coffee An' - I guess it was an old term to mean you were having coffee and, or with pastry). Sometimes we would have just that, or people would come over after the evening out for Coffee An' - if I woke up my grandmother would let me come downstairs to say hello and I would come back up and bring her a lemon square and we used to sit in her big chair and share it. God, I miss her and she passed in 1986. Wow, I haven't thought of this in years, thanks for the neat stories on here. Great thread.

by Anonymousreply 80November 9, 2019 12:47 PM

I'm a guy but even in the 70s, boys got babysitting gigs. Sure I moved lawns and did garden work for money, too. Anyway, there was a very charming Italian car mechanic who was on his 2nd wife and they would hire me to babysit a toddler. One time they took the wife's car. There was a knock on the door and a housewife from down the street was there and surprised to see me. She was pretty dolled up. And who knocks at the door at 9pm, alone? When the couple came home, I told Vinny that Betty came over. What a little cunt I was. He was blasé in front of me and his wife but he winked at me when she wasn't looking. He paid me double and winked again. I would have been on all fours for that daddy mechanic! Wirey built little stud guido with huge man hands and fingers.

by Anonymousreply 81November 9, 2019 1:03 PM

I recall this because Vinny was the light of any grownup party. His eyes sparkled and he had melodious voice, and in a middle class neighborhood he had a working class man's job. His garage must have done really well! And I bet he fucked his brains out for 50 years.

by Anonymousreply 82November 9, 2019 1:06 PM

Pot Roast with potatoes cooked in the gravy. The best I've ever had. I'd kill to have Mom's pot roast one more time.

by Anonymousreply 83November 9, 2019 1:18 PM

Pot roast isn't an hors d'oeuvre.

by Anonymousreply 84November 9, 2019 1:22 PM

The most basic stuff imaginable...

A plate of carrot sticks, celery sticks and green bell pepper strips (all cut herself) and a bowl of sour cream mixed with onion soup mix in the middle.

Maybe a cheese log from Cracker Barrell.

A tray of Ritz crackers with that squeeze cheese out of a can sprayed in a "fancy" swirl on top and a single green olive slice (from a jar) on top of that. My brother and I were fascinated with the squeeze cheese thing, and never got to see that unless guests were coming, and no we couldn't have any.

The most exotic thing I remember her making was homemade Chex Mix when that was all the rage. Chex cereal varieties, pretzel sticks, and peanuts (am I missing something?) slathered in oil, butter and salt and baked in the over on a large cookie sheet. Then served warm in massive wood bowls by the fireplace in the winter. This was the late 70's. As little kids we were allowed to eat that and did. God, it was delicious. And no, the stuff they sell in bags today is nothing like the original homemade stuff, not remotely.

by Anonymousreply 85November 9, 2019 1:26 PM

To answer the "swinger" question, I remember when we moved from the "starter" home to a new house farther away and my parents were invited to a NYE party from the old 'hood a few years later. They came home pretty early but years later my mother told me that when they got to the party they noticed the couples were getting pretty handsy and friendly with non-spouses. They realized their old neighbors had become swingers and left. My parents were pretty uncomfortable with the atmosphere especially Dad, who was always fairly old fashioned and conservative. All those swinger couples ended up divorced too.

by Anonymousreply 86November 9, 2019 1:40 PM

R86, yes but what did they serve as appetizers? Get with the thread!

by Anonymousreply 87November 9, 2019 2:12 PM

R84 r87 READ the thread TITLE. It says "go-to MEAL OR horsedoovers."

by Anonymousreply 88November 9, 2019 2:16 PM

[quote] Pot Roast with potatoes cooked in the gravy. The best I've ever had. I'd kill to have Mom's pot roast one more time.

My mom's pot roast was really good as well. Potatoes, carrots, and onions in the pot alongside. Secret ingredient: Lipton onion soup mix (liberally coated on the pot roast). She made a gravy to go with.

Yes, I realize this is not an hors d'oeuvre, but since R83 mentioned it ...

by Anonymousreply 89November 9, 2019 4:26 PM

r81 r82 But was Vinny's lasagne Bolognese or New Jersey style?

by Anonymousreply 90November 9, 2019 5:26 PM

I do know that our neighbors, the Diehls and Kerns enjoyed drinking MANY Velvet Hammers. They would always leave together and end up at the Diehls house. It was a poorly kept secret that they were swingers. Of course it wasn't until I was 12 that I finally found out what that meant. How? At cocktail party down the street, while kids were banished to the basement, we heard some loud and slightly slurred conversations. The floor vents were great for listening. Apparently, Mr. Wolf down the street had been caught (not the first time) peeping in windows at night. He had been arrested. Fast forward to the next neighborhood cocktail party where we learned more details while in the basement.. Peeping Tom had threatened the 2 couples of exposing their swinging lifestyle to the neighborhood if they did not drop the charges. Yep he was caught by Mr. Diehls and Mrs. Kern in that bedroom window.

by Anonymousreply 91November 9, 2019 6:19 PM

R79 - well, technically, it was a hostess skirt - empire waist, so the turtleneck was kind of necessary...

by Anonymousreply 92November 10, 2019 5:14 AM

Appetizers were veggies and chips and onion dip and other finger foods she made from recipes.

Cocktails of course. 7&7, whisky sours, gin and tonic, the classic bar fare.

Dinners were served with wine. Salad, roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, and asparagus or green beans, desserts were Boston Cream Pie, Lemon Meringue Pie (homemade).

My mother wasn't a fabulous cook but she got better as she aged. Made a great homemade fried chicken and french fries for the family. She seemed to enjoy cooking for parties and would really knock herself out with the preparations, especially at Thanksgiving. The meals were dreadful when she was really young. Married and a mother at age 20.

My grandmother was a great cook and her parties always included cocktails, 7&7s were a favorite. Grandpa always gave me a sip of his. She would make chocolate bourbon balls for dessert, liberally laced with bourbon.

by Anonymousreply 93November 10, 2019 5:30 AM

My mom had one "homemade from scratch" item: chex mix. Her signature main course dinner item was minute rice, breakfast sausages, and applesauce.

by Anonymousreply 94November 10, 2019 5:39 AM

Guacamole + tortilla chips were de rigueur for company.

And we didn’t serve a side of salsa, back then.

by Anonymousreply 95November 10, 2019 6:10 AM

I remember my mother making those rolled "sandwiches" with lavosh when I was very young. Aside from those, our horsedoovers were more along the lines of the kind of canapes that (thankfully) started falling out of favor in the '80s. She didn't tend to repeat mains for dinner parties (except for Thanksgiving and Christmas), but for dessert we'd often have pear sorbet with champagne. And of course After Eight mints were served at the very end with coffee.

My absolute favorite as a child was when my mother would throw fundraisers for her best friend's repeated attempts at summitting Mt. Everest. Then, she'd have a dessert potluck.

by Anonymousreply 96November 10, 2019 6:55 AM

R89, My mother's best meal was pot roast with homemade gravy, carrots, onion slices, and potatoes cooked along with the meat.

My brother-in-law complained to me that he was sick of my mother's Fri night plain roast chicken dinner, plain with nothing on it. I told him to order her "beast stew." He said he hated beast stew. I made him order it.

Next time I talked to him he told me that it was absolutely the best beast stew he ever had, better than he could ever imagine. Except. . . it wasn't beast stew but actually pot roast using a much cheaper cut of beef made tender by the long cooking process.

by Anonymousreply 97November 10, 2019 7:09 AM

R60 - was there anything better than those times? How lucky you to have your parents still here - I hope they are well.

by Anonymousreply 98November 10, 2019 9:47 PM

My mother was the original "Peg Bracken - I hate to cook". But there are meals I had growing up that I still make today and will serve to company. Ones is a chuck roast (on sale the cheapest beef you can buy) placed in a oven-proof casserole topped with a can of Cream of Mushroom soup and a packet of Lipton's Onion Soup mix and a can of water. Put it in the oven at 325 F for 2-3 hours. Melt in your mouth! Serve with cream mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. I could eat the whole pot roast.

by Anonymousreply 99November 10, 2019 9:52 PM

So very much cream cheese in everyone's lives!

There was a time when cream cheese = fancy,so I can see how you'd bring out your best for a cocktail party! Did anyone have chipped beef mixed in cream cheese (and probably some kind of dried soup mix) over a Ritz cracker? Good stuff!

So many memories - my mom's specialty was water chestnuts wrapped in bacon, broiled and marinated in soy sauce in a crockpot. Most everyone smoked, drank even when pregnant or trailing around an oxygen tank and the more sodium, the better!

My parents didn't have parties with a lot of friends, but they did have parties with my dad's family; it's so funny how now people's lives are so kid-centric, while the rules at these parties were that kids stayed out of they way! And when it was time to go to bed, you better damn well go to bed and don't make fuss and ruin my good time! I was glad to go to bed though, as my mom - who didn't drink much - was kind of sloppy drunk when she did drink and I always felt embarrassed for her.

by Anonymousreply 100November 10, 2019 10:03 PM

R100, the whole kid-centric thing amazes me. It's not like our parents didn't love us or do things with us, but they also had lives of their own, social lives that didn't revolve around children. It's not just because people have kids later in life. My parents were in their mid-30s when I was born (only child), and they had friends in their circle who were well into their 40s with children.

It's like parents today think that, if they have a good time with other grownups, they're somehow neglecting their children. The opposite is true - I think it's much healthier for kids to grow up seeing their parents enjoying adult life. No wonder birth rates are dropping if younger people think their independent life is over once they have children.

by Anonymousreply 101November 10, 2019 10:47 PM

R99, that sounds like the sort of thing my mother would have made. She loved Peg Bracken and took advantage of any shortcut to avoid spending too much time in kitchen. Here's a slow cooker version of your recipe.

By the way, those Peg Bracken books - I Hate to Cook, I Hate to Housekeep and I Try to Behave Myself (a low-key etiquette book) are great. Bracken was a witty writer, and they're a fun look at middle-class life in the early 60s, especially I Try to Behave Myself.

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by Anonymousreply 102November 10, 2019 10:52 PM

^^^Hard experience has taught me that the vegetables need to be partially cooked on the stove before they into the slow cooker. The LOW setting needed for really tender meat just doesn't put out enough heat to cook root vegetables.

by Anonymousreply 103November 10, 2019 10:54 PM

^Just put them in the micro or 5-10 mins.

by Anonymousreply 104November 10, 2019 11:06 PM

My mother always served these as her horse doovers.

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by Anonymousreply 105November 13, 2019 4:04 AM
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