This year a few friends and I wanted to take it REALLY easy for the Fourth of July. We’d had a couple of large 40-person plus parties the last couple years – fun, but super exhausting for the hostesses.
This year, we kept the guest list a lot smaller, and divvied up the work between a few of us. The guys handled the barbecue, one lady made a couple salads, another was responsible for corn and watermelon, and I was in charge of the dessert table.
We kept everything simple and fairly healthy – I served fruit, a few festive Fourth of July cookies, and ice cream (not shown in photo).
Someone had brought other wine to pair with the barbecue foods, and I brought out two of Martedi Winery’s fabulous wines to offer with our dessert: their 2016 Pinot Grigio and their 2017 Sangue de Sangiovese.
I’d tasted both these wines at a recent tasting adventure with Jen, and knew they’d blow my guests away (in a nice way, of course).
It was actually a bit difficult to part with these wines and share them with others!
I hid a big bowl of berries in the kitchen and snuck over to refresh these star-shaped bowls from time to time.
I picked up strawberries from Haggen Fresh in Woodinville, and got my Rainier cherries from a roadside pop-up stand.
Sometimes I like throwing huge parties, and attending big gatherings, but it’s also nice to spend a holiday with just a few really close friends, relaxing together and enjoying the day in a low-key way!
-Carrie
