Girls’ night...time for a little fun!

Getting together with your girlfriends means time to share, chat, and get up to date on each other’s lives, men, and kids or even to talk cooking and trade great recipes.

Here are a few suggestions to make your next girls’ night a memorable one.

1. Informal or potluck meal

A stress-free way to get together as everyone contributes to the meal by bringing a dish. With today’s hectic lifestyles, potluck meals are convenient anywhere, anytime. Guests can cook their own dish or pick something up depending on their mood and availability. Take a look at our Girls’ night “take out” menu for delicious recipes that are easy to make and go.

2. Theme night

Suggesting a theme for the evening, such as Mexican food, Spanish tapas, sushi, salad or dessert buffets, or foods of the same colour, etc. can be lots of fun. Go one step further by decorating the table and kitchen according to the selected theme. The hostess puts together a menu and prepares the main dish, while her guests bring complementary side dishes, wine and desserts.

3. To each her own cheese!

Improvising a cheese-based meal can be done in a flash. The wine and cheese formula is an attractive one since it requires little preparation and few are those who don’t like cheese. Each guest brings one or two cheeses and a bottle of wine. Simply add bread, baguettes, crackers, fresh or dried fruit, a few nuts, and voilà! Make sure to serve the cheese at room temperature by leaving it out for at least one hour before eating. Anticipate 200-250g of cheese per guest. Cheese fondue is an easy alternative to traditional wine and cheese and oh so delicious! Here are a few recipes to impress your friends.

• Classic fondue reinvented
• Mexican-style fondue

4. Cooking together

Cooking together can also be part of the fun. Invite your friends over sometime in the afternoon, open a bottle of chilled rosé, and take your time working together to prepare the evening’s meal. Or, plan on meeting at the market to buy the ingredients you need. How do a saffron paella or fresh coast lobster sound? Why not use the barbecue while its “owner” is out of the house...?

• Grilled dijon lobsters
• Paella

P.S. Music:

Prepare various playlists for your MP3 player, such as chill, electronic, meditation or spa selections, or to create a livelier atmosphere add some salsa, jazz, or hip-hop, depending on the mood you want to create.

An evening with the girls is a great excuse to have fun, eat, drink some wine or sip on a hot cup of hot tea and simply enjoy the moment among friends. Now let’s get the party started!

Comments

• Marybette Riddell

  May 11th, 2011
  

  I have been part of the girls night out for a while now !! My friend Amanda calls these special evenings her best medicine I agree she keeps the night informal and comfy. Last time was in the middle of a March snowstorm and she had already decided it would be a soup tasting night I can still remember the rich and creamy tomato and red pepper flavour and the sweet potatoe with its great texture and smell. This paired up with a glass of wine and bread and funny easy going conversation made it easy to forget about the blustery scene outside...I love love love Amandas parties

• Joanne

  May 6th, 2011
  

  I'm having one tonight!

• lois tierney

  May 5th, 2011
  

  yes, sounds like a great thing to do...