How To Host A Casual Spring Garden Party

My daughter, Alexandra is our CCH guest again. It’s amazing and gratifying when you are inspired by your children! We are planning to have her guest post once a month.

Hosting A Casual Garden Party In Spring

Happy Spring Eve! 

It’s been getting pretty warm in L.A., so Luca and I decided to host a small dinner party in our garden. We wanted to keep it super simple and spend most our Saturday with the kids, so here’s what we did: 

Choose An Easy “Prepare Ahead” Menu 

You don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen when your guests arrive so I came up with a menu that I could quickly prep during nap time and then pop into the oven when the guests arrive.

The warm olive trick is one of my favorites and always a crowd pleaser. I usually just buy a jar of mixed olives and spice them up with citrus peel, garlic, red pepper and olive oil. Gently heat them and serve them warm with bread. 

Giada’s layerless sheet pan lasagne recipe usually includes sausage but because one of my friends doesn’t eat meat so I subbed it with more spinach and ricotta and then broiled the sausages on the side. Lasagna can be at times too heavy, but this recipe was delicious – mostly the crispy parts! Here is a kit to make it really easy! 

Picked Up the Focaccia & Cookies  My cooking style is more “throw things together casually” versus measuring anything at all, which makes me a terrible baker. So in between ballet and the park we stopped by Eagle Rock Italian Bakery for their delicious fresh focaccia (only available around 11am on Saturdays) and their pistachio and pine nut cookies. Having a few store bought items takes the pressure off!

Set The Table With Things From The Garden 

Our passion fruit vine has been raining 5-10 passion fruits a day recently so I decided to set the table with them and give them to guests as they left. I wanted it to feel organic and relaxing so we used raffia placemats, flowers from Trader Joe’s and the hand dyed napkins my mom and I made over the holidays. I also trimmed a few olive branches for the bar area and put some tea lights around.

Home-made Tomato Martinis

I saw a recipe somewhere and have been perfecting it over time. It’s a very refreshing drink and fun twist on a classic: Shake (2) shots Vodka (or gin!) and a splash of olive juice over ice with a crushed up cherry tomato. Strain into a martini glass (to get the seeds out) and garnish with a basil leaf and a couple of drops of good olive oil. Enjoy, but also watch out because they go down very easily 🙂

We also served white wine and a sparkling grapefruit drink. 

An Easy But Thought-provoking Activity

Most of us (except) Luca are Bravo fans so I made up an activity called “Let’s play a game” (that’s what the housewives usually say at a group dinner before unraveling into a wildly dramatic scene). I had the guests write down (nicer!) things when they came in and we answered over dinner:  

What brought you the most joy today?

What conspiracy theory do you believe is actually true?

Share a nice memory about the person to your left.

Well, that is it from us today! Hope you got a little inspo to throw a casual get together and enjoy time with your loved ones.

See you next time!

Alexandra 

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