I went to a cocktail party recently. The host was a proud peter-pan, recently tamed into cohabitation with his lady-love in a grown-up house with toilet paper in the bathroom and knives in the drawers. The invite proclaimed there'd be mango daiquiris. High summer, definitely mango season. Eager anticipation. When we arrived, there was a tray of mangos. A blender (borrowed). Some booze, random. Some lemons and one mug of sugar syrup, still warm. No surprise, the two bottles of bubbles we'd brought quickly disappeared among thirsty guests while the hapless host greeted and meeted but didn't mix any bloody drinks. Of course, guess who ended up elbow deep in mango pulp? Moi.
If you're going to put drinks on, make it SIMPLE. This beautiful tray of mini mojito-y things are perfect - they were brought by a guest to a dinner party recently (sounds like we actually socialise now, don't it?). He brought a bottle of premium vodka, a shaker, muddling stick, a bag of brown sugar, big jar of lemon juice and a bunch of mint. The host had just returned from travel in north Africa and brought out the tray and glasses. We took turns making rounds and it was just perfect, fresh and strong and unifying.
