On this particular evening, Julie Hussey, 34, who left her management consulting job in Hong Kong in 2001, had prepared a meal of appetizers: pâté, cheese, bite-size slices of frittatas with spinach, ricotta and Camembert, and large prunes stuffed with walnuts, Gorgonzola or Camembert all wrapped in Spanish ham.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Grilled cheese bites; Roquefort parfait; chickpea fries; ricotta and fava bean pesto pissaladière; giant white beans with merguez; macaroni and cheese; chicken with panzanella salad; chocolate mousse with hazelnut crunch.
At Harry's Place in Colchester — about 90 years old, said Suzanne Caruso, whose family has owned it for more than 30 — the well-known little round burgers and lobster rolls stay the way they've always been, but new items, like broccoli cheddar cheese bites and mini corn dogs, are added every year.
Elsewhere, pigs in a blanket are available for $8, fried dough for $5.50, mac & cheese bites for $5.50, while something called "Oreo Churros" sell for a vaguely reasonable $5.
Either turn your string cheese into homemade mozzarella cheese bites or get all fancy with fried, French cheeses as a modern take on an hors d'oeuvre.
Hunks of prosciutto on a stick, goat cheese snack bites?
"Oh, ice cream sandwiches!" Guests were also offered miniature hot dogs, macaroni-and-cheese bites and individually packaged e-cigarettes, not to mention a full bar with free-flowing Champagne.
And it's always worthwhile to be on the lookout for fancifully dressed servers proffering slightly heartier fare –past years' offerings have included mac-and-cheese bites and mini Greek-inspired gyro sandwiches.
They came for cream puffs, cheese curds, 18-inch corn dogs, barbecued turkey legs the size of children's thighs, beer-battered deep-fried bacon-wrapped cheddar hot dogs, beer-battered macaroni-and-cheese bites with Jack cheese and bacon.
Tyro keftedes, small pungent balls of fried cheese, one bite each, are perfect between sips of ouzo.
Hard-Boiled Eggs to Go Breakfast today was two hard-boiled eggs (eggs bought the previous weekend at a farmer's market), a piece of Swiss cheese, a bite of salmon left over from last night, and two plums plus an avocado (also purchased at the market).
