{ranai}

Happy New Year! Jessica and I had a low-key but super enjoyable NYE. After spending Monday and Tuesday junking around Santa Cruz, we decided to do a quick and easy set-up for delicious appetizers to ring in the new year. We had gone to Trader Joe’s to purchase brie, and while we were there they offered samples of a recipe with lettuce, gouda, caramelized onions and balsamic glaze on crackers that we had to make. The other items we dished up were spinach dip, heirloom tomato dip, peppered salami and carnitas with a variety of crackers, soft bread and carrot sticks. Check out the recipes for the tomato dip and Trader Joe’s appetizers at the end of the post!

To create the look we used a variety of plate shapes, clocks from around the house and an apothecary jar filled with silver and gold candies. We stuck to a color palette of gold, silver and white with a pop of blue.

We prepped as much as possible early in the afternoon so we wouldn’t be quite as crazed when it came down to the final set-up. Don’t worry, we changed in to much more festive outfits for the countdown!

We used martini glasses to hold the dips, with the bread and carrots surrounding. We added some sparkly gold picks we grabbed in the Christmas clearance to jazz up our brie. For dessert we made brownie sundaes with homemade whipped cream, walnuts and fudge sauce.

We hope your New Year’s Eve was just as qute and delicious!