Bon Appétit (June 2012)
Last Saturday afternoon, we had about 30 people over for an informal get-together, before we all walked over to watch the D.C. gay pride parade. It was a low-key gathering and we kept it simple. We served some very fancy cocktails, some pretzels, and a big bowl of cherries on ice.
The cherries are an idea we picked up from the current issue of Bon Appétit, in the BA Arsenal section at the front of the book. Fresh fruit on ice. You can't get much simpler than that. (Of course you could do this with any fruit, but BA suggests fresh cherries, which do work especially well since they're bite-sized and have handy stems for grabbing. As you know, we've been on a cherry kick of late, so that's what we did.)
Believe us when we tell you: There is no quicker way to class up a party than to throw some fresh cherries on a pile of chipped ice! So many people, when they first spied the big bowl, said something along the lines of how "nice" or "fancy" it was. This, for something that took us approximately 20 seconds to throw together.
It's a cool, refreshing way to serve chilled fresh fruit, and it literally could not be easier. The only downside: the ice, of course, melts. One suggestion: serve them in a smaller bowl, so that you can replenish the cherries and the ice throughout a gathering.
And as great as this idea is for a party, it's also a pretty great way to enjoy cherries on your own, with a big bowl all to yourself this weekend.
