New Years at DSG

It's New Year's Eve, and we all know what that means--time to party (At least if you are in the U.S. where NYE is a huge party night). Over at House DSG we are hosting this year, which is great for me because I love to cook, and party food is always fun. I was also in charge of making a punch or some such drink. We reached out to some of our Booze Clues members and received the following recipes:

Sparkling White Peach Sangria (serves 4-6)
2-3 white peaches, sliced
3/4 cup peach or apricot brandy
1 bottle moscato , chilled
1 liter peach seltzer water, chilled

Lightly muddle 3/4 of peach slices and brandy in pitcher. Add moscato and seltzer water. Stir to mix. Pour into ice-filled glasses and garnish with remaining peach slices.

Red, White & Blue Sangria (serves 6)
1 bottle pinot noir
1 1/2 cups cranberry juice
1 cup brandy
1 large orange, juiced
Simple syrup
2 cups fresh blueberries
6-8 ounces raspberries
6 ounces blackberries
1 large apple, sliced very thin

Mix wine, cranberry juice, brandy, orange juice, and simple syrup in pitcher. Add blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and apples. Chill overnight. Fill 6 glasses halfway with ice, and use slotted spoon to add fruit from pitcher. Pour liquid over and serve.


In the end, I went with peach, even though it's more of a summery flavor, because I love peach. We had some trouble finding just peach seltzer water, so I settled for 2 bottles of Sparkling Ice peach-nectarine. It was delicious! Wakowski can also attest that the Red, White & Blue Sangria is delicious (and probably a more wintry drink, but oh well!).


And of course, this being House DSG, we had to play some games this evening. We've got a whole shelf, but friends brought some too. In the end these are the games we played:

Love Letter
We've gone over this game a few times, I think. Quick, tiny card game for 2-4 players involving hidden roles. We broke this out early on, around 6 pm, as I was still cooking and there were only a few people here.

Welcome to the Dungeon
Cool little dungeon crawl game for 2-4 players. You basically fill the dungeon with monsters and dare the other players to go in. There is also some press your luck, as each turn you can choose to draw or pass. Drawing then gives you a choice of keeping the card (but at the cost of 1 of your equipment), or putting it in the dungeon. Last player to pass has to face the dungeon with whatever equipment he has left!

One Night Ultimate Werewolf
This game is also discussed elsewhere. While fun, it does often feel like blind guessing and little discussion. However for a night full of drinking and revelry, it was a great choice. None of us had enough attention span to play a game of regular werewolf anyway, and the allegations became wildly hilarious.

Exploding Kittens
With artwork from The Oatmeal, this party card game gained tons of attention in it's kickstarter. We've got both decks, which allows for a group of up to 9 players. The rules are simple, so it was an easy game to break out late in the evening. Plus the cards are hilarious which adds to the allure.

Cards Against Humanity
The classic (?) party game. A much more inappropriate version of Apples to Apples, and tons of fun (as long as you are OK with crass humor and are not easily offended). The perfect game for a rowdy night to degrade into. That is before the karaoke and dance party began...