I love the holiday season, as Trevor and I tend to ditch our preference for being homebodies in favor of getting out and about to see friends, attend events, etc. I suppose it doesn’t hurt that cute invitations and festive spirits are present to draw us in. Friends recently had a group of us over for game night, and I offered to bring an appetizer and specialty cocktail. I always gravitate toward appetizers when looking at a menu or cookbook, and who doesn’t like a specialty cocktail, but I find it challenging to bring those items to a party. The whole point of chipping in for the food or drink should be to ease some of the stress or burden on the host, but most of my go-to appetizer recipes involve cooking or fussy preparation. And when I’m the one hosting, that’s okay, but for this occasion I needed to find some options that I could prepare fully in advance, would travel well, and could be served as-is upon arrival. I landed on yummy garlic roasted nuts, shrimp pate (sounds much fancier than it is, yet “fish dip” doesn’t quite do it justice) and a whiskey apple cider cocktail – recipes included below. For transporting as well as serving, I picked up inexpensive glass jars and a large basket at T.J. Maxx. The basket made for a good presentation (and handy transport), and the glass jars were nice enough such that my friend could simply open them up and include them on the table of other savory snacks.

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