PARTY PLANNING IDEAS & TIPS

ICE, more complicated than you thought, and one of the most important parts of any good party !

Making ice

Ice is much more then a tool to cool a drink.  A drinks flavor can easily be affected by bad tasting ice. Ice itself can only taste as good as the water used to make it, so make sure the water you are using tastes good to begin with.  Bottled water is always an option.

If you want your ice to look good (ie clearer) then boil water, let it cool, and then fill your ice cube trays.

Remember - Ice will absorb odours when left in the freezer. Try to store in a sealed container or in a separate area.

	Most Important hint Have enough ice! Carefully plan what you think you will need and go buy or prepare double that amount.  A good guideline is 1 pound of ice per person, for drinks only, for a three hour event. For summer events where the blender is being used and your beer is being cooled in a large container, you will need more ice.

Decorative Ice

Making decorative ice is a fun (and trendy) and easy way to add color and flavor to your drinks. Add small pieces of colorful fruit into the ice tray spaces before adding cold water to the tray (don't forget to boil and cool the water first - see above). 

Choose the fruit you want to use based on the drink you are making and the effect you want to achive. Fruits that freeze well and look good include raspberry, strawberry, melon, pinapple, lemon and orange pieces (or twists). 

Want to try something really different?  Edible flowers can also be used to add color to ice.

Frozen Fruit Ice:

Frozen fruit pieces can be created and used just like an ice cube - with the added advantage of being fun to eat after they have melted.

Place the fruit pieces (or whole fruit- like strawberries, raspberries and grapes) on to a tary. Brush cut fruit pieces with lemon juice to cover the exposed areas (bananas,peaches etc).  Freeze the fruit on the tray in a freezer for at least 3 hours.  Transfer the frozen fruit into freezer bags to isolte them from other smells etc in the freezer.

Flavored Ice

This is fun to experiment with.  Try freezing a mix of water with fruit juice to create flavorful ice to add to drinks. By creating flavored ice the flavor from the ice is slowly released into the drink. This allows for a new flavor to be added to a traditional drink (i.e. peach juice ice being added to a lemonade based drink) or to enhance a drink already made with that flavor (i.e. lemon flavored ice used in lemonade).

Flavored ice can also be used a shortcut to creating frozen drinks. The popular FROZEN FRAPPUCCINO is much easier to make when you begin with the coffee portion already made into ice.

Other Ice Tips

• Keep extra ice cubes in a cooler.
• Make sure you have an ice bucket and at least one pair of ice tongs. Remember that guests are often eating with their hands, so tongs will avoid "double dipping" into everyone's ice.
• If you lack refrigerator space, use an iced tub (the kitchen sink or even a bathtub, in a pinch) to chill ingredients.
• "Crushed ice" can be easily made by sealing ice in a large heavy plastic bag -covered with a heavier material- and then hit with a rolling pin or mallet. (don't use a hammer- takes to long - you want a broader striking surface)
• Use blocks of ice in a punch as the ice will last a lot longer.
• Try using a mold to create unique ice blocks for use in punches.
• Consider ordering ice through a delivery service (check the yellow pages under "ice"). It's less hassle and much less expensive than you think.
• Remember to use crushed ice in recipes that call for crushed ice so that you get the right texture to your drink
• Don't use crushed ice in recipes that call for ice cubes as the crushed ice will melt far faster.

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