Spend more time with friends and family in the New Year by entertaining more often and more easily.

Don’t focus on a formal event that takes time to plan and costs a lot of money. Think casual, and simply set aside 2 hours a month to catch up with people you don’t see often enough, or with those you’ve met but haven’t had the chance to see again.

Make it a regular event and set aside the second Friday evening or third Sunday afternoon of the month, for example. Invite 4 to 8 people over for a mini-tasting:

Try different teas, mineral waters, Spanish cheeses, single-origin chocolate bars—whatever you’d like to learn more about.

The group will enjoy mixing and discovering new specialty foods; small groups are easier and less expensive to manage and guests mix more easily.

Spend an evening with sparkling wines and
triple-crême cheeses (here, Brie and
Champagne). Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

• Buying cheese for tonight? Double-crême and triple-crême cheeses like Brillat-Savarin, Brie, Camembert, Explorateur and Saint-André are the way to go with sparkling wines. Learn more in our Cheese Glossary.