Life is too short to enjoy cocktail hour with a bag of Doritos. In Kate Heyhoe’s new book Great Bar Food at Home, we learn that you can have a sophisticated bar atmosphere in the comfort of your own pad. You just have to plan. And Heyhoe is ready to help, highlighting nearly fifty easy-to-make recipes that bring flavor and life to the home bar.

Heyhoe begins with a brief lesson on pairing bar bites with cocktails, wine, and beer. The basic fundamentals leave room for personal taste, which will likely be discovered more fully after trying a few of Heyhoe’s treats, such as Green Apple-Cucumber Matchsticks, Spanish Smoked Paprika Wings, and Cumin-Cheddar Coins. Every dish is designed to “elevate the act of imbibing a cocktail, a glass of wine, or a craft beer into a gratifying sensory event.” The light meals and snacks require little preparation and are meant to be enjoyed by family and friends in a relaxing home environment.

Heyhoe, a native Texan, is the editor and co-founder of globalgourmet.com and the author of several cookbooks. She believes the home bar is the “social wave of the century,” but pays her respects to bygone times by peppering her recipe collection with entertaining social tidbits about Café Society, “mixing the salad” at Studio 54, and the “gastropub” invasion, just to mention a few. In Great Bar Food at Home, Heyhoe makes a toast to the good life. Here are some bites to look forward to:

‘21’ Club’s Crab Cakes With Cucumber-Ginger Salad
Lighter-than-Air Nori Squares
Saffron Queso Flameado
Authentic Garlic Fries
Teacup Tomato Toasts
Eggplant Pizzettes
Fig and Balsamic Pork Tenderloin on Walnut-Arugula Salad
Salmon Cassis