Celebrate friendship with a backyard fire pit party and Middle Sister wines! Make it luau-themed complete with tiki torches and traditional Hawaiian fare.

FOODS:

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

POKE (poh-kay)

This traditional Hawaiian seafood salad has become really popular on the mainland in recent years. There are many reasons for that! It can be served as an appetizer or as a main course; you can make it spicy, or not; you can use different kinds of fish (tuna, salmon or octopus) depending on your taste (as long as it’s sushi grade); it’s truly healthy!

Here’s a recipe for Tuna Poke that we love, courtesy of seriouseats.com:

Ingredients

2 teaspoons dried wakame
1 teaspoon dried hijiki
note: Hijiki and wakame are dried seaweeds that can easily be found in any Japanese market.
12 ounces raw sashimi-grade tuna, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 ounces sweet onion, such as Maui or Vidalia, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon white or black sesame seeds, or a mix
4 teaspoons soy sauce, more or less to taste
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, more or less to taste
1 teaspoon honey, more or less to taste
Crushed red pepper, to taste (optional)
Kosher salt

Directions

Place wakame and hijiki in separate small bowls. Cover with boiling water and let rest until rehydrated and tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and press with paper towels. Roughly chop wakame. Add wakame and hijiki to a large bowl.

Add tuna, onion, scallion, sesame seeds, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and optional crushed red pepper to bowl. Season with a small pinch of kosher salt and gently fold to combine. Taste and adjust with more soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, or crushed red pepper as desired. Let sit 5 minutes at room temperature, then serve on its own or on top of steamed rice.

Serve with any Middle Sister White wine like Drama Queen Pinot Grigio, Sweet & Sassy Moscato, Smarty Pants Chardonnay, or Surfer Chick Sauvignon Blanc!

S’MORES

August 10^th is National S’mores Day! You know the drill. Toast a marshmallow and put it on a sandwich of graham crackers along with a chocolate bar! Switch it up using 2 peanut butter cookies, peanut butter cups and a sliced banana (don’t forget the marshmallow!).

Traditional: Graham Crackers, Chocolate Bars, Marshmallows

Nutty: Peanut Butter Cookies, Reeses® Peanut Butter Cups, Marshmallows, Bananas

DRINKS

Add glow sticks to your ice bowl. Look how cool!

How about a nice Hawaiian Punch? Make an ice ring with edible orchids to float in a wine based punch. Just freeze water and the flowers in a bundt pan.

Sweet & Sassy Punch

Ingredients 

1 bottle (750 ml) Middle Sister Sweet & Sassy Moscato

1 12oz can frozen lemonade concentrate

1 cup Triple Sec or other orange flavored liquor

1/2 pint of strawberries, tops removed and sliced into rounds

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

2 lemons, sliced into rounds

6 oz frozen raspberries

8 oz frozen peaches

1 liter sparkling water

Instructions

About 2 hours before serving mix the wine, frozen lemonade, triple sec, lemon juice, lemon slices and strawberry slices in a large punch bowl. Allow to sit in the fridge to let the flavors meld. Just before serving mix in 1 liter of sparkling water and check for taste, adding more sparkling water if needed and then add frozen raspberries and peaches, stir well. Add the premade ice ring. Voila!

CRAFT:

Wine Bottle Tiki Torches

What’s more Hawaiian than Tiki Torches! Keeping with our theme, make them from wine bottles. You and your girlfriends will have fun making them. Light up the party and then let everyone take one home. There are lots of DIY instructions on Pinterest but we found everything you’ll need in one simple package. Check these out on Amazon.