Hi there,

Since tomorrow is the Thai Mother’s day, I thought it would be a great idea to blog about party planning. But as those of you who follow my Facebook may know, I’ve been crazy busy these past few months. Thus, throwing a full on party like I usually do is out of the question. But how could I not do something special for my mom and grandma on this special occasion, right?

So I decided to throw a quick afternoon tea party a day early, semi-homemade style (mother’s day is actually on Aug 12th for those of you who are not Thai.)

I managed to put together a simple setup of assorted dips and chips in just 20 minutes and by spicing up some store bought items and put a nice DIY touch on it, I gave these simple ready made dips a more special an personalized feel.

I started off by buying some pita chips, corn chips, bread sticks, garlic crackers, and tortillas – pretty much choose whatever you like/think would go with the dips of choice. Instead of laying them out in their bags, I simply give them a sophisticated touch by quickly arranging them in a glass bowl, you do not need to have a bowl like mine. You can use anything that you have, play with different height containers or different colors even!

Then I bought some ready-made dips – I chose Tzatziki, Hommus, Guacamole, and Cheese dip. Again, you can choose any dip that you like, sour cream, salsa, artichoke, the list goes on and on. I chose the brand black swan that can be found in any big supermarket in Bangkok (paragon, villa, Tops) since I think they taste great.

However, you can’t hide the fact that these are not homemade. They look too plain and boring and still taste a little one dimensional. So what did I do? I spiced them up with extra ingredients that I already have in my garden.

• I added some truffle oil and a dash of paprika in the hummus
• I added some fleur de sel on my guacamole (I love how the crystals look on the green avocado)
• I picked some rosemary from my garden and sprinkled it on top of the tzatziki
• I also grated some cheese on top of the cheese dip for extra cheesiness

And the last step is to add a D.I.Y decoration to the dips. Don’t underestimate how much a simple handmade touch could elevate the final look of your creation. It shows that you took the time and that you care, when in reality it only took me 5 minutes to cut up some labels out of a large brown envelope and stick them onto wooden sticks using double-sided tapes.

And voila! my little dip “buffet” is done!

Bon Appétit!