Party like a Parisian: recipes + inspo

Ready, set, shop, clear the coffee table, pop the corks and cheer the Olympics, or anything else

Hello! Hello!

I hope you got a chance to look at Monday’s newsletter all about a spectacular apéro dinatoire that Paris friends of mine organized to mark the start of the 2024 Olympic Games in their hometown. I love what Sophie and Augustin did — it couldn’t have been more perfect for the occasion — but I also love the simpler version of this kind of party, the one that’s meant for anytime, even school nights.

Just to recap, an apéro dinatoire is a mash-up of cocktail hour (apéro/aperitif) and dinner. I always think of it as an indoor picnic, but today you might call it “girl dinner” with boys, too. (You can read all about it here, in my story for The New York Times — it’s a gift link.)

While it’s usually served on the coffee table, mine’s too small, so I always set up in the dining area of my Paris apartment. And although it may look like a traditional meal, it’s not — lots of things come out at once for an apéro dinatoire. Sometimes everything — from the proverbial soup to nuts — is …