From the time that I was 11 until I left for college at 17, I lived with my parents in an extraordinary architectural house in the redwoods at the top of a mountain looking down over rolling hills and the town all the way to the ocean. My father was the provost of Stevenson College at UC Santa Cruz, and that house came with the job as did a mandate to do lots of entertaining for both students and faculty. Fortunately for my father, he was married to my mother, a consummate hostess. She threw many legendary parties, not the least of which was the annual Christmas party—really two parties. While the adults got plastered on Fish House Punch upstairs, the children ran amok downstairs. There was a 20-foot tall Christmas tree, a visit from Santa bearing a huge bag of gifts, live music, and an endless stream of cookies and savory delights, including little phyllo-wrapped pastries. Someday I hope to have a big house that I can fill with loads of people (I can only manage it in my screened-in porch on July 4th), but for now I will content myself with making burek.

I can still hear my mother, a stickler for grammar and correct pronunciation, saying "spanakopita" and "tiropita" in a perfect Greek (via Spain) accent. One, filled with spinach and feta, and the other, filled with cheese and egg, come from the burek (or börek) family of filled pastries made with thin, flaky phyllo dough. Böreks may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. Clearly the latter is more fun at a party, the perfect grab-&-go hors d'oeuvre.

I made two different kinds to bring to some friends' party the other night and they were a hit. One was filled with a mixture of goat cheese and caramelized onion, the other with the classic combination of spinach and feta. Although they can be eaten at room temperature, I really prefer them warm from the oven.

I love the salty chew of feta, it perfectly offsets the mineral quality of spinach. I added some fresh mint to this mix; a little lemon zest would also be nice.

Have you incorporated the concept of mise en place yet in your kitchen? Prepping in advance and having all your ingredients ready and handy makes cooking much more pleasant. All you need are some small bowls.

I prepared both fillings a day ahead of time and stored them in the fridge. The process of wrapping the individual triangles is a bit time-consuming, but once you get the hang of it you can move very quickly. As you know, I love to have entertainment in the kitchen. I'm still working my way through Nip/Tuck (a nasty little habit), but I also like to listen to NPR (mostly Fresh Air) and I'm partial to TED talks.

It's shocking how much spinach reduces down when you cook it, isn't it? The key here is to get as much water as possible out of your cooked spinach. I find the best way is to simply wrap it up in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze the bejesus out of it.

I made and baked about 90 of these babies in less than two hours. A little blob of filling gets folded up in a long strip of layered dough that you've brushed with melted butter. The folding process is exactly like the one you learned at camp for putting away the flag. Place the finished triangle on a baking sheet and brush it with more melted butter. Butter and phyllo are the perfect couple, each enhancing the other's best qualities.

Pass these around, warm from the oven, at your next cocktail party. Another great thing about them is that you can make them ahead of time and keep them frozen, ready to be baked (no defrosting required) for an impromptu gathering or your own personal pleasure. Party of one. Why not?