from The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

"A tostada is an open-faced, multi-layered Mexican sandwich to end all sandwiches. The different layers create contrasts of color, texture and flavor, which are beautiful-looking and tasting.
Invite your friends over for a tostada-building party. Spread a large table with dishes of tostada accessories, and do it smorgasbord-style."

Prepare in advance:

• Hot sauce. Choose your favorite recipe (there's a good one in Moosewood), or buy ready-made. Or you can use salsa.
  
• Refritos.
  
• Deep-fried tortillas. There are usually a dozen per package - or make your own (there's a recipe elsewhere in Moosewood). Or, if you don't mind thinking small, use tortilla chips - the round flat kind as opposed to the curled kind.
  
• Accessories. Pick and choose your favorite toppings. Arrange them in little bowls on the table:
  • chopped olives
  • chopped hard-cooked egg
  • chopped sweet pickled peppers or pimientos
  • grated cheese - mild white or cheddar
  • finely shredded cabbage or lettuce
  • sliced avocadoes
  • chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms...whatever
  • sour cream
  Keep beans and hot sauce warm in chafing dishes or fondue pots.
  

"Take a tortilla. Put it on your plate. Cover it with refried beans, spreading them imaginatively into place. Sprinkle on some grated cheese. It will melt onto your beans. Yum yum. Arrange handsful of olives, pickled peppers, shredded cabbage, chopped eggs and tomatoes in a pile the height of which considers the dimensions of your mouth. Ladle on some hot sauce and a hunk of sour cream.

"Eat it sitting down, holding the plate under your chin to pick up what drops as you progress from one end of the tostada to the other. If you need two hands to eat it, find a trusted friend to hold up your plate for you."