The party's over...
Dec. 20th, 2003 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivka...and I had so much fun.
About twenty-five people came by over the course of the afternoon, including![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
minnaleigh and therealjae, jonsinger and lisajulie, mittelschmertz, geminigirl, fourgates, helygen, telerib, wcg, and pagawne. It was fun to introduce people from different parts of our lives and see what they found to talk about. Several people were kind enough to bring ornaments for our poor hapless tree, which is once again without bare spots. We have such good friends.
Because it was such an extended-length party and because people came gradually over time, I felt as though I had a chance to actually talk and interact with almost everyone. Sometimes that's not true, when you're the host of a party - so it was a good thing. I metlisajulie and telerib (and telerib's partner Moe) for the first time. It was really good to hang out with them, and I hope to see more of them (and more of jonsinger, who I've only met twice before) in the future. I particularly feel like an idiot for not meeting telerib and Moe before, because curiousangel has known them for years. (What can I say? Shyness sucks.)
The food went over well.curiousangel's deli tray was fabulous - very professionally arranged and very appetizing, and he chose good meats, including a wonderful smoked turkey. All the asparagus roll-ups got eaten, and all the tiny little marmelade-and-mandarin-orange tea sandwiches, and most of the raw vegetable platter, and most of the cookies, and all the bread we initially cubed for the beer-cheddar fondue got fondued. (By the time I noticed that we were out of bread, the fondue had separated and become kind of icky, from neglect, so I didn't cut up more bread.) We have a bunch of deli meats left over, and some of the cheese-sausage balls - but I started with 96 of those, and they freeze well. In general, we planned exactly the right amount of food.
We didn't plan on enough mulled cider, which turned out to be the surprise hit of the day. Three gallons of cider just disappeared, sometimes mixed with rum and sometimes plain. (I drank a fair amount of it myself.) We certainly could've drunk more than three gallons.
I recommend the recipe heartily - here's what I did: In a soup kettle on the stove, I heated a gallon of fresh apple cider with two whole, unpeeled clementines, four cinnamon sticks, a quarter-cup of brown sugar, four bay leaves, and a tea strainer filled with about a teaspoon of whole cloves. After about half an hour, I ladled the cider into a Crock-pot and left the seasonings in the kettle, to which I added another gallon of fresh cider. The Crock-pot kept the mulled cider warm on the drinks table, and I always had more soaking up seasonings on the kitchen stove. I didn't add more sugar after the first batch - it didn't seem necessary.
In a little while I'm going to go down and start washing dishes, but it's been such a lovely day that I wanted to sit over a glass of wine for a while, savoring it.
About twenty-five people came by over the course of the afternoon, including
minnaleigh and therealjae, jonsinger and lisajulie, mittelschmertz, geminigirl, fourgates, helygen, telerib, wcg, and pagawne. It was fun to introduce people from different parts of our lives and see what they found to talk about. Several people were kind enough to bring ornaments for our poor hapless tree, which is once again without bare spots. We have such good friends.Because it was such an extended-length party and because people came gradually over time, I felt as though I had a chance to actually talk and interact with almost everyone. Sometimes that's not true, when you're the host of a party - so it was a good thing. I met
lisajulie and telerib (and telerib's partner Moe) for the first time. It was really good to hang out with them, and I hope to see more of them (and more of jonsinger, who I've only met twice before) in the future. I particularly feel like an idiot for not meeting telerib and Moe before, because curiousangel has known them for years. (What can I say? Shyness sucks.)The food went over well.
curiousangel's deli tray was fabulous - very professionally arranged and very appetizing, and he chose good meats, including a wonderful smoked turkey. All the asparagus roll-ups got eaten, and all the tiny little marmelade-and-mandarin-orange tea sandwiches, and most of the raw vegetable platter, and most of the cookies, and all the bread we initially cubed for the beer-cheddar fondue got fondued. (By the time I noticed that we were out of bread, the fondue had separated and become kind of icky, from neglect, so I didn't cut up more bread.) We have a bunch of deli meats left over, and some of the cheese-sausage balls - but I started with 96 of those, and they freeze well. In general, we planned exactly the right amount of food.We didn't plan on enough mulled cider, which turned out to be the surprise hit of the day. Three gallons of cider just disappeared, sometimes mixed with rum and sometimes plain. (I drank a fair amount of it myself.) We certainly could've drunk more than three gallons.
I recommend the recipe heartily - here's what I did: In a soup kettle on the stove, I heated a gallon of fresh apple cider with two whole, unpeeled clementines, four cinnamon sticks, a quarter-cup of brown sugar, four bay leaves, and a tea strainer filled with about a teaspoon of whole cloves. After about half an hour, I ladled the cider into a Crock-pot and left the seasonings in the kettle, to which I added another gallon of fresh cider. The Crock-pot kept the mulled cider warm on the drinks table, and I always had more soaking up seasonings on the kitchen stove. I didn't add more sugar after the first batch - it didn't seem necessary.
In a little while I'm going to go down and start washing dishes, but it's been such a lovely day that I wanted to sit over a glass of wine for a while, savoring it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-12-20 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-20 07:31 pm (UTC)It's been a while since I've been there. I remembered that I liked the place, but I forgot what a lovely, welcoming house you two kept.
I enjoyed watching Misha fold meat. Everything was delish! I forgot to eat an asparagus, though. Woe! Too hung up on the cookies, no doubt.
Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-20 07:43 pm (UTC)Awwww, thank you. I can't think of a compliment I'd rather get.
I'm glad you came.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-20 09:01 pm (UTC)-J
no subject
Date: 2003-12-20 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-20 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-20 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-20 11:57 pm (UTC)-J
no subject
Date: 2003-12-21 06:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-21 08:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-21 10:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-21 02:40 pm (UTC)It was really fine to meet you in meat-space in your house (I now have a picture in my head of the tree falling over and the bathroom being redone).
Let's continue the tradition of meat-space and do dim sum, Chinese grocery shopping, and such-like activities.
On a somewhat off-topic, I remember reading that you visit into PG county for work-related things. If the weather gets hideous, and you can tolerate a cat around, you can stay at my house in Laurel if commuting gets hideous. I'll email you contact information. We can hope it is not necessary, but an unneeded bail-out plan is better than being stranded.
Thanks again - I had a wonderful time!
no subject
Date: 2003-12-21 05:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-21 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-21 09:12 pm (UTC)