We had one amazing dinner party Sunday night.
Liza and Shels and their boys and baby joined our family for an afternoon and evening of cooking, quizing, eating, reminiscing, and more eating. Jason and Shelese were visiting from L.A. (Jodi, we missed you! Why is PA so far away?!) We girls grew up together, and the times we are back together again are too few and too far between. The once a year or so that we gather is our SOUL FOOD. It fills us up and carries us through until we do it all over again. You know those cheesy, sappy, annoying movies about girlfriends that know each other's insides and are still so in-love? That's us. And that the men-folk were able to join in the revelry is no small testament to the incredible guys we have found.
Jason is a biochemist who loves to cook. You can imagine how insanely delish our meal was...
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| Brie with carmelized onion chutney (My creation...Recipe to be posted soon!) |
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| Angel hair pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil, and parmesan. Meatballs. Grilled summer squash and asparagus. |
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| New York Style cheesecake with caramel sauce and reduced blackberries and raspberries. With an animal cracker in honor of the kiddos. We each had a different one. |
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| There IS just something special about her!! |
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| She let me wear her for a whole hour. We are soulmates now. |
And then there's Mark. Liza's been dating him for awhile now, but we are JUST finally getting to know him. It goes without saying that there was a certain amount of pressure on him to pass our inspection and on us to not scare him away. After we had been cooking for awhile, we noticed that Eva had taken matters into her own hands:
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| She had her clipboard out and was drilling him with very important questions: "Do you have a dog?" "How old is your grandma?" "What do you think my favorite color is?" He must have already passed because you'll notice that she deputized him before the quizzing even began. |
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| He asked if he could help me with anything. I think he meant clear the table or refill water glasses. I asked him to give Sage a bottle. He not only did that, but he also put her to sleep. And then reported how many ounces she drank. |
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| It's official, Mark. You're a keeper.... |
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| ...for so many reasons. |
The mark of a good dinner party...empty glasses still on the table the next morning.
Thank you my friends. My cup runneth over.