Fun with Friends

Nik and I hosted another First Saturday Dinner and a Movie last night. We had a BLAST! I think it was one of our best yet. It was a really good turnout!!

The menu consisted of a veggie platter, two types of chicken wings–Italian and soy sauce, rice pilaf, corn, Nik’s Blossoms of Awesome, and rumble cakes…

A couple of nights ago, Nik declared that he wanted to make awesome blossoms (split open, battered and fried onions). We have a deep frier, but haven’t used it before. I thought this would be a great first usage for it, so I told him I’d pick up the ingredients and leave him wholly in charge of them. He made a tester blossom on Friday night, which we split with our dinners, and it was amazing. He improved his technique even further for last night’s blossoms, and they were a hit. So delicious.

I have learned to relinquish control of First Saturdays a bit, especially as they have grown in size. I used to refuse any help in terms of bringing food and cooking, but we had a couple of stressful preparations, especially when I choose really complex dinners–we’ll never forget the evening I made Nik cut and peel pumpkins, for example… I now feel fine asking friends to bring an item here and there, and I’ve found that it helps in saving time and stress, and lets me focus on the main part of the meal and really enjoy the preparation all day. So thanks to you, friends, for remaining persistent for over a year, until I finally caved and let you help!

So last night, David brought the yummy veggie platter, and took responsibility for the movie (he brought a good selection and we ended up watching the HILARIOUS Drop Dead Gorgeous). April and Seth were in charge of dessert last night, and made some rumble cakes (a mix of brownies and cookies, with cherries…), French vanilla ice cream, and some sort of bits of heaven–candied, salted, buttery almonds… That’s not to mention my other friends who have supplied my house with a nice offering of beers, wines, and champagne (and there’s still some margarita mix and tequila hanging around). You guys are great!

So last night was wonderful. The food was a hit, and I still cannot fathom how many wings were consumed (*cough* David *cough*). We went through 7 or 8 bottles of wine, champagne, and spumante–although I may have gone through that spumante all on my own. We laughed, we chatted…it was nice to catch up with everyone after the holidays. We sure started off the Winter 2011 quarter with a BANG!

Today Nik and I have been relaxing. We went out for lunch and did a little bit of shopping. We are currently baking a nice big loaf of brioche…I am excited about how much butter went into this recipe…