Monday, August 25, 2008

We now return you to our regular blogramming

Okay, having dispensed with the unexpected drama, let's go back to some lighter stuff.

On Saturday, we had a party for my office. Since I began working there almost a year and a half ago, we've had three parties here at the house for my co-workers (or cow-orkers... I'm never sure). I didn't ask them about posting their photos, so I won't do that, but I can share photos of our Friday night prep and of the food from Saturday. So let's do that!


Flowered collies



Marc prepares other vegetables to go with the flowered collies, along with a yummy dip (because you have to be crazy to eat plain vegetables!).
:)


Sous Chef Dodger



Mandy, in a relaxed and completely dignified moment.



Jeff stayed over and helped out. Here, we see Jeff & Marc taking a break for refreshments!



Bernice T. Dog, Super Genius (or, as Dodger calls her, "that bitch")



Marc's new favorite vodka.



The bucket from Marc's new ice cream freezer.



The paddle* from the ice cream freezer.


*I'm not sure if "paddle" is the right term for it, but it's the part that goes into the canister to make the ice cream. The paddle goes into the metal canister, the canister goes into the bucket (which is filled with ice and rock salt) and then the motor gets mounted on top. Marc makes his mixes from scratch, and the result is fabulous!


Marc empties out his vanilla ice cream, made with freshly scraped-out vanilla beans.



Jeff holds a container of the vanilla ice cream. Marc's efforts filled two-and-a-half of these.



Mandy decides to come check out the progress.


Now, let's jump forward to the day of the party. As usual, there just wasn't much food around. Typical Marc! ;)


This is after it was all picked over. This is what's left!



The remains of the fresh tomato, basil & mozzarella salad. Yummy!



Lentil salad--despite this not being made by Marc, it was quite good!



Leftover hot dogs--I made lots of burgers and dogs! No one was leaving here hungry!



Balls of cookie dough


Marc made the cookie dough and refrigerated it the night before, but he waited until the main meal was done before he baked them, so the house would fill with the smell of the cookies baking. Once they were done, they were served with ice cream. Fabulous!


A little nosh (cashews and chocolate-covered raisins) that was put out during the party.



That watermelon wasn't a big seller, for some reason. Gee, I wonder why!


We did slice up the watermelon and put it out. I had a little, and it was good. Then, as the party was breaking up and the dogs were allowed to say hello to everyone, we took our eyes off the melon and Bernice for a bit too long. It actually happened very quickly, but she managed to reach up to the counter, take a slice of watermelon and devour it. By the time we saw what she had done, most of it (including the rind!) was gone. We worried that she would be sick, but nothing bad has happened.

And the real highlight of the party? The pink lemonade martinis...


Really, as much as everyone liked these, the food was secondary!


My hubby does know how to throw a party! Yes, I did the grilling and a lot of other work, too, but Marc makes the parties special! (And with thanks to Jeff for all his work, too!)

7 comments:

dantallion said...

As usual, the pics are great, Jess. And from everything I've seen and heard, Marc had a pretty amazing talent (and love) for this kind of thing. All in all, you two seem make a really great team.

(PS: Glad Bernice didn't get sick!)

Bobby D. said...

Yes he does know ho to throw a party--love the pink martinis too!


Sorry to hear about your fake bloggers, I'm very lucky to have met dozens of bloggers, some from across the pond. (Germany, The UK, Ireland) some from other states, and some from the NYC area.
Some have been house guests at Chez Ched. And they're all fabulous people (who have met other bloggers on my blogroll. ) I had to block one crazy person from leaving comments but everyone else has been real. I was hesitant to meet bloggers in person at first, but it's been a totally positive experince.

tornwordo said...

I wish we lived closer! Looks wonderful.

Will said...

I think paddle's the right term but I think I've also heard the term dasher for it. It stays stationary and the canister with the ice cream mix rotates, right?

Are you sure Marc isn't really an Italian mama? That spread is worthy of my great .aunts Alina and Corinna

Unknown said...

I should have waited until closer to 5pm to read this post. Now my mouth is watering for a martini and it's only 1pm.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

First cute rugby player pics and now food pics that look great! Either way you make us drool Jess! ;P

Lee said...

YUMMO!

Okay, now that I bound, gagged, and threw Rachel Ray into the trunk of the car - the pix look great!