Anatomy of a Dinner Party: a day in the life of a hospitalityaholic
 

Chioke

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A Sweet Night With My Boys

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

As I look back to February and whip out all the fun nights we’ve shared with friends, I had almost forgotten this one.  After returning from NOLA, we invited our sweeties Taruan and Chioke for a sweet night.  And from the looks of the photos we took, you would think there was no dinner served….but I just cannot recall.   Although, here is evidence that I made some fresh tortilla chips.

Mmmm, Fresh Chips!

You all know how to do this, right?  Take a stack of small tortillas, cut them in half and half them again.  Fry in hot oil, scoop out and sprinkle with kosher salt. Devour.

Almost too easy – and so much better than store bought.

More Sweets After The Fold

Saturday Brunch

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

This past Saturday I had promised to teach our darling Chioke how to make biscuits and sausage gravy. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to throw a little get together.

Now usually, sausage gravy and biscuits sounds like a down home kind of meal. But I decided to amp up the glamour.  There would be 7 of  us at brunch and I wanted a very special table setting. First stop, the State Farmer’s market to see the flower lady. The roses there start at $9.99 for 2 dozen and they are really beautiful.  She was having a “buy two and get one bunch free” deal that I could just not say no to. I ended up with 2 bunches of yellow roses and one bunch of a very, very, pale yellow roses.  So total roses – 6 dozen. Cost – $27.50. The “wow” effect on my friends – priceless.

More Brunch Fun After The Fold

Just Dance (Party)

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Good Morning, Darlings!

Listening to Lady GaGa while writing this post. Still reeling from her amazing concert on 12/28. So, when I saw an ad for a new Wii game, “Just Dance“, I knew this would make for a great party evening.

With the snow keeping the majority of our neighbors inside recently, I decided to make a few calls last Friday and invite a few buddies to come by, and, well, just dance.

More Dance Party After The Fold

This game is hilarious. Not only is it a blast to play, but even more fun to watch.  There were six of us gathered at our house around 9pm and the fun started.  Taruan, Chioke, Eric and I took to the living room floor and got moving. I believe we started with “Hot and Cold” by Katy Perry.  You just follow the dancer on the screen and do what they do. This sounds so much easier than it is.  But in no time, Taruan, The Dance King, was killing. He was trouncing all over everyone. He could not be beat. Val and Jay joined us a bit later and the party was in full swing.

Taruan, The Dance King
Taruan, The Dance King
Chioke Challenges Taruan
Chioke Challenges Taruan
Chioke and Karen Take A Break
Chioke and Karen Take A Break
Twix Break!
Twix Break!

All that dancing works up an appetite, so I pulled out the homemade twix bars I had made the night before and they were devoured. Time to mix a few adult beverages and back to the dance floor.

We didn’t stop until 2am, when I decided to whip up some biscuits and sausage gravy. Not everyone eats pork, so I put out some raspberry/jalapeno jelly and the beloved honey bear. Chioke had the grand idea to slather the biscuits first with the jelly and then the sausage gravy.  Across the table I asked him how he came up with the idea – “Greed,” was all Chioke said, with an evil little smile.

If you had tasted it, you would agree that a little greed can be a very good thing indeed.

There’s A White Elephant In The Room…

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Good Morning, Darlings!

Four more shopping days until Christmas! So exciting!

This weekend was a bundle of fun.  Friday night my darling and I spent the evening in, watching movies and cuddling up on the couch. Perfect time!  Saturday was Val and Jay’s White Elephant Party. You know about White Elephant parties, right?  Everyone brings an inexpensive gift and puts it under the tree.  Then a corresponding number goes into a hat for drawing later.  You all draw numbers (although Jay and Val did theirs a bit different – they put everyone’s name into a hat and then drew them for picking a gift), pick a gift, unwrap it and decide whether you want to keep it or trade for a gift that someone else has.  It was just a blast.  All our neighbors were there (I seriously love walking to and from these parties!), the food was great and the gifts hilarious.  Sorry, but some of them were fairly NSFW (not suitable for work viewing), but I did take plenty of photos.  Take a look:

More Zaniness After The Fold

Magic Berries and The Magic of Movies

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Our beloved friends, Chioke and Taruan (aka – the best looking people on the planet) hosted the coolest party on Sunday.  They let all their friends vote on their favorite movies from the 80s and then chose four for us to watch.  They listed the movie times so everyone could come and go when their faves were on.  This was the schedule:

1pm – Weird Science

3pm – Coming To America

5pm – Heathers

7pm – Labyrinth
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