Dinner Parties for Fun and Profit!
Posted on September 28, 2008
Today is possibly the most exhausting Sunday I’ve had in a while.
But a good exhausting – spent the bulk of the day cooking for a dinner party stealthily concocted to “introduce” two friends of ours. And it was quite a spread we put before them! We ended up serving:
- Beef braised with yogurt and black pepper.
- Baked Honey Mustard Chicken
- Sweet potatoes and butter.
- Mashed potatoes with garlic butter.
- Creamed Spinach
- Stir-fried vegetables
The best part of these affairs is the conversation, which darted from topic to topic faster than a hummingbird on speed. As you can guess, a room full of West Indians found it very easy to reminisce about the blue water, white beaches, coral reefs, caves and bushes of back home (Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados). I have personally been to the former two islands only a couple of times; It made me want to pack up right this moment and escape, and not only for relaxation – in the Caribbean are my roots and shards of my fractured identity.
Somehow, though, the conversation shifted, and soon, we found ourselves talking about 9/11. In many ways, it’s as if that day is permanently imprinted on the collective New York consciousness – it’s a motif that presents itself in many a dinner party I’ve attended, and not without reason. It’s perfect fuel for a conversation remembering where you were, and what you were thinking when the towers fell.
It was about this time that the funniest event of the evening took place – there was a loud banging on the door, and frantic shouting from behind us. Warily, we rose, thinking it was a burglar, but the racket actually came from the kitchen bathroom – one of my guests had actually managed to lock herself in! We tried to guide her through opening the lock (it’s simple, really), but somehow, the exact mechanics of this escaped her, and we ended up dismantling the entire thing.
After which more glasses of wine were poured, pecan pie was served, and good laughs had over the whole matter were had. It sure beats napping Sunday away.
» Filed Under Everything and Nothing
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