We had a terribly mild fall, warm enough to sit outside well into November, and then I got a snow storm for the night of my party.<\/p>\n
I guess there are a couple of up sides: despite the mild weather, it did cool down enough in November to make cookie storage OK in the vestibule, and it got downright cold in December. And, it was a really nice party. Maybe because there were fewer people, or maybe because the people who did make it there through the snow were highly motivated, it seemed well-paced, not such a crush, and I felt like I had time to talk to guests.<\/p>\n
I talked John & Megan into NOT driving up from Chicago, which made me unhappy – I would’ve really liked to have had them at the party. But the way things worked out, they were going to leave Chicago at like 6:30, which with the snow probably would have put their arrival time in Madison at around 10:00 PM – or later, if they didn’t end up in ditch or killed. Probably the most likely outcome is they would’ve inched along in traffic on I-90, and the normally 3 1\/2 hour trip would’ve been about six.<\/p>\n
The food was largely devoured, and not too much leftovers to deal with. I have a Costco ham I never cut, and a whole leek tart in the freezer. Cut up vegetables for a stir fry. A loaf of cocktail rye. My approach was use what ya got – so lots of stuff from the freezer, that I made last summer.<\/p>\n
Here’s the menu:<\/p>\n
Goat cheese baked in pepperonata<\/strong> (from the freezer – it was a good pepper year for my CSA), with home made baguettes<\/strong>; kosher dogs wrapped in the same dough<\/strong> and cut into bite size pieces (I liked the convenience of the using the same dough for the dogs, but I like the taste of the eggier dough I usually use better I think); deviled eggs<\/strong> (I filled them with a scoop instead of a pastry bag for easiness); leek tart<\/strong> (Leek confit from the freezer); Squash hummus<\/strong> and regular hummus<\/strong> (that did not get eaten in as large of quantities as it should’ve, as Rach observed when we were putting the food away afterward – I think I made it too spicey), Corn<\/strong> (from the freezer) and black bean salsa and chips<\/strong> – and I did not add any of the avocados that I got 4 for $5 at the co-op – they weren’t that nice, and the salsa will keep better without, although there’s a very manageable amount left; bacon dates with water chestnuts<\/strong>; cocktail meatballs<\/strong> with sauce made from Heinz chili sauce and the Thanksgiving cranberry sauce – 3 1\/2 pounds of meat and all eaten; pumpkin pesto bread<\/strong> (oh, I promised to write up that recipe at Thanksgiving<\/a> – Real Soon Now\u2122) and pepperoni roll\/Stromboli<\/strong> with red sauce made from roasted peppers and diced tomatoes from the freezer; shrimp boiled in beer<\/strong>, with more chili sauce; peanut dip and vegetables<\/strong> – Belana made a beautiful vegetable platter, I am waiting for a picture. Some ready-mades: Chex mix<\/strong> (frozen since Thanksgiving); Costco smoked salmon<\/strong>; pistachios<\/strong>; olives<\/strong>; clementines<\/strong>. Sliced salami<\/strong>, from a big sampler pack that I bought in September for Steve’s party, and froze till now, that I put out with Tillamook cheddar and home made pickled mushrooms<\/strong> and peppers<\/strong>. I made pickled beets too but didn’t put them out. And of course, cookies, and veggie platter:
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