Before and After

Before Miriam's party:


During the prep:

[Yes, that's about 20 lbs. of potatoes. Washed, boiled in salt water, cooled, then cut up for potato salad. Yurm.]

And here's Herself, making goodies for the soiree. Herself looks happy, but really I think she was just punch-drunk. We had a list. The list said things like, "Appetizers: cheese & crackers, nuts, olives, chips & salsa, veggie platter (sour cream and onion dip), fruit platter (lemon curd yoghurt sauce)" and "Proteins: Shrimp, Brisket, Oven-fried chicken legs." The list was long.


Check out the shopping: Buns for the BBQ, soda, strawberries, cherries, champagne grapes, green beans, flour and sugar, crackers, melon, tomato sauce for making the BBQ sauce (yes, making it. That's how Miriam rolls), summer sausage, apples and cucumbers to make Pimm's Cups, etc. etc. etc.

She bought some beverages, too.

The headcount was near 70 on this party, and Miriam made the food herself (with some sous chef action by yours truly and several excellent contributions from The Ringer, aka The Italian, aka Maddalena (who was, herself, the co-chef with Brian)).

It was a huge amount of work, but all was made worthwhile by the highlights of the party. Like the moment when 40 people in the backyard had to come inside on the fly because the heavens opened. They had to bring in chairs, tables, beer, wine, cocktails, and appetizer platters, too. It was like a relay-race. And then the heat from 70 bodies inside the house plus the humidity from the thunderstorm made the house sort of like an enormous, extremely beautiful 1920's-era sauna. Good times.