2-3 hour party people

Is it a sign of a good party when there's some mighty good shopping for coats on the bed?

If Allison sees this blog entry, she should get a chuckle from the title.

Okay, catching up here. It's 11:11 (hah!) on Boxing Day as I start this. We're well fed and soon will head to bed. Tomorrow there are sales to hit. We have gift cards, and we're not afraid to use them!

First up, more party photos! Conrad and I agree - it was a terrific mix of people (minus some good friends who could not make it). All in all, they were well worth the effort, and we were glad to have them come over.

So, many many people photos, but cute guys included!

;-)

Brad, a swim teammate, straight. Sorry. Heck of a good guy, though!

Daniel, another swim teammate.


Warren, a colleague of mine.

Luis, a swim teammate. Very sweet, and rather cute. Excitable - Jeph knows what I mean by this.

Lou, a teammate stretching back to the days of ACC in Montreal.


Gil, unofficial photographer and a friend from Yoshi's.

FXK and RAS, frequently faces on the blog.

Michael (a Yoshi's regular) and Carrie (a swim teammate).

Luc and Dan (a swim teammate).

Rakhael (Yoshi's regular, also Gil's wife) and Ron (swim teammate, also Carrie's husband).

Kathryn (library person and someone I think the absolute world of), me, and Conrad.

Dan and Medgar.

Me with Luis (hot hot hot!) and his partner Dan.

Ron.

Paul (good friend not from Yoshi's libraries, or swimming), Dan (good friend and financial advisor), Pia (colleague), Kim (good friend and wife of FXK), and Warren.

Laura (friend from Yoshi's and wife of Michael) and Rakhael.

(in foreround) FXK, Jenny (from libraries), Kathryn, and RAS.

Kim, Warren, Jim (Conrad's colleage and Dan's partner), Dan, and Pia.

Dan, Luc, and Dan ( we had 5 Dans/Daniels at the party!).

Me and Pia.

Paul and Allan (good friend, also an engineer, partner of Paul).

Rakhael and me.

FXK and Warren.

Conrad and Daniel.

Rakhael, Medgar, Brad, Ron, Michael, and Laura.

FXK, Kim, RAS, and Pia.

Paul, Allan, Warren, FXK, Kim, and Pia.

Luis and me.

Laura, Michael, and Conrad.

driving up Wisconsin

We left Chicago under somewhat sunny skies, but north of Milwaukee, after our lunch, we hit more snow. I took over driving between Kohler and our stop at Seguin's Cheese, and I got the benefit of some blowing wintry white to drive through. Happily, little of it was sticking to the road, and we made reasonable time.

I almost never drive in Chicago, and more than once friends have commented to me that they didn't even realize I have a license. It's more a case that I am not fond of city driving, but I don't at all mind doing the highway driving that Conrad rather dislikes.

more Christmas party food photos

Conrad and I are killing part of the afternoon, Christmas Eve, at a coffee shop on the main street of his hometown. I am truly thankful for wireless Internet - can I be thankful for things on this holiday as well?

The streets are wet with dirty, melting snow. The town's vitality is at the box stores and mall rather than its main street. The skies overhead are somber. But the coffee shop has an old radio broadcast of Dickens' A Christmas Carol playing, and we just shared a tasty, warm cinnamon roll. Our drive wasn't at all bad either.

Anyway, may as well take advantage of the wireless and the quiet times without having to visit with Conrad's family to post a few more photos. I still have a bunch of shots from the party to look through, but for now some shots that Gil took when he came along.

The walnut gateau breton. I really like this cake, but people tended toward the similar-seeming almond and lemon shortbread instead. None of that cookie left, but plenty of the cake in our freezer.

The cookie tray: two types of biscotti and the white chocolate chip cookies. People had started on eating the cookies by this time, which is kind of the point, right?

Rakhael and Rachel dig in.

Another shot of the table.

Conrad, Jim, and I. I'm helping myself to some really yummy, gooey coat's milk cheese that I think we were told was from Indiana.


Discussing the spread with Paul and Allan, no slouches at putting on a holiday party spread themselves!


Plus beverages: mostly people stuck to the two reads, one white, or pink sparkler we had for them. Kim, Paul, Jim, and Dan serve themselves.

Conrad uncorks another bottle as Daniel looks on.

Christmas party - teaser entry

The last four people left our Christmas party about 40 minutes ago, and clean-up has been fairly quick and painless thanks to some efficient and effective tidying throughout the night. I'm knackered and more than a little doubtful that we can get ourselves on the road to the UP at a decent time in the morning. No packing done, presents and more to get together, and we'll need a nice night of sleep.

Ah well. It's worth it when you get a good mix of friends from various spheres together, jumble them up with food and wine, and let them all interact enjoyably.

I have a bunch of photos, and Gil has shared many more, but it's too late to do a lengthy post. Accordingly, it may yet be some days before you get more party shots. For now, though, a few from set up
and one or two other shots of guests just chatting happily.



As for the food, well, I made

• white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies
• pistachio and dried apricot biscotti
• milk chocolate, almond, and orange biscotti
• walnut gateau breton (screw the diacritics tonight - I'm tired!)
• almond and lemon fregolata (shortbread)
• decorated cut out cookies
• roast boneless leg of lamb, served sliced and cold
• squash and blue cheese galette
• cilantro and pumpkinseed pesto dip for veggies

I'm missing something in there, I somehow suspect. I also put out olives, pickles (cornichons, peppers, onions), pate (again, screw the diacritics), 5 cheeses, hot-smoked salmon, and more.

Okay, must sleep now. Night!