An entertaining weekend

We were pretty busy this past weekend because we entertained on both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Saturday, our friends Maggie and Kelly came over. As usual, it was fun to hang out with them, especially because this was the first time they'd ventured over the bridge to see our place. I had a very Piedmont Grocery-esque experience while picking out the olives for that evening's meal. I also got some cornichons (little pickles) and as I was putting them into the plastic cup alongside the olives, a rich, middle-aged lady said to me "You're not putting the cornichons in with the olives, are you?" I was a bit stunned because I'm not used to backseat shopping like that, and I've combined cornichons and olives numerous times without incident. Not knowing what to say, I blurted back "Well, they'll all end up in the same place eventually." That probably wasn't the most tactful reply, but my impression was that this woman could stand to not be taken seriously every once in a while. She harumphed in a way that said "Suit yourself, philistine," and went back to her shopping. Luckily, none of the other dinner ingredients inspired such outbursts from my fellow shoppers. We made a potato-leek soup followed by spinach quiche. For dessert our guests brought a blueberry-peach galette. Mmmm.

The next day was even more gluttonous because it was our annual Super Bowl party. In spite of the fervor of our very partisan crowd, we weren't able to urge Seattle out of a clinically Seahawks-style performance. But at least we had good company and lots of good food. (And a lot of leftover beer.) We made a couple appetizers as well as drinks. A particular hit were the Dark and Stormys. Anne just learned about this drink at her book club. It's a mix of ginger beer, rum, and (optional) lime. They're quite tasty and easy-drinking. Everyone else brought appetizers that were unimpeachably delicious.

It was a little tricky dragging my ass out of bed this morning after all of that indulging. I'm off to a conference in Sacramento in a little bit, where I'll probably indulge a bit more (especially after my talk on Thursday afternoon). I guess that means it's up to Anne and Lucy to finish off the Super Bowl leftovers. I think Lucy has a pretty strong opinion about who should take care of the rest of the smoked salmon.