Look what arrived in our mail from Kendrick’s Uncle Jim and Aunt Karen! Yum.
Monthly Archives: December 2009
I had to return a whole bunch of things to Macy’s this afternoon, so afterwards I stopped by the bar that Pam works at, which is on 34th and 3rd. She fed me tiny red velvet cupcakes, and I wandered back out into the cold a happy camper. She also taught me how to make a salty dog, which sounds delicious, and also sounds like something that I might possibly be ordering later on this evening.
SALTY DOG
1. Rim a highball glass with lime juice and salt (just run a slice of lime around the rim and then dip the edge of the glass into a plate of salt).
2. Add ice; pour in gin (or vodka, which would probably be my pick) and grapefruit juice; mix and serve.
While we Christmas Caesars practiced for the Dreidel-Spinning Competition (Activity #3), we sipped on decadent hot chocolate prepared by Pam (you can see the bar with the mix-ins up there behind us). Some examples of her concoctions:
MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE
Shot of Goldschlager
Pinch of chili powder
Me harboring a sneaking suspicion that our Open Heart House wasn’t going to be the big winner. It turned out we were right: Dave, Stephen and John created a reasonable facsimile of the Chrysler Building, another team constructed a full nativity scene, and yet another portrayed the Tiger Woods drama in gingerbread and icing. Sigh.
Activity #2: Making a Gingerbread House.
All of these events (including our costumes), by the way, were judged by a panel of “experts,” and a guy with a megaphone (who happened to be an Olympic silver medalist in fencing) wandered around commenting on our progress.
Want to make your own? Go here for some simple instructions.
Pam about to place some entries in the oven.
Dave, Stephen, and John (Stephen’s brother) used an…interesting technique for their snowman cookie (it involved the addition of whiskey).
If I learned one thing last night, it is that liquor (and especially whiskey) should never, ever be put in chocolate chip cookies. Ever. Seriously, don’t do it.
Me hard at work on our entry in the cookie-baking contest. Kendrick and I made “Blue Chip” cookies - chocolate-chip cookies covered in white sprinkles, with one hidden blue sprinkle on each. I thought it was extremely inventive. I also used too much butter.
(I don’t know why it looks like I have a Gumby arm.)
We arrived to find a table in the center of the room set up with what looked like baking ingredients at each place setting, along with mugs labeled with our names. We were kept in the dark for awhile, but soon learned that the first activity of the evening was a cookie-baking contest sans instructions or utensils (with the exception of a spoon).
Me with Pam, our hostess for the evening.
Let me explain how I know Pam: I don’t, exactly (or, I didn’t until last night). In a series of odd coincidences, a friend sent her my lamp refurbish video, and she noticed that the street I am standing on in the beginning is her own street. She then noticed that her friend, Stephen, whom she hadn’t been in touch with for some time, was in the video with me, and put two and two together: both Stephen and I live directly across the street from her. Small world.
Anyway, she very sweetly invited all of us to her party, and I am so glad she did: she’s an event planner, and you could certainly tell from how seamlessly she planned the entire evening.
