Even More Supper Guests

Our friend collection continues to grow. Tonight we had Jason and Miranda and their three-month-old daughter over for supper. [They both work at the university with me, and I attended two conferences with Jason during this past year (one in Grand Forks, ND and the other in Orlando, FL).] I grilled steaks; Miranda made a delicious potato salad; and Susan made three-bean baked beans with hamburger and bacon in it, pasta salad, raw vegetables, and for dessert a fruit pizza. The weather was slightly cool and perfect for outdoor dining on the veranda. The baby was content all evening long, and the girls took every opportunity to "babysit" her: talking baby talk to her, holding rattles and other baby toys in her face, putting their faces close to hers, etc.

However, the girls were distracted for a little while when a dog appeared on our lawn. They read its tags and had Susan phone its owners, who agreed to come by to pick it up. Before then, however, the dog ran away again . . . back to the relative's house where it had been brought to visit for the night. After chasing down the dog--panicking that its owners would arrive at our house any moment to pick it up and find it missing again--Susan and the girls were assured that the dog had indeed run back to the house where it was supposed to be for the night.

That excitement aside, we had a relaxing and enjoyable night of eating and visiting with good company. We'll happily add them to our growing friend collection!

Now We Smell Like Smoke

We just had a terrific evening at our friends Justin and Janna's home. They had us over for tacos, and we brought a fruit salad and nacho chips with queso and homemade guacemole. We started with a tour of their house (we have had them over to our home a couple times, but this was our first visit to their house), which is an older home that they've done a lot of work on--not only painting but also constructing, wiring, plumbing, tiling, etc. It's very cute. Then we gathered at a picnic table in their back yard to eat. The weather was temperate and slightly breezy, making for a bug-free, perfect night to dine outdoors.

Their one-year-old daughter Eva, dog Snickers, and cat Scout kept our girls entertained until Justin started a fire (with the girls' help, actually) in his outdoor fire pit. We gathered around it and roasted marshmallows. I readied the graham crackers and Hershey's chocolate to turn the marshmallows into s'mores as they came off the fire. The night turned chilly as soon as the sun went down (and the breeze from earlier turned into mild gusts), so we appreciated the fire and the sweatshirts and blankets that Justin brought out.

Justin's hobby: winemaking. He had lined up a few bottles for us for the evening, although we started with a bottle made in SD and given to him for his birthday (which was yesterday). It was a strawberry honey wine . . . simply delicious. After that, he had planned to uncork his homemade sugar beet wine followed by his homemade blueberry wine. We never got around to either of those, but he did send us home with the entire bottle of sugar beet wine. That'll be interesting to tap into. We have a crab apple tree in our front yard, and he can turn those into wine, too, so I will happily donate to him as many buckets as he can make use of, since he is so generous to us with the fruits of his labors.

Our First House Party!

We've always liked hosting guests at our house. Years ago, we had weekly get-togethers (referred to simply as "Friday nights") with our theatre friends at one or another couple's house, and we were happy to have ours included in the rotation. Those nights started as cast parties for various plays but soon became weekly staples in our social lives, whether or not a play was going on. In more recent years, we were in the rotation of host sites for "game nights" when several couples friends with children would converge at someone's house, where all the kids would play together while all the adults would enjoy adult beverages and adult games together. Those get-togethers included more elaborate outings, too, such as the cooking game Stir Crazy, our own Amazing Race, and a Christmas luau.

Fast-forward several months to a new house in a new city in a different state. Three people who work in my unit (at the university) are leaving--two to different units on campus and one to a different state for her husband's job. Susan and I hosted my coworkers at our house for a "thank you, farewell, and good luck" party for those folks. We had 32 people (15 of them under the age of 10) here for supper--and, God bless this home, we had plenty of room for everyone. It helped that the weather cooperated. The kids played in the back yard, in the front yard, on the driveway, in the garage, in the neighbors' yards with the neighbor kids--they kept themselves occupied. The adults gathered around the island in the kitchen (where all Midwestern get-togethers tend to wind up, anyway) and in the living room and out on the veranda.

It was a potluck, so everybody brought something. I tried to smoke everybody off the place by grilling hot dogs and hamburgers--patties with such high fat content that the flames were leaping like nobody's business (but, oh, how moist they were!), and the smoke was a-billowin'. We bought about 15 12-packs of about a dozen kinds of pop and filled a 90-can-capacity cooler out on the veranda. We also supplied hamburger fixin's, potato chips, and disposable plates, cups, flatware, and napkins. Items that others brought included crockpots of Mexican beans and rice, Midwestern baked beans and hamburger, and spicy meatballs in a cream sauce; macaroni salad, watermelon, herb bread and cheese dip, pudding salad, and pizza casserole; and, for dessert, pistachio salad, pineapple upside-down cake, and vanilla bean ice cream. There was so much food left over that everybody in our unit is planning to spend our lunch hour tomorrow walking to the Moberg house (for exercise), eating leftovers, and then walking back to campus!

We have had our neighbors over "of an evening" for beverages and dessert on the veranda, and a university colleague and her husband and their daughter have been here a couple times for supper. We also have a few more couples who will bring their kids over and join us for supper in the next few weeks, once we coordinate our schedules. We've also had family over for supper on several holidays and other occasions. However, this was our first time hosting a large group of people in our new home, and we were happy to have the room to do it. Thank you, New House!

Be Our Guests

Last night we hosted our first non-family dinner guests in our new home! Janna works at the same university that I do, albeit in a different unit. We met her and her husband Justin at a university Christmas party in December and had them over for supper last night. They have an eight-month-old daughter, Eva, who was cheerful and content to be entertained by our daughters. The girls were good hosts to the adult guests, too, leading them on a tour of the house when they first arrived and filling them in on all the details of who painted which room, who plays what in each room, etc.

We had a delicious meal, courtesy of Susan: tossed salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, red peppers, green peppers, mushrooms, shredded cheese, and seasoned crutons; chicken cordon bleu in a rich cream sauce served over mashed potatoes; green beans almondine; berry gelatin with mandarin oranges; wine & water & milk; and coffee with a chocolate pudding dessert brought by our guests. It was a leisurely meal with lots of visiting followed by coffee in the living room with more visiting (and playing by Eva and our daughters).

It's nice to continue getting to know people outside our circle of coworkers. We're looking forward to hosting our neighbors Chuck and Reba soon, and then to introducing them to Justin and Janna.

(Attention cherished "Game Night" friends: There shall be no substitute for you all, the originals . . .)