Party Pictures

File Under: Food, Friends and Fun

Friday night a group of us assembled at Dan and Luis' home to bid farewell to our friend Khan who has decided to move back to England. As we have proven on past occasions, we're more than capable of throwing together a party. Here's a sampling of what we dined on throughout the evening:

Lemon cupcakes. I took a page out of Sandra Lee's book and used a boxed mix to create something special. Vanilla cupcakes became lemon cupcakes with some lemon zest and extract. The icing was home made, with some zest and extract and yellow food coloring to give it a punch. Some were covered in coconut to add some visual and textural distinction.



Denise and Tina were in charge of the meat, vegetable and cheese platters and put together these gorgeous arrangements. I labeled the cheeses, as envisioned by Tina.

Our friend Steve showed up with an appetizer of bacon wrapped breadsticks. You can't go wrong with bacon. These were DELICIOUS!

Another cheese and olive platter.

The gathering begins in the yard. Ariel, in the black sweater, arrived with Khan, the guest of honor. Chatting with them are Preston and the lovely Tina.

Night has fallen and the party is well under way. Here we see Khan, Polo, Steve, Dan and Preston. I'm not sure what they're watching, but Dan looks just a bit worried.

Here our are hosts for the evening, Luis and Dan. No, Dan did not pass out, Luis is not reviving him.

The table, covered with food and wine, along with the remainder of the grilled pizzas made by Luis.

It was a pretty amazing late spring Friday night with good friends.

Memorial Day Weekend

File Under: Holiday

It's the first "official" weekend of Summer. It's supposed to be just a bit cool in Chicago, which is fine because it's also supposed to be pretty clear. The cool breeze will feel nice as the warm sun shines down.

Tonight I'm headed to a party at Dan and Luis'. Our friend Khan is moving and we're sending him off the way that only we know how. I've got my camera to record the event. I baked cupcakes for the party and I have to say they look quite lovely. They're lemon and very bright.

Tomorrow I have nothing definite planned. I have a faint desire to go to the outlet mall since Banana Republic is having a big sale. I do love the Banana.

Sunday I will trek down to the IML Market. It's always fun to see the celebration of the leather community, wander the booths and take in the sights. Adult film start are all too willing to sign autographs, though when one wanted to sign something for me last year and asked how to spell "Jim," I decided it was easier to just take a picture with them and move on.

No plans for Monday, it will probably be a good day to just catch up on housework.

Of course, all that could change. Stay tuned.

The Cupcakes

File Under: The Sin

Per Joy's request:

Andrea had a yellow one, I had a green one. They were delicious!

I Feel A Sin Coming On

File Under: FOOD

It's very quiet here at work today. At lunch, I looked at my coworker Andrea and said "I think it's a cupcake day!" She smiled (she's never been one to disagree when it comes to cupcakes) and said "I agree."

I'm headed to the bakery now. The last time it was a cupcake day, it was before the election and I also bought a Democrat donkey cookie for Dan.

I'll take my phone and photograph the cupcake selection at the bakery.

A Little Birthday Party

File Under: Cupcakes and Friends

Luis' birthday was last Thursday. Dan took him to NYC for the weekend. Meanwhile, Denise, Tina, Polo and I were planning a little lunch for him when they returned on Sunday. Everybody cooked something. I baked cupcakes for dessert.



The plan was, I baked on Saturday and was going to wake up Sunday morning, have a bit of breakfast and some coffee, make some frosting and frost the cupcakes. Alarm was set for 8 am.



The first text message arrived at 7:51. It was Dan sending a frantic message. "We're on and earlier flight! Land at 10:30!"



The second and third text messages came from Polo, relaying Dan's message and saying "it's okay, get here at 10:45, they arrive at 11:15. No worries. The last message woke me up, it was 7:59. No sooner than I said the words "Shit! What the FUCK?!" my alarm went off.



I jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen and began pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator and cabinets. Mesauring cups were flying, I had the mixer but couldn't find the beaters. We have 2 sets, I kept finding both "left" beaters. Finally I found the left and right. Had I been making one kind of icing it would have been fine but I was making two kinds.




They got done, the cupcakes got frosted, I did my best not to lock my mom in a closet because she decided she wanted to make breakfast. Okay I get it, you need to eat...low blood sugar, yada yada. Fine. ;-)




Still I had less time to do things. That meant no coffee and no time to shave. I was clean, my teeth were brushed, I had on matching shoes and socks, I call that success.




We were a hasty little bunch at the house, getting stuff in the ovens, setting up dessert. Tina, bless her heart, she made coffee.




Dan and Luis arrived home, we had a fantastic lunch of ribs, chipotle mashed potatoes, butternut squash, a baked tomato dish, and loaded corn bread. Oh, and cupcakes.




Luis was surprised and happy and as usual it was another fantastic day with my wonderful friends.




No pictures of us, there are enough pictures of us in previous posts, but check out the cupcakes! :-)



The cupcake tree - coconut cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes.


The coconut cupcakes - Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa" boxed mix. I could have done them from scratch but decided to try the box. Delicious!!


Chocolate cupcakes with Luis' favorite chocolate frosting - Cake recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart's baking handbook, frosting recipe couretsy of Hershey's cocoa - it's on the back of the canister! So easy, and so yummy!


Tiny gold Buddha with intentions of maintaining his waistline, decides to try to sneak off with a cupcake.