party prep

We’re having a party this weekend, mostly because we never got around to it before. Technically, you’re supposed to do it when you move into a new place. But we didn’t really know anyone then, and there’s been all that travel. Finally I put my foot down and picked a date. We’re inviting only my work group, plus a few other friends – Ted manages a department that’s far too big to fit in our flat. He’ll have to do some other team-building thing.

I figure there’s enough proximity to July 4 to justify American food, which to me means stuff from all over. We’re planning on brisket, bowties & kasha, jambalaya, tomato/bread salad (panzanella?), Mexican layer dip, and brownies. Maybe moon cakes, if they’re selling them yet and I have time to go buy some – we’re close to the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, after all. Also chips, salsa, and wasabi peanuts. It’s going to be hard to figure out the amount of drinks to provide; I get the impression people here tend to drink less than Americans of both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. On the other hand, no one here drinks light beer or diet soda, so at least we won’t be stuck with stuff we don’t drink ourselves.

I’m looking forward to it, but it will be a little weird. In the US we had a big house and backyard with a pool – I know how to give dinner parties where you invite 2-4 people and big parties where you invite everyone you know, but this is a new scale for me. We also tend to go way overboard on food, but we had a much bigger fridge and kitchen – here I have a three-burner stove, tiny over, and perpetually over-full refrigerator (though it’s not all that small, actually). My experience is generally that somewhat overcrowded parties feel like more fun than undercrowded ones, so maybe the small space will work for us. We will have to cook the food sequentially – I want to make the brownies tomorrow or Friday night, but Ted’s arguing for making them that morning so the place smells of them. (My argument is, we need the oven for brisket, unless we make it in the crockpot.)

Anyway, I think it will be fun. And if he’s ever ready to leave work (it’s 7PM now) we can get out of here and go do our Costco run! With luck we will be able to find proper (not sweet) sausages for the jambalaya there.