dundalk dinner party, part 2 (real post)

so, saturday night my good friend terri came over for dinner and a movie. i had an inkling of what i wanted to create, but i was still toying around with ideas. i got chicken out to thaw and had it in my fridge for most of the day, however, my fridge is kept very cold as i love my milk like ice and ultimately, like a cold refrigerator, so when it came time to actually do anything with the chicken, it wasn't thawed. i placed both breasts (woot) in a bowl of room temperature water to finish thawing.

terri called me shortly before she was coming over and informed me that she was waiting on the lady to finish with my gift. my gift? i then told terri she didn't have to get me anything, but she threw it back in my face stating that she hadn't gotten me a housewarming gift yet. fine, whatever.

terri arrives toting a nordstrom box. curious. i'm commanded to open it and i do and what i found inside delighted me. it was adorable. it's a ceramic piggy bank that she had personalized with her nickname for me: geoffy-poo. i laughed, we hugged and i put it on display. i was wondering what sort of gift required someone to work on it and thought for a second she had gotten me some art and was having it framed. i dunno. i'll try and get a picture up at some point, though terri will probably have one up long before i will.

so, for dinner, i finally decided on sauteed chicken and vegetables with fresh steamed greenbeans with onion and red bell pepper and a capricci salad for an appetizer. i sauteed the bird and when i was done, transferred it to a baking dish while i sauteed the vegetables (onion, red and green bell pepper and mushrooms). when they were done, i put them on top of the chicken and covered it with mozzarella cheese and threw it in the oven for a few minutes. viola. cheesy sauteed chicken and veggies ... or something. whatever. terri took photos of all that and it looked better than it sounds. we ate (using my new table, courtesy of theresa ... thank you baby!), it was good; we went into the living room to watch a movie.

terri perused my DVD case and finally selected 'starship troopers' which is a movie that i absolutely love and found out that she loved as well. yay! we watched the movie, making fun of the bad acting throughout the whole thing oftentimes making the same observation or using the same cheesy bad-acting voice at the exact same time. it was delightful. after the movie, terri had to leave. she was tired. i understood.

it was a fun night and i apologize to those that invited me to game night, but i was in my PJs and didn't feel like doing much else for the evening aside from vegging out on the sofa in front of the television.

thank you, terri, for the gift. i love it! and also thank you for coming by and spending time with me. you're always welcome (p.s. that goes for all my friends!)

dundalk dinner party

it's wonderful to have friends and it's equally wonderful to be able to have them over and cook for them. i've always loved cooking but, in the past three years or so, i've found it difficult to actually place myself in the kitchen and prepare a decent meal that didn't constitute microwaving leftovers or thrusting frozen dinners into the oven. my previous domicile had two very anal-retentive occupants who, when i cooked and then cleaned, rolled up behind me to clean again, though i have no doubt in my prowess with a soapy sponge. however ... they apparently did.

now that i have my own place i find that it is much easier to create the mess and clean it up after with the knowledge that my practices will not be scrutinized later. thus, the dinner party begins.

last night i hosted an informal blogger convention/dinner party amid unpacked boxes and the smell of new carpeting. the guests of honor included: mrs.twink, the mr., jamie and theresa, 4 people who i adore and am very happy to know. well, except theresa because she dropped key lime tart on my carpet, but i digress.

my guests all arrived bearing gifts, each with a bottle of wine and mrs.twink and the mr. bringing along mini-tarts for desert as well as some amazing artichoke hummus that mrs.twink made from scratch. impressive and quite delicious.i decided to bake a lasagna and, mind you, it's been about 7 years since i've actually made a lasagna so i feared that my skills might be a little rusty, however, i found a great spinach lasagna recipe online at theveggietable.com. spinach lasagna? you may ask ... yes ... you see, mrs.twink is a born-again vegetarian and i felt that it would be far simpler to make everything vegetarian than to single her out and make her eat ruffage while the rest of us enjoyed juicy and meaty steaks. so, for a starter, i created a cool summer asparagus salad (i know it's not summer, but i love asparagus and i love salad thus, i love asparagus salad) with the lasagna playing center stage. i won't lie ... i had a fair amount of trepidation regarding the outcome of the meal, but i am certainly pleased with the results.

the salad was nice and cool with a light, citrus flavoring and the tang of kalamata olives topped off with a hint of mint. (ooh, i rhymed!) however, i feel that i had put too much onion in, though i followed the recipe exactly, except i forgot to crumble goat cheese over the top! oh, i was so angry. that's the part i was looking forward to the most even if it was only an optional ingredient.

the lasagna, made with a four cheese alfredo sauce instead of the traditional marinara, had quite a bit of flavor and wasn't as heavy as many lasagnas tend to be. though the recipe didn't call for it, i added several cloves of garlic as, in my opinion, garlic has a place in virtually any meal, especially italian fare. everyone, save mrs.twink and her amazing figure, had second helpings of each. damn her and her skinniness. i just think she didn't like it.

throughout the course of the night and the meal, we managed to drain the 3 bottles of white wine, though the types fail to come to mind at the moment. i do remember the riesling, as we saved it for last as more of a deserty wine to have with/after the mini tarts.

after dinner we lounged and chatted, mrs.twink and the mr. snapped some photos, though i felt completely gross after working all day and then slaving in the kitchen, so i wasn't very cooperative where the photos are concerned. the mr. and i bonded a few times ... i believe there is photo evidence of that and i would appreciate copies of those, thank-you-very-much-mrs.twink!

all in all, i think the evening went well and i can't speak for everyone, but i had a great time and i am sincerely glad that they came over to see my new place and to spend some time with me. i haven't seen mrs.twink, the mr. or theresa in quite some time, so i was super excited to see them. thank you guys and gals so much for making my night so enjoyable. i [heart] you guys!

an additional thank you to jamie for sticking around and helping with the dishes even after i assured him that i wasn't too worried and i would take care of it. finally, i gave in and he helped me clean up. so, thank you very much, jamie-poo!

side note:
i will be having a housewarming party at some point once i get all my boxes out of the way, so have no fear.

also, i managed to get my xbox360 working last night, though i don't know for how long, but at least i am able to get some use out of it before i send it off to the nazi-corporation, microsoft.

edit: comments and jokes last night were just that ... jokes. hopefully people know me enough by now not to take shit i say seriously. however, though it goes against every conceivable evil bone in my body, i apologize if i offended unintentionally. ooh, apologizing hurts.

T.G.I.M?

ugh ... monday morning ... my eyes are still half-shut ... my vision is somewhat blurry ... i keep yawning ... my head aches ... i look out my window here at work and i keep seeing prancing ponies drinking day old coffee while smoking exploding cigars ... i'm pretty sure i'm still dreaming.

i hate mondays. i know that is what everyone says, but seriously ... i really, really hate mondays.

the only benefit to today is that, tonight the 'hell's kitchen' finale comes on. yay! i do so love that show. i'm looking forward to see who wins. i hate rock, because he's a total asshole and he thinks he's the shit. on the other hand, the blond chick--i forget her name--is dumb as a brick and i'm really surprised she made it as far as she did. i think chef ramsey likes her tits. who knows? regardless, i can't wait to see how she decides to decorate her side of the restaurant. seeing as she's a nanny, i'm wondering if it'll have clowns with balloons, clouds, teddy bears and giant storks painted on the walls and ceiling. should be a treat to watch.

so, this weekend was fairly uneventful for me, which i am liking more and more as the weeks go by. i'm not going out to the clubs as much because i need to save money. i average between $40-$80 a night at the club when i go. oy. i need to save that.

instead, i went to matt and jessica's for dinner on friday. the food was amazing. steven brought paul, the resident vegetarian, and so matt prepared quite a few vegetable dishes that were to die for: asparagus with pine nuts and white wine, grilled portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced grilled eggplant, mashed potatoes with fried onions and a wonderful mixed green salad with crumbles of bleu cheese. it was all so very tasty. the meat course consisted of apricot glazed pork chops which tasted as good as if jesus christ himself stood at the grill wearing an apron that read, "kiss the cook." we had a glass of wine with dinner which was a nice reisling that would have tasted better chilled (just kidding matt). after our meal we had homemade pistachio cake and ho-made brownies (jamie is the ho that made the brownies.) the highlight of the evening, however, is when matt and jessie's son began to mock steven: laughing like him, saying the same things; slapping the table like him. i think steven was getting offended. lol. it was pretty funny. it was a great night.

saturday morning i drove out to annapolis to have my VEIP test done. i took 450 out and it was a nice relaxing drive through a very wooded area that had me flashing back to the area i lived in when i was in massachusetts. the dappled sunlight through the trees overhead ... the curvy, twisting roads winding through the forest ... trailers with junk and old toys in the front lawn. ahh ... the wonderful sights of trailer trash.

i passed my VEIP test, no problem. i really didn't expect a problem considering i just replaced the entire exhaust system on the jeep only last year. i'm glad i went though, because there was a really hot guy working at the VEIP testing place ... he was rather grungy, but in that hot mechanic sort of way. i felt a tingling.

on the way home i decided to stop by a yard sale. i love yard sales. sometimes you can find great shit for pennies on the dollar but i think i like going to yard sales most of all because people sell the weirdest shit imaginable. case and point: several old pairs of underwear, both in adult and child sizes. are you kidding me? who in their right mind would buy underwear from a yard sale? why would anyone even dare to put them on sale? of course, they caught my eye and i wandered over and began leafing through them like i was interested. i'm sure the other people at the sale were like, "ooh, look at that guy browsing through the used underwear." i didn't buy any, i just did it for shock value and to satisfy my own curiosity. the underwear actually looked pristine in their cleanliness, however, bleach does wonders. i was only about 5 minutes from home at this point and i left the underwear unpaid for on the table amid old ashtrays and a cuckoo clock with a bent minute hand and missing one of those pine cone weights that hang down. i washed my hands thoroughly when i got home--just in case--and took a clorox sani-wipe to my stearing wheel and stick shift. one can never be too careful.

other than that, my weekend was just relaxing. i read most of the 1st harry potter book (i'm rereading them all now that i have all 7 and won't have to wait a year in between them) and played my FFXI game. that's it. i know i missed some calls this weekend and i'm sorry. i'll make it up to everyone!

how was everyone else's weekend? do anything exciting?