weekend round-up

If the theme of last weekend was veg-out this weekend was the complete opposite.  Probably cooking, cooking and more cooking is the best way to describe how Marc and I spent the weekend.  It was crazy busy but buckets of fun.

Friday we set out in full prep-mode for my Mom's birthday party on Sunday.  3 grocery stores later and we were loaded up on tasty treats, boozy goodness and the makings of a veritable feast.  Funny store from Friday:  After spending what felt like forever in the Superstore we push our cart all the way to the other end and get in line at a cash.  I lean over to start unloading and notice that what I thought was our cart is actually a stock cart filled with toaster ovens, coffee makers, other assorted boxes and a clipboard.  At this moment, Marc is hysterically laughing (which if you know Marc realize can be a rarity) as neither of us noticed that he took the wrong cart and pushed it all the way across the store.  My exclamation of "My purse is in our cart!" only serves to push him further into hysterics as we rush all the way back to the other side of the store to find our cart, still pushing this mystery cart of course.  We ditch the mystery cart in the middle of  the aisle and find our cart sitting quietly undisturbed in the linen department.  Later that night when we're trying to sleep Marc again falls into fits of laughter recalling this grocery store mishap and again when re-telling the story to Dennis on Saturday.

Saturday we prepped food all day and Saturday night headed out to Little Montreal for Kate Maki's CD release party.  Yay to Kate and her third beautiful record!  She had a great turn-out complete with tiny sandwiches and an early start time.  Who could ask for more??  It was a fun night and I even got hit on by a drunk downtowner.  Apparently I sure looked pretty standing there watching the band.  His words, not mine.  Check out Kate if you haven't already -- her records are honest, simple and just great songwriting.  Plus she's super cute and that never hurts.

Sunday was party day!!  My mom's birthday is February 13th and typically Marc and I host a Sunday afternoon cocktail type party for her and we dish out plates of fancy finger foods and great wine.  Pretty much everything we made was a new recipe and not one dud!  The menu included:  Prosciutto Pinwheels, Cranberry Camembert Puffs,  Moo Ping (Thai pork skewers), Beaufort Cheese Puff Straws, Babaganouj,  Sesame Battered Shrimp, Endive stuffed with Ricotta, Almonds and Cranberries, Miss Gomm's cheeseball, Mandarin and Kashmir Chili Chicken,  Chicken Lollipops for the kids, and homemade Creme Caramel for dessert. Birthday drink of the day was Marc's newly invented "Marcolini" which is essentially a Bellini made with a mixture of mango juice and mango puree and Prosecco.  Needless to day we pretty much ate all day and we were pretty darn proud to see all the happy stuffed faces at the end of it all.  I'm pretty happy with my flower arrangement too which I had to take a picture of -- I liked it that much.  I'm about a zero level of crafty so flower arranging is certainly not a resume-worthy skill for me.  Safe to say that Mom's annual B-day party is me at my most Martha Stewarty.  Do with that information what you will.  Overall, party was a big fat success with no "eww" faces in sight.  I think the party was best summed up by my 2 year old niece Emily when she walked into the living room and pronounced "Uncle Marc, this is some really good family time."  Lowlight of the party was probably when our fireplace doors decided to shatter for no other reason than their desire to be moved up on the Household Priorities List.  Despite the hole, I will say that a fire looks pretty darn beautiful through cracked glass.