Like most everyone,
the millennium presented us with a great excuse to party. The question
was where and how. We looked at the cruises, the hotels, the restaurants
and after seeing the costs, we said to ourselves "Heck
we can have our own part for that price". Our immediate
thought was to host a party ( Art really wanted to do this so he
could "consume" all he wanted without having to worry
about driving) at our home with our closest friends. We ran the
idea up the flag pole and all of a sudden we had a party !!
I say all of a sudden, actually planning started months in advance.
We decided that wine would be the focal point and then we would
find those dishes that best matched the wines we were going to
serve. Since we'd saved all of those $bucks$ from not going on
a cruise or a fancy place, we decided to go for the very best of
ingredients. So splurge we did ... Beluga Caviar ( I wonder if
those fish know just how much their eggs are going for ?? !! )
.. Kobe Beef flown in from Japan ... the very finest of fresh seafood.
The Attendee's ..
Patty Nelson and Frank Felice from Philadelphia
John and Barbara Cannon from here in Raleigh
The duties:
Patty - 2 entrees and finding all of the fresh seafood and caviar
Johnny - One simple duty ... bring his wonderful baked breads
Barbara - Dessert - the only stipulation was made by Betsy ..
it HAD to be chocolate.
Betsy - the soup and emergency shopping needs
Art - the wine and two entrees
Frank - Keeping all glasses full all weekend and keeping the cooks
from nervous breakdowns ... by the way .. Art nominated Frank as
his hero for life. Both Betsy and Patty's lives are ruled by @#$@#$
cats !! Thus Patty was gonna bring her cat. Needless to say, more
conversations were had about whether the @#$@#$@#$ cats would get
along than were had about the meal. Well imagine my surprise when
they showed up at our door "sans" cat !! It seems that
Frank made one simple statement "No way I'm gonna have
a (deleted expletive) cat in my car for 8 hours !!" ..
Any man brave enough to say that to a woman who is a cat lover
and still be cooped up in the same car with that woman for 8 hours
is truly a hero in Art's eyes !!
It was decided that we would cook and eat as we went along ..
thus we were only 1/2 way through at midnight and the dessert courses
came at 2:30 am !!
The Menu
The Pictures
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