Laura Red; Fare By The Flame In The Burning River City: Dinner Party of Doom II

I know, I know, it's been almost a week since the party, but I've been so elated with the good weather that I haven't much felt like sitting down unless it was on a bicycle seat.

A great time was had. A wonderful time. And after many hours of shopping, prepping, chopping, and running my hands under a lot of cold water (peeling and variously chopping 7 heads of garlic = burn your fingers off), everything came out great. The sauce in the beef bourguinon didn't quite thicken up to the consistency that I normally like, but that didn't seem to matter (everyone was diving into the mole' anyway, LOL).

A lot of these pics were by either John or Lauren, who took turns playing with his camera, LOL.

Spicy lamb meatballs with a mint garlic yogurt dipping sauce. These got devoured

Here's The tomato basil bruschetta topped with fresh mozzarella and then browned with my trusty torch. :-)

Everybody seemed to be having a great time coloring, mingling, and D-R-I-N-K-I-N-G (OOHHH how the wine FLOWED!) as I prepared dinner. :-)

Beef prep

Kathy :-) She's so adorable :-)

Christie, whose house this took place in, and her REALLY awesome boyfriend Adam. He reminds me of a 1950's heart throb you'd see in an old movie wearing a letter jacket. And I mean that in the best way possible.

Me with Batty :-)

Dinner simmering on the stove :-)

The lovely and wonderful Miss Lauren. :-)

Mr. Kingtycoon socializing with Christie and Adam :-)

Jeff looking rather intense as Bridget talks to him, LOL. :-)

Denise laughing :-) She has such a great smile :-)

It makes everyone else smile, too :-)

Good times!

And dinner is still going :-)

I had a little scenario with melted tongs...

And before we knew it, it was time for dessert. Here's Lauren injecting the cupcakes with peanut butter cream cheese ;-)

NOOO LAUREN!!! YOU ARE NOT A CUPCAKE!!!!

Chocolate ganache topping

This photo is courtesy of Bridget Callahan, who got the ONLY picture of the cupcakes after I had put the ganache on...

And after the majority of my guests had left for the night, only the veteran party animals remained for the drunken after-dinner festivities - such as dancing in the kitchen during clean-up to the likes of Boyz 2 Men and Bel Biv DeVoe :-)

My girls and me singing "Motown Philly" into pool cues :-) ("Mo-town Phi-lly back a-gain!!....." ...it was like 6th grade all over again ;-D)

After cleanup partying, we drunk-caravaned it over to karaoke, where THIS woman was SERIOUS....she even had GLOVES.

Batty and I ended up singing with this guy. This guy fucking wins...

Yes, a good night was had by all. :-)

A huge, warm thank you to all of you that shared this evening with me, brought me gifts of wine and flowers (Lisa!), and helped me when I needed a few more hands. :-)

A very special thank you to Christie for allowing me free reign of your house and your kitchen, and to Lauren, Adam, and my wonderful John for helping me in the cleanup. :-)