NJuly 3, 2016 Bob’s 70th BD Party
Billy and Elaine flew in for my BD at 9:00 a.m. I picked them up And stopped to buy Club Soda for the mojitos on our way home. We dropped bags, picked up Suzette and Luke and drove to Old Town. We parked in front of the Candy Store and walked the long block to Church Street Restaurant. We took a patio table and in a few minutes Willy joined us.
Luke and I ordered Blueberry Pancakes with patty sausage and poached eggs. Elaine and Willy ordered the Big Pile eggs, chili and fried potatoes. Suzette and Billy ordered Carnitas and eggs.
We all enjoyed our brunch and then walked around Old Town and I pointed out the four other businesses owned by our tenants.
We then went home and set up for the party and watched the Tour de France and the France victory over Iceland in the EUFA quarterfinals.
A little after 5:00 Mike Keller delivered the pig.
At 6:00 Bob and Judy arrived with a chafing dish filled with chile con Queso, soon many others arrived with salads, vegetable dishes and desserts and wine. One of the most delicious dishes was the Beautiful and delicious Nasir Kuning (Balinese Yellow rice) made by Diane Souder and Jim Graf. I only tried a couple of dishes, but I did enjoy the interesting Romanian Roasted eggplant with Lemon dish that a similar consistency as Baba Ghanoosh, but without the tahini paste.
I decided that I should carve the pig, which would give me the chance to say hello to each guest. Everyone gathered around as I removed the saran and aluminum foil wrap. The 65 lb. pig was impressive.
I had never carved a whole pig, so I took Mike Keller’s suggestion and made a cut along the backbone from behind the head to the tail and then cut plates of hardened skin off to expose the meat. We had also prepared black beans with avocado, Epazote, and Hoja Santa leaves and Coleslaw with papaya. We bought small tortillas for tacos, but not many took them, perhaps because we had no means for heating them. Barry brought a pot and boiled ears of corn. Alan Torgerson brought a heavenly dark and rich chocolate torte from Whole Foods and Ken Gillen made a wonderful carrot cake with walnut and a cream cheese icing just to name a few dishes.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening. Luke sang a special song he crafted for the evening named “Can I help you?” And then he sang the great Janis Joplin song “Get it While You Can”
I then decided to ask the guests to say their name and how they knew me, which took a while, because there were over fifty people, but folks told me it helped break the ice in many cases and folks started talking to each other more.
We had put out beer, Gruet Brut Champagne, and Gruet 100% Pinot Noir still Rose’ plus a number of red wines including a couple of Cotes du Rhone.
At dusk Suzette lit candles and the party continued until after 10:00.
The most wonderful gestures of friendship of the evening was after Max carved the rest of the meat off the pig, Jim Graf offered to take the pig skeleton to his house and depose,of it, since our trash receptacle was full.
Many people took pictures. Here are a few.
Bon Appetit
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