Got out of the house at 1100, drove to Marie Callender's, picked up a trio of pies (to add to the two that the gudwife has already made), then drove the 30 miles to Sis-in-Law's place, got lost in the fog finding it AGAIN, thankful for cell phones, shoulda had my netbook on with GPS attached running MS Streets.
Got there, unloaded the vehicle, graciously accepted a Cosmopolitan from the hostess, and the hors d'oeuvres began to flow from her kitchen. Some REALLY good salami from Otto's Sausage in Portland. Served on water crackers. Yes! Shortly after, some baked prawns dredged in butter. Yum!
Then your blogger got into the act, producing a bag of chestnuts. The Swiss Army knife made the appropriate vent-cut in each, and into the oven they went (their fine house lacks an open fire) and it was raining too hard on the deck to roast them outside on the BBQ pit.
Only one exploded in the oven, but it made itself into chestnut powder! The hot chestnuts were a big hit, and the gudwife's mom allowed as how they were a favorite staple in old Japan, so I got cultural bonus points as well as hors d'oeuvre points and HEALTHY FOOD points, too. Score: I'm even with everyone with a lot less work!
Broke out the netbook and showed 14-yr old cousin: she wants one! Her dad warned her about the 2-year broadband contract at $60/month, but she still wants one. I might be in dutch for that. Lose some of the points earned for the chestnuts.
Hostess asked me for a new cocktail choice, I picked Fog Cutters, since it was a foul day outside. Mine are MUCH easier than Emeril's. Pour one jigger of frozen vodka, then 3 jiggers of Cranberry Juice (not a lesser variety, the real thing). Stir (or shake, I'm not James Bond), enjoy.
Broke out my large collection of Christmas music, and played some Trans Siberian Orchestra, and Tony Elman's Winter Creek album.
The hostess had had Otto's smoke a free-range turkey, and we popped that into the oven whilst the other guests played some board games. At 98 degrees, we took the smoky bird out and sat down to eat.
A recently-arrived at T-Day tradition lets my daughter pick the blessing, but she stayed away from religion and asked each one of us to name the thing that they most wanted for the nation that was also good for humanity. I said revive the space program from it's legarthy, since there is likely water of some sort wherever we might explore in the not-too-distant future. The rest of them settled for political platitudes. We dug in, and I had one plateful, only. Wine was some Napa Valley chard not worth searching the local stores for. My usual Columbia Valley chards are just as good, at about a third of the price of Napa Valley mill-run stuff.
The kiddies cleaned up the table quickly, and we sat down to the T-Day movie, Ron Howard's "Angels and Demons", a semi-sequel to the "Da Vinci Code". I'm not impressed with all that "Illuminati" theory, because I've never seen ANY evidence to prove that such an organization ever existed except in the eye of the Vatican, which I believe developed it centuries ago as a stalking-horse to bash the Freemasons with. The film was a taut drama, though, and fun to watch just as a story. Unfortunately, some "true believers" have gotten a hold of the Illuminati theory, and will accept the plot-line of the movie as fact, just like they did for the "Da Vinci Code". The UFO people have to have SOMETHING to do between Area 51 symposia.
Then it was pie, and then time to divvy up the leftovers and scoot for home. Rolled into my driveway at 2248, and was greeted by Bella the cat, who tried to lie her way into another ration of wet cat food. Didn't fall for THAT, but did fall right into bed, sawing logs until well after the shopping fools all rushed the stores this morning.
All's well that ends well.
Philosophical observation of the day: Christmas music sounds so much better to me this year, and I can't put my finger on why. I'm playing it here much more often, though.
