Fall Ball 2012 and Sharin' the Love

Well, another year and another Fall Ball success.  It's funny, the husband and I had a post-mortum after the fact on how it went, was it good, what is left over, what went well.  Here is what he said:  I DREAD it.  Which shocked me a bit but then he explained.  It's the stress of it that doesn't really dissipate until it's underway.  Weeks in advance, you have to pick a date (which really you DON'T pick this date, the date picks you) and hope that people will come.  It's a crazy time because lots of people we know have birthdays around now, or their kids do, or anniversaries (ours).  Then there's the theme.  Will people be too constrained?  Will they think outside (or in the case of Tom Scott, inside) the box?  Then you have to decide on your own costume and make it come together, which adds its own stress.  Then there is the food, the drink, the space.

Over the years I've gotten better at handling the stress.  Mostly because each year I try to adapt.  This year I dialed food WAY back and we still didn't even open one appetizer and the pan of pumpkin bars went untouched.  So I have some work to do there, but what dialing back I've done, has helped tremendously with my stress level.  And I've quit thinking my house has to be completely disinfected before the party.  It's AFTER the party you want to disinfect.

I really do understand the dread though.  You never know if "something better" might come up.  We had that happen one year where half the party didn't show up until really late.  We were left explaining to those there that no, we had no idea why they were late.  The stress knot never really dissipated that year, but luckily there hasn't been a repeat so WOOT!

This year's theme was books.  And think about it, almost every movie is based from a book so there was TONS to choose from.  I went back and forth and finally decided (because it came together so easily which was an indication that it was meant to be) to be my husband's counterpart.  So here we are, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimoto and Esmeralda:

I love it when I get the opportunity to repurpose dance costumes that I paid an arm and a leg for.  Most of Quasi's was also recycled but I will tell you, the eye was challenging.

So, the party starts as it always does with a pre-party cocktail with the friends who were in on the Fall Ball from day one, the man in the yellow hat  and Laura #1:

(Just a word of warning, you gotta just KNOW that George WILL be a naughty monkey.  It's in his stuffing.) And as always, they come not just to help us settle our nerves, but always bearing gifts.  This year was our anniversary gift. 

What's hilarious about it is it plays Send in the Clowns.  Ah, but one would need to know WHERE are the clowns.  If you are following our clown saga, which can be found  here and here you'll get the hilarity of that.  Oddly enough, said clown seems to be "missing".  Well, I'm positive it will turn up somewhere, where one least expects it.  But the little music box can be a reminder until it does.

Our pre-party party cocktail this year was an Apple Cider Margerita.  Makes you want one doesn't it?  It was delicious!

So, like last year's party, and the plethora of Charlie Brown's we had, this year's party ALSO included a favorite.  Anyone want to take a guess as to what it would be?  Why Where's Waldo?  of course.  The first to arrive was Waldo with Scarecrow (yes The Wizard of Oz was a book first):

Followed by Waldo and Laura:

And then a pair of Waldos:

Then the Indian in the Cupboard arrived:

With his lovely wife Walter the Farting Dog (she brought the book as proof):

The Dread Pirate Roberts and Buttercup also put in an appearance:

And apparently someone passed George the VSOP.  NOT a good idea:

Where the Sidewalk Ends was cleverly done:

One party goer took things into his own hand.  Literally:

HILARIOUS!

Of course, a book themed costume party wouldn't be complete with out SOME contemporary literature...enter...Grey, Christian Grey:

BUT, the winners of this year's best costume, were Willy Wonka (circa Johnny Depp) and his Golden Ticket(also know as 101 uses for gold duct tape):

And additional pics of most of the women:

And of course, George took a turn for the naughty (yes, we ARE 12):

And then I think someone slipped George some kind of growth hormone in his brandy because next thing we knew:

The Cuban Black Bean soup was a repeat from last year and apparently it was a good choice as it was almost completely GONE with about a half pot of the white chili having been eaten.  And I will say that this WAS a good batch of the black bean.  So, because I'm a giver (OBVIOUSLY) I'm gonna sharin' the love (and the recipe) with y'all.

Cuban Black Bean Soup (From Star Tribune late 1990s)
20 oz dry black beans, rinsed
3 quarts plus 3 cups beef broth, divided
4 Tbs olive oil
3 cups chopped oion
2 cups chopped green pepper
1 large carrot chopped
2 Tbs garlic powder
2 large bay leaves
1 1.4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 smoked ham shanks (I've tried hocks which the recipe called for and I think it's too fatty so I started using shanks)
1/2 cup dry Sherry
2 Tbs balsamic or red vinegar
In a large pot over medium heat combine beans with 3 cups of beef broth (for this part I usually use Tones beef base.  I also don't worry about it being exact but make sure there is enough that the beans don't become dry).  Boil beans covered for 30 minutes.  Turn off heat,  and let stand in pot for one hour.
In ANOTHER large pot (this one needs to be big) saute onions and peppers in oil over medium high heat until onion is translucent and pepper is soft.  Stir in carrot garlic powder, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, red pepper and black pepper.  Combine ingredients evenly and let saute for 2-3 min.  Add remaining 3 quarts of broth (I HIGHLY recommend NOT using the beef base for this, but buying beef stock or broth and using low sodium variety.  The ham shanks will be salty and if you use the beef base or regular broth, the soup may end up salty), the beans and whatever liquid is still in the pot and ham shanks.  Bring to a simmer and cover and cook until ham begins to fall from bones (about 2 hours).  Remove ham from pot, let cool and remove ham and return to the pot and continue to simmer for a total of 3 hours, and at least one hour uncovered.  Just before serving, stir in sherry and vinegar.  My  preference is to serve it over yellow rice (use about 1-2 tsp of turmeric to turn rice a beautiful yellow color). 


The stress?  Gone by the first hour.  I counted 28 people, biggest yet.  It is always so gratifying to hear people ask if we're already planning NEXT year's theme.  Why yes, we are.  And if you're lucky, you'll be on next year's invitation list.

Countdown to Fall Ball 2012 is Underway

Our annual Fall Ball is only a short 4 days away.  And since last year's went so well, I'm probably way more laid back than I should be, thinking it will all fall into place, which is NEVER a good plan.

Oh the same questions loom...what is the theme?  Do you have your costume done? What will you be? Is your food all planned? And DID you in fact run out of beer last year?

Books.  Our theme this year is books.  And if you stop and think about it, that means you can be pretty much anything.  Well except some obscure character like a nurse from Dr Zhivago.  Luckily I don't have to worry because pretty much everyone who comes really uses their imagination and makes an effort and the end result is SO worth it.  It's always fun to see where people's minds take them.

No.  I don't have my costume completed yet and NO, I'm not telling what I think I'm going to be.  Mostly because I have something like 3 ideas that I'm working on  and I might end up being whichever of them come together first.  One would even be opposite my husband.  I should probably quit being a slacker and start the narrowing down process.

I had planned on a different menu from last year but too many people wanted a repeat of the Cuban Black Bean soup and who am I to refuse? But when I look back on all the OTHER stuff I made, I'm thinking...HOLY Martha Stewart Batman, you need to figure this out.  PRONTO.  I'm thinking the chicken soup will be White Chili.  I have a recipe that I pulled out of the San Jose Mercury News back in (deep breath) 1990 that I absolutely LOVE and haven't had a bad review of.  EVER.  Everything else I'm gonna wing.

As for beer...silly wabbit.  Of COURSE we didn't run out of beer.  That is Cardinal Rule of hosting parties.  NEVER RUN OUT OF BEER.  So of course we overbuy, which just means we have extra left over.  Which for us means WINNING.  I may serve Apple Cider Margaritas which I found on Pinterest  earlier this month and have already tried out and are AWESOME.  And I think I heard a someone whisper something about jello shots, but, I could be mistaken.  We'll have to see what Saturday brings.

Now, having put everything out there and in perspective, I have my game face on.  Party on Wayne!

May...it sorta just slipped by...

I've had many posts going through my mind and I actually have a couple drafts (that are very deep), but I had no idea it had been over a month since I had last posted.  So, this is going to be a recap of the month of May.  Stay and read, or move on...but here goes.

May started with what May always starts with for us:  the combined dance recital and prom day.  ALWAYS a fun day for a parent who needs to be at two places at one time.  Luckily, this year the recital times changed and there was an early 1030 recital time that worked better for us and allowed us to see to both events.

My girls were fabulous: 

My oldest daughter's costume was a dance to "Be Italian".  Her second dance was a "Bollywood" dance.  The costume was more fun than the difficulty of the dance but she did great with both.  My youngest daughter's costume was her tap dance to "Singing in the Rain/Umbrella" montage that they did with full sized umbrellas.  Her second dance was to "Country Girls Shake it for Me", and was a lot of fun.  And of course middle daughter was there to cheer on her sisters.

From there we raced back to town in order to get the boy's flowers and see him in his tux.  Before it started raining.  Unfortunately, we didn't quite make it before the deluge.  Luckily only we got wet.  He had pictures at friends' house and they sent us pictures.  It DID stop raining before the Grand March at the high school so we got to see many of the Junior and Seniors in their finery.  Like the boy and his stunning date:

The next week, I got a call asking if I could start work a week early.  WHAT?  Work?  Yes, in a masochistic twist, I volunteered to help a friend whose landscape company wasn't fully staffed and needed temporary help installing annual beds at commercial sites.  Not being busy and having an opportunity to earn a little money (especially with recent expenditures and a child graduating), I jumped at the opportunity.  It meant we would have to alter some well established schedules (as I had to be AT work by 630am) but we figured it was short term (although full time) and we would make it work.  Little did I know that nothing really prepares your body for 10-12 hours of that sort of physical activity.  The saving grace (or at least I'm looking at it that way) is that there was no break in activity which meant that my body didn't get the opportunity to REALLY hurt.

I am going to take a moment to delve into work ethic.  I look at my own kids and how the behave in our house and I will be honest and say I'm a little afraid that I have failed them with regard to a work ethic.  They will, when asked, help with chores but will also typically do only what is asked, will do as little as they think they can get away with doing.  My HOPE is that they are only this way with us (which of course makes me sad...I will of course throw out the platitude that "A job worth doing is worth doing well" regardless of whether it is in our house or outside of our house).  I mention this because after a week of installing beds, we had help in the form of a college student who has worked just as hard as the  more mature team members.  It could be that she is following our lead.  Or it could be that this is who she is.  Regardless, it gives me hope for my own children, although I WILL continue to nag about the jobs they do at home.

Then we had the annual spring fling. AKA salad night.  This was our 7th and I think I am really getting better and better at this.  Even though I wasn't sure I would be able to muster the energy after working a 12 hour day on Friday, running to the stores to do all my shopping and attempting to get as much prep work done on Friday as possible, I was sure I would be EXHAUSTED by Saturday.  I was, but it was a good exhaustion.  I also miscalculated on how much time I would have.  I thought I had done enough prep work on Friday night to have to only do a few things on Saturday but OH BOY was I wrong.  I was getting in the shower 20 minutes before the party started.

The menu was changed only slightly.  Last year's  Chicken Pear and Pistachio didn't really go over that great so I removed that one and replaced it with a Chicken Spinach salad with a Warm Bacon dressing that went over REALLY well.  I had someone tell me that their favorite was the bacon/bacon salad.  As if I had to figure out what he meant.  I also added a fruit salad to the mix, which was a recipe from my SIL but I kicked it up a notch by adding chopped crystallized ginger making it phenomenal.  The drink de jour was a Black Swan which I found on Pinterest and those who indulged seemed to love.  Appetizers included the marinated tomato on grilled bread, black bean salsa and the new one this year:  shrimp ceviche.  I was a bit nervous about this because it is basically raw shrimp that is "cooked" in lime juice (the acid cooks it, there is no heat involved), but it turned out great.  A definite keeper.  Dessert was dialed back to double chocolate brownies and walnut brownies.  Observation:  men seem to like nuts more than women. I happen to be on the side of men on this one.  We had a few moments of threat of rain, but for the most part any severe weather held off.  Polish horseshoes were played.  The myriad of kids thoroughly enjoyed the trampoline.  With a final head count of 24 I believe we can call it another spring fling success.

May 23 the youngest turned 11.   With all of the end of year activities, we have put off celebrating her birthday until after the graduation party is over, but she did get a dinner out at her favorite place:  Chilis.  Since it meant no cooking for me, I was SO good with that.  I always feel bad about her and her next sister as their birthdays are at the end and beginning of the school year when things are the craziest and they tend to get gypped when one does a side by side comparison to what I have done with the other two.  I will probably be making their "deprived" younger years up to them in their late teens when the older two are gone.

And now that the month is winding down, we are gearing up towards graduation.  The invitations have been sent and here is where I am going to insert a whine.  We have received many invitations and all (except ours) are calling their graduation parties "Open House".  And this is my issue.  How in the world is one to even ATTEMPT to prepare for refreshments when you have no idea how many people will be stopping by?  OH, I get that many people are there to do a quick stop by (and especially kids, who will be hitting as many grad parties as they can...and there will be THREE in our neighborhood that night) but still, we have sent out about 60 invitations.  The boy posted it on facebook and of the 200+ invites, there are 88 "goings" from which we expect maybe a third.  We also did not call ours an Open House but rather a Grad Party for which we requested an RSVP.  We have gotten maybe 10 responses. 

The plan is pulled pork, asian pasta salad, potato salad, cole slaw, various bars and a cake.  We have chosen to skip doing his HS colors and are doing the party in his college colors.  I think once I have pulled this one off, I will be partied out.  For a while.

Of course, the food is only a part of the graduation party "season".  The real impetuous behind hosting a grad party is to actually be forced to get your house in order.   I  painted my kitchen, living room and hallway this spring.  Hosting Easter at our house helped me make that happen other wise I would be in full on panic mode.  Since I knew that graduation was looming, I attempted to get ahead of the curve by starting my "order" last summer.  Instead of waiting for this spring, I split my perennials last fall.  Which necessitated having to remulch our perennial area.  To that end, I had 10 (actually it ended up being closer to 15) yards of dark brown mulch delivered on Monday last week, praying I would have the energy after working 10-12 hour days to get it spread.  Luckily our installs are winding down and I was finished with work on Friday at noon so I was able to make a little headway.  The pile of mulch, she started like this:

Saturday it rained all day so there would be no weeding/mulch spreading.  Sunday after church, the husband and I joined forces and made headway.  Monday we finished it off.  I think that was the fastest we have ever completed it.  The end results...well, we are VERY pleased.

And that pile of mulch?  Well, now it looks like this: 

We finished around 2 yesterday afternoon and rewarded ourselves with steak on the grill with friends.

To say it was a busy month is a bit of an understatement.  But I am feeling a bit more confident about being ready for the boy's party.  Talk to me again in10 days and see if I'm still there.