Shennigans

hey kids, you may have thought I took a hiatus or that I was actually hard at work with my prelim/dissertation but you might be wrong if you thought that. the most time intensive and fun thing I have done recently is to host a dinner party last week with a competitive slant that involved reminiscing about the eighties.....

so, here is how the whole idea shaped up: I was home, looking around my apartment and realizing that I had let the whole cleanliness next to godliness thing slide. I figured if I was going to clean, I might as well have something to show for it. So I sent off an impromptu email inviting about a dozen or so of my friends over Friday night for food. Then, to entice them further, or at least keep the crazies at bay (HA!), told them we would be playing "Totally Eighties Trivial Pursuit" for prizes.

Well, my friends brought their game faces and empty stomachs. I had a great time - Cel inspired me to do an all Italian theme (and after spending two days cleaning the apartment, I wanted some quick and easy cooking). Everything turned out really well except for the completely full tray of stuffed Manicotti left back( I cook to feed an army, even if only two people come over) and over half of the chocolate-cream-strawberry layered cake (I am not complaining about the latter - just trying to incite a bit of salivation in my readers).......

Then it progressed to the competitive part of the evening and the questions were both hard to answer and annoying as hell to read. Think Yoda trying to sound educated - who writes the phrasing of the questions? It also did not help that the team I was on was trailing behind every other team for about 3/4 of the game. But lo and behold, we rallied, got a slew of answers right and then managed to pull of the game winning question which asked about what movie the theme "Rodents of Unusual Size" came from (hint: talk to Cel and you certainly know).

All in all, it was a great evening reminding me that I know some very good people who know how to make a good time of anything. It also reminds me how much I love to cook and why being motivated to do chores for the enjoyment of others is more fun than just for your own sake. So, since I am in Chicago all winter (no Christmas plans to go home), the next one will be in mid-December featuring my famous three-alarm chili, corn bread, and home made apple pie! If you want to fly up (or down) to enjoy some home style cooking as well as possibly lots of cold, windy, snowy weather, it is an open invitation to all.....