An After the Party critique......

Evans graduation party was this last Saturday. A gorgeous day at the South Shore. (DH says it poured here for 3 hours) But the Gods shone on our boys party. There was enough food to feed the army, lots made by his mum and more brought by friends.

Billy cooked burgers, hot dogs, ( of course) on the grill along with steamers and quahogs brought by nephew Brendan and a couple of pork roasts, cooked to perfection. Add to that the pasta salads, potato salads, tossed salads and the special Caesar salad made by Bills friend Michael and his daughter Mariah (from way back on the west coast) Aunt Linda brought bruschetta and Grandma made salsa and chutneys.

And desserts!!!!! Whoopie pies from Janet, pastries from Karen, cupcakes and brownies from Auntie Trish, and Di's oatmeal cookies, filled like a whoopie pie. (Can you tell this is a New England party?????)

I made him a Congrats pennant and forgot to take a pic. We hung it on the front of the house, only problem was the pennants were too light to stay flat. The wind kept twisting them.
James stood with the glue gun whilst I glued pennies on the backs, it helped but if you make one and are hanging it outside I would recommend weights, heavier than pennies. Tassels might work as weights if you can go to that expense.

When I was getting ready to get to bed at 12:00 o'clock there were boys and girls still coming in nabbing munchies and finishing off the desserts. The party was still going on around a campfire when Di went out to shush them at 3:30.

Around 8:00 a.m my son from next door stuck his head out and offered to go get me coffee, which I accepted gratefully. I peeked out back and there were shoes all around the jumpy, 6 big boys were curled up on the jumpy floor in blankets and quilts. The party finally ended.

It is raining again, thanks sun for shining on Evans day. All in all a great day, he is off to Mass Maritime in the Fall.

Cooking Chicken or Turkey

If you are cooking chicken on the grill or roasting a chicken, even roasting your Thanksgiving turkey. Brine it first. You can brine in the refrigerator overnight or for 3 or 4 hours.

2 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar added to 2 cups of boiling water. Let it cool and cover chicken. What a difference on the grill or in the oven. Double the recipe for large amounts of poultry.

Pat the poultry dry, add any rub etc. and cook as usual.

You will be amazed at the difference in taste and it takes only a little time.

Some people have a life.......

Too bad I am not one of them. I laugh when I read my daughters blog. She is such a graphic writer. She takes you to a venue and you feel as though you were there.
She and her husband, and children, go to lots of concerts, etc. people I have never heard of cause I am a country girl, (you know, they used to call it country and western) and never got into all the Warren Zevon, Jimmy Buffet stuff. I just smile when they all start talking music.

I still like Anne McCaffrey, J.D.Robb, Vince Flynn and W.E.B.Griffin. Never could figure out Atlas Shrugged, or the relevance of Gloria Steinam to my life. I was never aware of the glass ceiling until all the women were complaining about it, and lifetime jobs are still an anathema to me. I always tried to give 60 minutes of work for every hour I was paid, actually I did not know any better.

August Rush is my very favorite movie of the year, I never watch them more than once and have seen August 3 or 4 times. Doesn't hurt that that cutie pie Keri Russel is in it.

You all have a nice weekend, looks like it will by sunny and warm, at last, here in Massachusetts.
I will be busily quilting all weekend.