Friday, February 24, 2023

Catching up a Bit After That Depressing Rant (AND now Blogger is messing up the Fonts! Why????)

 AND now Blogger is messing up the Fonts! Why????

1. Mardi Gras Dinner Party

 A few weeks ago I was informed by a neighbor, Wendy, our favorite fag hag, and I use the term lovingly, that there is a "new" gay guy in town. Well, new since COVID practically ended any large social gatherings where established resident could meet newbies. Remember our town has a population of only about 450 residents and one gets to know many, if not on a personal level, then by site or reputation.

Wendy met him through their mutual involvement in the NM Gay Men's Chorus and he has apparently been involved in Opera in some way for years. Anyhow, Wendy said that W.R. was having a Mardi Gras dinner party and she volunteered me to make the King Cake and jambalaya! Last year I swore I would not be making King Cake again, but as Grandma used to say, "You don't know nothing yet!"

The actual colors were better than the photo and the plastic cup was to keep the plastic wrap from messing up the frosting. So my King Cake was not as elegant as it could have been,

So I somewhat reluctantly made a King Cake and jambalaya for the dinner party of someone who I'd never met. W.R. had invited a total of eight guests: Leon and me, Wendy and her husband, two other men who were somehow involved in opera or singing and two women who were friends of his who arrived with a cute little barking dog.

Both W.R. and one of the men were in the habit of talking as though they were projecting their voices to the very back row of the second balcony. The guest in particular was excruciatingly loud. I am not exaggerating. His husband was almost as loud. Probably in order to be heard over his husband's habitually deafening voice. W.R. and the two men dominated the conversation most of the evening and with the little dog barking, other guests having to occasionally shout trying to get a word in, and the woman yelling at her dog to stop barking, the decibel level in the room was off the charts. It was literally PAINFULL. I couldn't wait to leave.

I will say the food was excellent. W.R. is somewhat of a professional cook and he prepared turkey with andouille dressing, mini beef Wellingtons, green beans, sweet potatoes. My jambalaya was made with chicken, andouille and shrimp. W.R. is currently on a very strict diet so was not able to eat anything. The eight guests sat at the festively decorated table while W.R. stood in the kitchen encouraging guests to eat more.

We stayed for what seemed like an endless two and a half hours. Everyone left at about the same time and no one offered to help with the clean-up. I am hoping that W.R. will not try to "be my friend" for several reasons that I will sum up by saying he has some strange quirks and personal issues and I don't wish to be a therapist.

2. Miscellaneous

A few photos etc.

Made Cornetti recently - not easy
It's the Italian Version of Croissants


Pizza and Sausage Bread

View from Our Town

The BIG Snow of 2023

Another View - Jemez Mountains

Hoochaneesta Blvd - Our Main Street



The Rio Grande
One Corner of Dystopia


 

4 comments:

Frank said...

Not getting comments in my email In-Box for some reason. Missing timely comments from readers (all three of you!)

Debra She Who Seeks said...

That's an interesting Mardi Gras party you attended, lol. But at least the food was good! I think your King Cake looks great. I hope there was a Baby Jesus in it?

It's always nice to get an unexpected bargain, and the $50 gift certificate magically turning into a $100 gift certificate is so cool! I laughed at the seven flakes of cheese constituting a "blizzard!"

And speaking of blizzards, that's an awful lot of snow for your neck of the woods! And oh, that beautiful mountain vista!

P.S. I would gladly eat that whole plate of cornetti. I bet your lamination was perfect!

Moving with Mitchell said...

The dinner party sounds like torture. I'd need Xanax to make it through!

Great photos.

Damned technology.

Russ Manley said...

We'll see if this goes through.

1. Your King Cake looks festive and yummy! But I didn't know you even knew what jambalaya is. With andouille yet. Excellent choice.

2. I have learned from M.P. and Julia Child that a lot of what passes for haute cuisine began as po' folks' food. Like boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin, to name but two. (A good way to tenderize tough cuts of beef and old roosters - ha.) In fact, Julia says they are essentially the same dish, only with different meats - who knew?

3. More lovely scenic pics, and I'm envious of your big back deck to watch the sunset from. But what's with that pile of old pallets? Not in your neighborhood, surely?

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