Spanish Themed Dinner Party

Guest blogger Joy steps in once again for today's post:


So the night started off as any other: the four of us sisters worked together to create a delicious and innovative dish once again. With inspiration from Greg, we chose Spain as the theme for our dinner.

We made Zarzuela to serve over pasta, complete with clams, mussels and shrimp. Faith claims she got a mussel that tasted like a "dirty diaper." Apparently I enjoy child feces, because I thought it was delicious.

(Zarzuela - Spanish seafood stew, recipe from Cook's Illustrated: The Best International Recipe, also available online if you subscribe to Cool's Illustrated online site.)



After dinner we ate this really expensive ham stuff (sorry Faith; I suck at references), which was so tasty, I think I cried at one point. We also ingested other miscellaneous cheese/olive/fig items that were equally awesome.


At this point in the evening, we had eaten quite a lot but definitely drank more. The wine was red and delicious, just like the apple. Except fermented. And alcoholic. And waaayyy more expensive.



Greg introduced us to the "Poron" which is that weirdly shaped vase up there. I thought it was a pipe, but after he brought out wine instead of pot, I realized it was a Spanish drinking game. Hooray!



This is Hannah, attractively modeling the "Poron" method.



She's not bleeding from her hand. At least I'm pretty sure she's not bleeding from her hand.



I think I did a better job at modeling.



I've received many phone calls from Agencies, you know.



Especially certain Agencies.



But then they saw these photos.

And decided against giving me a call back.



Grace tried really, really hard.


But (as usual) it didn't work.



After completing the task, she remorsefully averted her gaze in contemplation of what she had done.



Faith then took her turn while Grace looked on appreciatively. She's very supportive, you know.



Greg was simply a master. He got the stream into his mouth without many mishaps or spills. He was probably the only one who avoided looking like he had just been through a major battle.



Yes, he's got some serious skills, that man.

The night ended well with me taking a very random picture of myself. That stump on the right is believe-it-or-not my arm. And I'm not actually cross-eyed.

I'M NOT.

The night was a great success, YET AGAIN. The food was fantastic (and homemade) and the wine (and champagne, and liquor, and vodka, and tequila... etc. etc.) was top-notch. In all seriousness, I was very touched by Faith and Greg's hospitality and love for us. They opened up their home and let us make a complete mess for a whole week without kicking us out. This was a great personal victory for Hannah especially. I just want to thank them publicly (you can't get any more public than the internet) for all that they did. I love you both! (and your children, I suppose)

:)