Well, I survived another Asian New Year party. Everyone had a good time, had lots of compliments about our new house and raves about the food. There was lots of talking and laughter, signs of a successful party.
Hopefully this isn't food porn, but here was a breakdown of the menu:
Store bought stuff: pork egg rolls, vegetable spring rolls and pot stickers from Sam's Club; pork and vegetable lo mein from the Chinese takeout.
Homemade stuff: General Tso's chicken (Hubby's contribution), Vietnamese fried rice (I had to do it from memory because the recipe's in a box in the storage shed, which is barricaded shut with snow), and a baked Crab Rangoon that got lots of compliments (the actual recipe is low fat and quite good if anyone wants it; let me know)
Stuff people brought: my good friends J&M made shrimp and pork meatballs with a spicy lime sauce. Very good! People also brought desserts, including brownies, Oreo cake, cupcakes, and those sugar sprinkled doughnuts like you find at the Chinese buffets.
I'm always a little disconcerted by the cacophony and chaos of my parties. All the voices, all the bodies filling the house. It takes my solitary nature a while to adjust to all this activity. I wound up spending the majority of the evening with my friends J&M, who of everyone there I don't get to see very often, so it was understandable, I guess. Besides, everyone else was so busy entertaining themselves that I doubt anyone felt slighted that I didn't mingle more. On top of that, I was trying to manage the kitchen, and J&M graciously offered to help me wash all the pots, pans and dishes, so we found ourselves chatting away as we worked.
Mabel had one of her school friends come over and spend the night, and that added a different flavor to the evening. We had four girls of roughly the same age (technically five, but my niece C. is autistic and pretty much entertains herself), which worked out well because they went off in pairs and we didn't have any "third wheel" syndrome going on. My sister-in-law brought her teen son and his posse (girlfriend and guy pal), then they had to leave a little early because the girlfriend's mother was picking her up. We had Hubby's parents, SIL's parents and my mother there, too, so it was a multi-generational event.
The good news is, this year I don't have a lot of leftovers. It's always a trick to make enough food so that you don't run out right away, but no so much that you have to freeze or throw away half of it. I have just enough to enjoy today for leftovers, which is perfect.
By the way, thanks to everyone for their wonderful words of support regarding yesterday's post. It's so nice to have that encouragement and understanding from people who know what I'm going through. It's definitely one thing that keeps me going.
And after reading Pasta Queen's wonderful post, I'm even more inspired to continue. I want to follow in her footsteps and join her in the party in her pants! (Read the post, you'll know what I mean.)
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3 comments:
Your Tet party sounds like so much fun! You're so right that the talking and laughter, as well as no leftovers, are signs of a successful party.
The menu looks amazing, and I'd love to have the baked Crab Rangoon recipe. I'm glad you had time for a good visit with your friends.
All 3 of my kids LOVE Crab Rangoon - it never even occurred to me that there might be a healthy-er way of making it. Recipe please.
Husband and youngest went to South Bend - roads were VERY bad in middle of night - but okay now.
Ice hanging from trees was incredible as we threw papers in the wee hours.
The oldest can throw - like you wouldn't believe.
And today - he had to get them all the way up by the garage doors - so they didn't just slide right back down driveway into street.
We wondered how many people would come out front door and look down toward street instead of up by house. If they came out garage door (I think most of them do) then it would be right at their feet - and a very welcome surprise as it was solid ICE.
I cooked meat all early afternoon and made early dinner. Still in my PJ's and not getting dressed today.
I would love the baked Crab Rangoon recipe. Sounds like the perfect thing to serve for a party in your pants!
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