deeples

Well, the party was KILLER.  If you were invited and didn’t go, you should feel riotously bummed at the moment. The food was awesome (Zantigo) and the sangria was a major hit.  Or should I say SANGRIAS because I made FOUR OF THEM. (Can I get a “Wut? Wut?”)  Usually when I made something with a lot of ingredients or multiple batches of something with different flavors, I put up little cards that say what is in each one.  This party, I was reminded why I did that because I explained what was in each one approximately 47 million times.

Since it was not only Kory’s 35th birthday, but also 08-08-08, we had giant “8” balloons on our deck that were 4 feet high… and candles and paper lanterns…

Have you been to our house? Or sat on our deck?

If you have this will blow your mind: 

We had 31 people in our house/on our deck AT THE EXACT SAME TIME.

And I didn’t even bend time.  There were a few moments when everyone was gathering their food from our  taco bar that I considered recommending that everyone just keep their hands on their hips and just eat face down in their plates, because elbow room was at a premium…but people have a natural inclination to spread out and find space… and if people were eating in our bed and in The Baby’s crib, so be it.  WE HAD FUN.

I busted out the Wuollet’s Bakery cupcakes in Fudge Mocha, Cherry Chocolate and White Rum and everyone was happy, happy, happy….   hmmm… and everyone was several large cups of sangria into the party at that point. I could have busted out Twinkies and Zingers and it probably would have been a similar reaction, but I like to tell myself that it was our extraordinary good taste that did it.

We saw old friends, made new friends,  met good friends IRL* for the first time.  We played CatchPhrase.  We laughed.  We joked.  We sang both “Happy Birthday” AND “We Are The World” for Kory…

It was totally and completely awesome and the cops didn’t even come and I guarandamntee you, that’s a first.

As a gesture of love and friendship, I will share with everyone the recipe for the sangria that was the OVERWHELMING favorite by everyone there:

Zengria

4 bottles Japanese plum wine

1 bottle citrus/honey cold green tea (like you’d buy at a convenience store)

1 large can mandarin oranges (and the juice)

1 large can lychee (and the juice — this is hard to find. Rainbow didn’t have it, but Cub did)

3 large negtarines, sliced

20-30 fresh cherries, pitted and sliced in half

Mix the whole shebang in a big bowl.  Make a damn sign with the ingredients so you don’t have to repeat all of that LOVINGLY… LOVINGLY… all night long.

*in real life