maple and whiskey

I had some of this last night and oh my it was delicious. It was at the Grande Fête de la Francophonie, about which unfortunately my overall review is "eh." It had a bit of a trade-show atmosphere; it was brightly lit, noisily musicked, and extremely crowded after the first half hour or so. The first half hour was pretty good, though, and Ogram and I met some nice Canadians. And the maple-whiskey liqueur? Outstanding!

great photographers

Yesterday I went to a talk by a photographer who calls himself "the world's greatest party photographer." The fact that he attributed this sentiment to other people did not make it any less clear that he thinks it's true.

He talked for what felt like about six hours but was probably more like one and went off on tangents like the one about time in the [some decade]s when he smoked a ton of "reefer" and really identified with the praying mantises on his farm.

I started taking pictures like this, which I think captures the mood:

Toward the end, Barkley and I were just silently giggling. A favorite quote: "This picture really cranks the space, doesn't it?" For the last 10 minutes or so he talked much less and just showed incredible photographs from a party he shot last summer. (The thing about being the world's best party photographer may well be true.)

Here's a photo of the cocktail party afterward:

Really cranks the space, doesn't it?

creme brulee

Last night I learned an important lesson: You should not try to broil the sugar on top of your creme brulee in an unfamiliar oven after two glasses of wine.

I was invited to a dinner party for Diwali, and Chatty asked me to bring dessert. So I thought, hey, creme brulee, that's a nice light dessert after a big Indian meal. The only problem is that you have to do the hard sugar finish on top at the last minute. And then I had two largeish glasses of wine and was unable to come up with the idea "if the sugar is charring, you should turn down the flame." I'd also never broiled anything in a gas oven before and was confused by the broiler being next to the floor.

Well, anyway, it tasted ok after I took the worst of the charred part off. And I have one unfinished creme brulee left over...I may do it tonight with the torch.

sorry

If you hadn't already given up on me, fashion-wise, it's time. I now own TWO pairs of crocs. It was so sad every morning when I had to take off my in-house crocs and leave for work, that finally I gave in and ordered a pair of black mary jane crocs, which, I swear, are way more presentable than my other pair. At least I should be able to wear them to work and change there without feeling like I'm commuting in clown shoes.

In fact, here is an anecdote to show you how relatively acceptable they are. Last night I gave them their first outing by wearing them to a party with a very snazzy dress. After I'd been standing around for a while talking to some of my fellow science writers, S.Vix said, "Are those your new crocs?" And! one of the others, who hates crocs with a passion, said she'd noticed them and didn't realize they were crocs. So I think they're way more acceptable than these.

all galaed out

Tonight was the big fancy gala for the Christmas show. I got to wear my gala dress again (thanks again to Tall L for helping me find it). It was good times. I know and love, or at least tolerate, most of the people there, and enjoyed all the dorky singing by the whole crowd. There was also singing by the madrigal group, which is why I was there. The line on the souvenir wine glass is from one of the madrigals we sang. People said the madrigals sounded really good - even one person who knew the songs well enough to hear all our mistakes and near-trainwrecks. So...yay! Miss Shirley and I put one of our musical parties in the silent auction - we show up and throw one at your house - and it only sold for $280, but it went to nice people, so it's all good.

into the woods

So, yes, during my blogless period, Miss Shirley and I hosted yet another whiz-bang crazy-happenin supafly musical-singing party. It was Stephen Sondheim's obnoxiously difficult Into the Woods, and it went quite well, thank you very much. Those of us involved in the utterly devilish "Your Fault" (four or five vocal lines, fifty bazillion key changes, very very fast) were proud to all end at the same time, even if we didn't necessarily stay in sync through the whole middle. I decided Cinderella is the part I was born to play. And we all can bear witness to the fact that Z.Han totally rocked the Witch. She was amaaazing. Amaaaaaaaazing. A. Maze. Ing. What a voice, and in my very own living room! We had two accompanists this time, who managed music written in up to six flats with aplomb. By which I mean, *I* couldn't tell if they were making mistakes. Who could? It's Sondheim!

Next up: I don't know. Maybe West Side Story. But we're probably going to wait until Christmas Show season is over, with its accompanying social organizing duties. Yep, it's that time again - rehearsals start a week from Wednesday!

so much for evite

So my little croquet gathering was today. It was good times: we played regular croquet and then X-treme Cro-K, in which the course started in the way back corner of the yard, wandered past the deer poop hazard and through the ground cover hazard, went down the steps hazard, and wound around the lawn.

But here's the "so much for evite" part: *half* the people who RSVP'd yes didn't show up. Only two called to let me know. I have tons of extra food, and yes - I did slave for hours over a hot stove. So here's the question: is an evite yes non-binding? Or are people just rude?

All the people who came are quality people, but I'm pretty annoyed about the ones who just didn't show up.

evite IV

The yeses have pulled ahead (18 to 15), thanks to Martin's college friends and their kid, who is bringing the under-5 count to four.

evite III

Yes and No are tied now. Sigh. And three of the people counted under Yes are under age 5. Oh well - I'm sure they'll enjoy the croquet mallets. And a tie is better than No pulling into the lead.

alum picnic

I went to a My Alma Mater picnic Sunday afternoon. I talked to *two* prospective students and probably told them nothing useful, except that My Alma Mater is awesome and everyone should go there. I was talking to this one mom, in sort of a general conversation, and she's like, what did you like the most, and I'm going on about how great the people are. Then she's like, what didn't you like, and someone says, the weather. Then this hopelessly irritating alum jumped in and dominated conversation with her personal tornado experiences. A little later, Beaker and I overheard - and we had a very difficult time not giggling - "So, do you guys want to check out the Arlington Sci-Fi Club meeting later?" Ok, actually we let the giggles out. But with a decent delay.

But really, I do think *most* people who went to My Alma Mater are totally my kind of people. Or do I just have recall bias?

evite II

Well...at least the yes replies (14) are outpacing the no replies (10). But then there are a couple of others who told me directly they can't make it instead of RSVPing through the evite, so it's more like 14 and 12...not to mention all the ones who just looked at it and were like, hahaha, I hate her! and didn't respond at all.

Yes, that's right, folks, I am continuing to obsess over the evite for my croquet party. I'm good at obsessing. Particularly about social things.

summer in the city

Here's a piece of free party-planning advice: August is a bad month. Nobody's here. They're missing out, though, because it's been beautiful lately, and the traffic is great.

evite

Evites are so addictive. This morning I sent an evite for a little shindig (a croquet party, in fact) on Aug. 28. Now I'm obsessing over it, because of course evite lets you see who's looked at the invitation, whether or not they respond to it. So now of course I'm like, cmon, [person's name here]! Would it kill you to RSVP? Hurry up already! An hour should be plenty of time for anyone!