Dan'l and Jim's Drop-in at Th' Creekside

Another rainy yucky day, in which there is no flea market activity.

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Since I knew I had three parties in a row these three days, the days after have been officially designated as recovery days. Accordingly, I spent a good part of the day in bed (after my 5:45 wake-up this morning), to the delight of Jinx, my lil furball o love kitty. She loves nothing better than lying in the bed with me.

So I took it easy, and made after-party soup today. This started last year, and looks to be a tradition in the making. Every year after the bear party, Russ and Billy are left with all these uneaten veggie trays. No one seems to know what to do with them. My theory here is that since the veggies are cut up to eat raw, people think you have to eat them that way. Well they are the perfect size to go into salads and things, but they can also be COOKED. They are, after all, vegetables. They are the perfect size to be steamed, go into casseroles, and be stir-fried. But easiest of all is After Party Soup. I usually don't feel like stir-frying, etc, the day after a party. But this recipe is delicious, fool-proof, and best of all EASY.

After Party Soup

About 3 good-sized potatoes, washed and cut into chunks

1 large onion, also peeled and roughly cut up

2 veggie bullion cubes

salt and pepper

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and cut up into several pieces

a good sized lump of heart-healthy margarine or butter

Assorted party veggies

Water

Put the onion in the bottom of the crock pot, and add potatoes on top of that. Next add bullion cubes, butter, salt and pepper, and garlic. Then just layer your veggies on. Baby carrots and celery first, since they're harder, chunk the celery up a bit. Then cherry tomatoes, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. Whatever you have left from the trays. Pour water until you can see it around the top veggies. Turn crock pot on high, and leave it until the veggies get soft. Give it a stir every now and again. You can eat it like that, or as I prefer. Once the veggies get soft, I run a stick blender through it, or put it through a regular blender in batches. The potatoes give it a nice creamy texture, and it's a painless way to eat your veggies. I add a bit of extra pepper to play against the mildness of the veggies.

There you have it. Leftovers used, a lovely healthy dish made up, and practically no work. It's a win-win.

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Dan'l and Jim's house is beautiful. They always have their holiday thing on a Sunday because Jim is an actor, and works on Saturday nights when he's in a show. It's always a great crowd. A good mix of straight and gay, laid back people just getting together to enjoy each others company, talk and laugh. It's always a relaxing time. For the guests anyway. I know Dan'l and Jim always kill themselves making sure the house and grounds are gorgeous (they have 7 acres, all landscaped lovingly by Dan'l, who has a green body, I swear). They also have a delicious spread of food.

There was candlelight, and laughter, and a fire in the fireplace, which was good because the weather was vile. But they have a huge wrap-around porch on the house, so the weather really wasn't much of an issue. Aside from on guest getting their car stuck in the wet yard (they are in a bit of a little gorge) we barely noticed the rain.

I got to see Ghentry Baxley, whom I rather fancied last year. He is a very attractive man, and I think he was attracted to me too, but he lives in Asheville, an hour away, and I think he's moving on with his life. He left the party pretty early, so we barely got a chance to talk at all. Sigh. Well I guess I really didn't expect anything anyway.

Russ and Billy ended up going to the party with me, and that was lovely. I always love seeing them, and the three of us could have fun anywhere. Plus I didn't have to go by myself. I don't mind going in places by myself any more (that was an issue for a while after the break-up) but it is nicer to come with other people, I think.

The Noah's Ark trend continued. Everyone showed up two by two, married for the holidays at least. But it was still fun, and I had a great time.