A post in which it is the bear holiday party*

Well it was the bear party tonight, but first I had cooking to do. I had promised Drew that I would make a savory mushroom baklava. It's my own recipe, and it's his favorite. The theme for the party this year was retro hors d'oeuvres, but since I had already promised Drew I pretty much disregarded. Even though I really don't like making the baklava. It's very labor intensive. But I got up and went to buy mushrooms anyway.

I fell into the manhunt vortex for a while though, and a buddy came by for a while. It had been a while since I had seen him.

After that I straightened up the house a bit, made the baklava, and had a bit of a lie down.

Eventually though, I popped the baklava in the oven and jumped in the shower. Russ and Billy were looking for me, and I didn't want to be late. Billy had been stuck for an idea of what to do, and so I made a suggestion. It was something I'd had at a wedding years ago: lunch ham spread with cream cheese, rolled around sweet pickel spears and sliced. Simple, but all these years late I can still remember how good they were. Billy made them! He also sent me a picture of them:

Billy's Party Dish

I got to the party and greeted everyone. Everyone was there to have a good time, and got along pretty well. There was a bit of drama with roaming husbands, but all the couples went home with the right one. I got many compliments on the baklava, which did turn out golden and beautiful, but which I thought was too greasy.

It was good to see everyone, but I think I'm just partied out. I just wasn't feeling it. I stuck to the more quiet areas of the party. I had a good time, but I didn't stay late late. Still it's always nice when the bears get together. I left as things started to get out of hand and let the hard-core folks take over.