A post in which it is party night*

I was up at 7am.  Ugh.  It never fails to amaze me that during the week it seems like I could sleep until noon when the alarm goes off, but on the weekend, I'm invariably up early.  It was just as well though.  I had stuff to do today. 

I turned on the computer, and unexpectedly ended up going to Greer to visit a buddy, but we had a reeeeeealy nice visit.  Whoo.  Yeah.

I was headed out, and marvelling that a) I had a car to take me out into the country; and b) that I and an entire car was being powered by rotten dinosaurs and corn juice!  It's just a miracle that we don't contemplate that often.  Because I had passed the peach orchard on the way out, I stopped to get peaches on my way back.  And ran into someone I know, oddly enough.  When I got in though, they had a whole produce selection in there, all of which was locally grown.  Perfect.  That saved me a trip to the grocery store.  I was able to get most of what I wanted for crudites, plus other stuff, and unlike at the flea market I knew it was all locally grown.  It was beautiful produce.  The cucumbers and bell peppers were perfect, as were the snap beans, of which I bought the last.  It's a long way to go for produce, but I may have to make that a regular stop.

By this point I was ravenous.  I stopped at Panera, and resisted the egg "souffle" they sell (actually an omelet baked in puff pastry). I love them, but like five bites has 540 calories (they have less now than they used to, surprisingly) and 34 grams of fat - 19 of which are saturated (that's about a whole day's worth of saturated fat).  I figured I would have enough fat tonight anyway. 

After breakfast, I called Rhonda and went by to pick her up.  We stopped at the store for carrots, and while we were there decided on a sweet for the party.  I had been debating making brownies, but I've made them so often lately, I wanted to do something else.  We decided on my special Chocolate Overload Rice Crispy Treats.  I created them for a camp out for the chocolate people.  Let me explain.  When I started doing desserts for the camp out, I identified a rather obsessive and fixated percentage of the population for whom dessert actually means chocolate.  After some initial disappointments for them, I learned how to prepare desserts for this sub-set.  They have no regard for balance, subtlety, or technique.  The important thing is the 'splendor of quantity'.  The question you ask in preparing these desserts is How much more chocolate can I possibly shove into each bite?  So I started by making Rice Crispy Treats with Cocoa Pebbles, and it just kind of grew from there.  I was calling the "Triple Threat" treats, but then I realized that they had chocolate in them five ways.  I don't like the word "quintuple" (it sounds vaguely nipular and unappetizing to me), so now they are just Chocolate Overload, (which was later cemented by Rhonda).

Chocolate Overload Rice Crispy Treats

We went back to the house, and Rhonda settled in to talk to me as I settled in to cook.  I made the treats first, and ran Rhonda out of the bowl to finish them.  I made the dips, and then had to sit down for a bit.  My feet are giving me fits again.  I'm thinking I'm going to have to try another statin. 

As I finished up in the kitchen, Rhonda (bless her) realized I was flagging, and pitched in to help me get the kitchen cleared out.  We cleared out the kitchen and set up a game table in the spare room.  Then we cleared out the living room to set up a card table in there.  I did the cat chores and got ready to receive.

About the time I was deciding which serving pieces to use, Miss Kat and Dana came in and got to work on fruit.  The rest of the guests arrived.  Russ and Billy brought fat free dip for them, and drinks.  The food overflowed the designated serving area.  I was really glad Lori just brought the fruit dip.

Rhonda moved in seamlessly to arrange and put things in serving dishes, etc, so I was able to spend time with my friends.  Of course I did things too, but she managed the bulk of it. 

The party was quite a success.  The  conversation flowed easily, and I seemed to be spot-on with most of the portions of food I had prepared.  Most of the left-overs were extra things people brought, which was fine.  The food went over well, and there were lots of compliments.  Rhonda, surprisingly, finally got her rice crispy treat and said "I think these are too chocolate-y."  Thus, she cemented the name.  Lori, being a chocolate person, disagreed. 

It was a very nice evening.  And then, just as I began to get seriously tired, everyone seemed to decide it was time to go.  They all just kind of took off at once.  Lori did a lot of the clearing up. 

After they left, it was just Rhondee and me, talking over the evening, and sharing reflections.  That is half the fun of having a party.  I had gotten to use a lot of my glass, which I really love to do.  I enjoy cleaning it up and washing it, just playing in it and handling it.  A party is a good excuse to do that.  Glass seems to have a happy squeak when it's washed after being used.  Even though my feet were really killing me, I still washed and put away all the glass before I got ready for bed.  I had such a good time.  I really should entertain more often.