I was up with insomnia anyway this morning, so I got up and put my TVP in to soak. I had cooking to do today, and it had to be done early, but first I had a buddy coming over.
My spanking buddy came by today. Apparently he had been naughty over the holidays. He'd been trying to set up a visit for a couple of days, and had actually turned up on my doorstep last Wednesday unannounced (I had to run him off, I knew I didn't have time for shenanigans that morning). But I was happy to oblige him this morning, and we set to. He had emailed me about maybe trying some other stuff today, but basically we just stuck to the usual, and in fact didn't go as far as usual. He hadn't been spanked in a while, and I didn't even progress to the paddle before he seemed to have enough this morning. That was fine with me. He left me happy, and we both got on with our day.
I had to get into the kitchen. I had a new cheese ball that had been kicking around in my mind for a couple of weeks, and today was the day I was going to do it. I put in my Katie Perry movie, since cooking with it had worked out so well on Christmas Eve, and got to work.
Making the cheese ball turned out to be a lot more work than I had anticipated. First I chopped and pan-roasted the pecans to roll it in, and set them aside to cool. Next I cooked up a batch of facon bits, and while they cooled I shredded up the Fontina I had bought for the cheese. I finely chopped some bell pepper, and decided to break for brunch.
I threw some of the bell pepper, some mushrooms that were going to go if I didn't use them, some facon bits, part of a left-over spring onion in a pan to saute, then added Amish swiss cheese and eggs for a big ole omelet. I had some whole wheat bagels and orange juice to finish - yummy!
When I got back in the kitchen, I threw the cream cheese in the food processor, along with:
- the finely chopped bell pepper
- the shredded Fontina
- some jalapeno jelly
- the rest of that last spring onion
- a clove of garlic
and whizzed all that together.
When that came out, I mixed in a small can of drained pineapple, whooped it all up together, and bunged the lot in the fridge to chill and marry.
I relaxed for a while, watched a little telly, and took a nap. Then I got up and got ready for the party. I had permission to wear the Lucky shirt (Russ and I have one alike), which was good, since I had purchased it specifically to be a holiday blouse. I had found a pair of jeans in the closet yesterday that were comfortable enough that I couldn't remember why I had quit wearing them, and paired them up with my British flag docs.
When I got out of the shower, it was time to ball up the cheese ball. The problem was that it hadn't set up. I think I just had too much stuff in it, and too much liquid. The recipe calls for 8 ounces of liquid, and I had used the pepper jelly for that to amp up the flavor, without realizing how much juice would be in the pineapple, even drained. Undeterred, I threw it into a vintage bowl, packed the nuts on as topping, and decided to call it dip. Done. I tasted some that got on my finger when I was bowling it up, and was fairly unimpressed with the taste. It was too sweet. I think I just got carried away and used too many ingredients. I do that sometimes. If that cheese 'ball' had been alive, there would have been a swarm of villagers out to put it down with flaming brands and pitchforks. I think my days of exotic experimental cheese balls are over.
I tried to get 'up' into a party mood on the way, but I wasn't feeling it. I'm holidayed out. But I was looking forward to seeing the guys. I threw Katie Perry in the CD player and tried to give myself an attitude adjustment.
There were a lot of people at the party. There were a good many I wanted to see. I enjoyed talking to people, but my mood just kept failing. I really did try, there was just a lot of drama going on, and a lot of people weren't in a particularly party mood:
- Don was there with Adam, but Adam's visa has expired, and he's being sent back to Israel. Don is pretty down about it, and although he put a brave face on it, I know he's upset.
- There was one guy there who we've had problems with taking Russ's stuff in the past. Nothing we could prove, but we know he did it. Since he was there, I was being hyper-vigilant around problem areas, and was trying to keep up with stuff. I don't think he got anything this year, but that didn't contribute to a feeling of esprit de corps.
- Lee, Chad, and some other gorgeous young thing were there together, grouped together like a school of fish. I feel weird around Lee now because he knows I am so attracted to him, and he isn't attracted to me in the slightest (although I am not pining for him now). He won't talk to me online, which is weird. It's like I'm not important enough to speak to unless there are other people around.
- Jake was there with the beautiful Brantley. I got the feeling that Brantley really didn't know what to expect out of Jake, who was buzzed and in highly flirtatious mode. I think this bothered Brantley, but since Jake wasn't being particularly solicitous of his date, Brantley spent the evening following Jake around like a puppy. Men!
- It kept raining off and on, so people kept stampeding in and out of the house.
- the garage had been set up as kind of an orgy room, and there were several people there who wanted to get something started, but they were too weenie to do it until someone else did. There were others just randomly standing around in the garage (which was where the drinks were) with no intention of doing anything. So the garage was charged with a strange feeling of subverted sexual frustration that made me uncomfortable.
- Vince was there, and this was his last hurrah in Greenville. The condo has sold, and he'll shortly be heading for Oregon. I don't think he wants to go. He seemed pretty desperate to have a large time, but he didn't feel happy. Plus I knew this would be one of the last times I would see him. That was hard.
- I had inadvisedly decided to wear my pretty boots with the Union Jack on the toe. Love the boots, but they hurt my feet. That limited the time I could spend on my feet, so I was constantly looking for someplace to sit down, and that usually ended up being somewhere people were not congregating to converse.
Anyway, there was just a mish-mosh of things going on. Russ, Billy, and Logan were of course very busy entertaining a house full of people, so they weren't really available.
The evening did improve. Rich was there, and I got to talk to him for a bit. He's the sweetest man. I tried not to bring him down. He didn't stay late because his husband was home sick. There is a lot of crud going around right now.
The gift exchange went well. My gift was well-received and was stolen twice. Unfortunately I ended up with a gag gift, which I left there. I know Russ will give me a ration of shit about that later. Russ had made punch, and it was going well. Even though he took it easy on them this year, there were a lot of people who were pretty drunk. The gorgeous young thing let me rub his back for a while. Lordamercy he was eat up with purty! I really enjoyed rubbing on him. So that was a good part.
Things started getting a bit kissy in certain areas, but I'd had enough. I said my goodnights, and got permission to just leave my dishes there. I'll get them later.
As I was leaving, though, two unexpected things happened. I was headed out the door when Lee called to me to come back and say goodnight. When I did, he laid a big ole kiss on me. Interesting. Then Bill did too! That was really out of character for him! I just attributed it to the punch, thought good for me, and headed out.
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