The Party

Not The Party...no "Birdie Num-Nums", and we didn't want to fill the house with detergent once the elephant had to be washed in the pool.

We had been wanting to have a get-together for all the people who have worked on the house.  This has been at the "good intentions" stage for quite a while.  In the beginning, we were going to do hamburgers on the BBQ one Friday while the carpenters were still doing the rough framing.  One thing led to another, and it turns out it is pretty difficult to entertain in a bombed-out house while in the middle of housecamping.

Then we decided that we'd wait until things were all done, but that plan had to be modified because we also wanted to have the party while Maddy was home from university.  Long story short, now was the time.

We started doing some food prep on the weekend, and a little through the week.  Then today, we had a "cooking day", and got things together for a gathering between 3 and 6pm.  The house was full of people working today...Andrew was working in the basement, Codreanu was doing tile in the ensuite, and we had a new electrician, Anthony, here installing lighting.  This was his lucky day to start at our place, as opposed to the day the island had to be brought in from outside.  Simone got to miss school for the day, and I also took the day off work to make food, etc.

Anthony spent most of the day working in the ensuite, but as the time grew close for the party, he started installing pendant lights over the kitchen island.  It was like an episode of one of those home renovation shows as we were cranking out food in the kitchen while Anthony was installing the lights and showering bits of plaster down on us.  Oh, and partway thorough the morning, Jane had to drive halfway across town in the snow to get the correct light bulbs for the fixtures that Anthony was installing.

Lots of people managed to get here for the party, including David and Christopher from Cole + Associates Architects, Frank from Neoform Cabinets.  Gerald was here along with both our framing carpenters, Andrew and Josh.  Lindsay, the head of Crossford Construction brought his wife over for a look at things.  Unfortunately, we were missing Peter, our trim carpenter, Sergei the plumber, and the painters Milton and Ramundo.

The menu,

• I did a big Prime Rib roast (8 pounds or 3.6 kg for those of you who think in kg).  This came out great, and was essentially foolproof to cook in the FBMB.
• Jane and the girls made some shrimp and chicken "firecrackers".  These are wrapped in Phyllo pastry and have a bit of chili sauce on the inside.
• Jane did some Cod Cakes for Gerald.  They were delicious, and we all ate a bunch.
• "Mahogany" chicken wings...a nice Asian glaze with soya, hoisin sauce, honey, garlic, etc.
• The aforementioned Pot Stickers.
• Samosas...Jane did the pastry and I did the filling.
• A chocolate cake and vanilla cake from Three Bakers and a Bike.
• Jane's homemade fudge and clodhoppers.
• Beer and wine (and tea for Gerald and coffee for Frank).

All in all, a very successful event.  The kitchen and dining room were great gathering spaces, everyone had a good time, and the kitchen proved to be great for cranking out food.