Progressive Dinner

Kyle would tell me to "stop apologizing" but I can't help it. I suck at blogging this month. SUCK. And I'm sorry. But look, another blog post! I honestly feel like I am doing injustice to myself when I only blog once a week. But it matters to someone right? Mom? You care, right?

Okay, enough of that. In the interest of moving forward, and knowing that one snowy day in January I'll blog about New York City and 30 meals I've made between now and then, this post is about the progressive dinner we attended this past weekend in our neighborhood. Fun times with fabulous Minneapolis friends. Aside from a few slim pickin's, most people I spend social time with now live within walking distance of our house, which makes it easy to travel from house to house, enjoying numerous different courses and beverage accompaniments.

Things started at our place, and being busy (read: behind schedule) hosts, I didn't take any pictures at our house. Kyle made baguettes and gougères, and I made a terrine with veal, pork ricotta and ham as well as wild mushroom crostini, and alongside, champagne.

We then treked it one block north to Talia and Jay's apartment.




Jay didn't come to our place as he was at home making their baked mac and cheese prepared in individual baking pans and muffin tins. Amazing. Delicious.



Armed and Ready


Great detail by Jay. I love the scallions, and I really could never pass up extra cheese sauce




Talia gets excited


Making our way over to Danielle and Chuck's, we had to first load up our pockets (and a hand or two) with cold beer on the porch






First we had to cross the tracks


and then make the two block walk down 2nd


I got kind of involved in a conversation about video games (don't judge me) at Chuck and D's and didn't take any pictures there. I will also blame this on my leaving early to help Becky with her roasted chicken. Danielle made gorgeous rustic tartes and they were served with boozy homemade chai (courtesy of Criste). Where the hell was my camera? I think this is when I first had some brandy.

Becky had never roasted a chicken before and was roasting TWO leading to certain amounts of nervousness. They turned out better than you could ever imagine, juicy and tender with crispy skin and perfectly browned veggies, I could swear she was a seasoned chicken roaster... but she did need help carving.



Amanda had clearly shown up by this time, as I actually got to star in a few pictures here


Becky was the only gorgeous soul who adorned a Mad Men costume. It was really a great idea for the weekend before Halloween to all dress up, but alas my lack of Joan dress (god, I could SO pull that off), or spanks for that matter lead me to wear a simple red dress. Becky went all out and found the most amazing outfit at Via's. Check out this head piece.



MEAT!


In her vintage housewife glory


Amanda didn't dress up. She just rocks vintage day in and day out.




Next up was dessert at Katrinas. She made TWO, apple pie and pumpkin bars. There was definitely brandy in my coffee at this point.





Claudia's house was meant for after-dinner drinks and games. If you haven't experienced 3-D chalk before, to quote myself "it rulz". More brandy.



You do need to wear the magic 3-D chalk glasses to truly get it though


I'm sure Zach wrote something inappropriate




And then... we played "writey-drawy-foldy". Essentially the premise is to write out a sentence. Any sentence about anything. Then hand it to the person to your left (you're sitting in a circle). Everyone then receives a piece of paper with a sentence written on it and underneath make a drawing depicting the sentence they read above. Then they fold the sentence under before handing the paper to the person to your left so that the person they are handing it to cannot see the original sentence. They then write a sentence depicting the picture that you drew while you draw a picture depicting the picture the person to your right drew. Get it? It's like an alcohol induced game of telephone on paper. And it is amazing.





The game ends when someone realizes the piece of paper that is in their hands was the one they had originally. Very rarely is it remotely similar to the original sentence, but it is pretty awesome what people come up with.





The best part may be going through the train of thought of 10 or so people as you describe your sentence and its path to the whole group.













Happy Progressive Dinner Everyone! Leave the brandy at home next time.

Kate takes on California (Day one)

I know what you're thinking. Kate starts a new job, Kate stops blogging. Guys, it's not true! There is no doubt I've been busy. Learning a new job does take up time and energy. Add that to a couple of weddings and baby shoots, plus a trip to sunny CA and a bout of the stomach flu and there you have it. Bad blogging. Now I'm not making any promises. I have a bunch of things coming up pretty soon here. But I am going to give it a concerted effort to be better. In the mean time... here is a glimpse into my "work" trip to California.



My company is based out of Petaluma, CA, which ensures a trip through San Fran. I love this city, but since I was riding with others, I didn't really have a chance to do anything on my own. No worries. We at least stopped at a "scenic overlook"



My 1st day of the sales meeting was tough. A plant tour in the morning, followed by long lunch and 3 hours of meetings afterwards (I know you're feeling my pain right now).

Now I realize I told you I wasn't going to mention the company I work for. The same holds true today, but if you figure it out from a picture or two I'll just think you're REALLY savvy.

The sales team (well, 1/2 of us)



Mmmm, veggie burgers.



The beginning of cheese enchiladas



The amazing thing about this company is that so much is still done by hand.











The last thing I expected a plant to smell was pleasant. Today it smelled like the inside of a Mexican grandmothers kitchen. Not bad!









There is a ham in every group



Get this. They make their own tofu... by hand. We ate some right off the pressing block (this was the 1st delicious step towards me having a very full and bloated soy belly by the end of the week).







We didn't get to see any soup being made, but the set up looked pretty cool






After our three long treacherous hours of meetings (you hate me, don't you? Hold on, it gets better) we headed off to a ranch about 10 minutes from downtown Petaluma.



complete with pomegranate trees



.. .and a fully equipped bakery



















... and scenes that look right out of an Anthropologie catalogue







... and chef preparing us produce purchased at the farmers market that morning





We stayed until dusk, filled to the brim and more content than ever before. Seriously this place was so incredibly beautiful. I'm thinking about getting our marriage annulled so we can get married all over again at this place. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live on the premises (three families have small cottages on the land, that are just as cute inside as they are out)







Up next: Beach day!