The Aftermath

There are no good before shots of the decorations and certainly no during photos - too busy greeting, eating and drinking - but sufficient to say we had a rollicking good time, and I hope the guests did too. I snapped these afterwards while The House Elf, aka The Guy, was collecting glasses and bottles from various corners.


The baked ham, sliced venison (a gift from a guy with a gun) and Swedish meatballs disappeared, the salt and pepper prawns were a hit. We did serious damage to the seasonal cheeses: Stilton with walnuts and dried fruit, chevre rolled in cranberries and honey drizzled blue cheese. The ice cream and half the Solstice cake vanished, too. Friends brought more food, choux pastry puffs, shortbread, cookies, dried fruit and a white chocolate and banana gateau.


Although I make a lot of the food myself, to make life easier I outsource the finickety things. Trader Joe did sterling work as always. A few of the favorites: Spicy Almonds, Cheese and Ham Puffs, Raspberry Brie Filo Rolls and on the sweet side, Belgian Chocolate and Almond Tart, Fruits of Fancy (Turkish Delight with Walnuts) and Snowflakes (yoghurt covered pretzels). One non-edible product got a big thumbs up - Trader Jacques' French Liquid Soap, a little whiff of French perfume for less than $4 a bottle. You can't beat that, can you?


I've spared you the worst of the clean-up, the glasses, empty and half-empty bottles and plates on the sink side of the kitchen. Those bottles on the island are gifts from the partyers and in the big Le Creuset, the remains of the gluhwein we drank to keep out the fast-falling frigid air.
This morning we breakfasted on wonderful leftovers - awesome curried prawn puffs (courtesy of the Awesome Designer) and Buckwheat Salad (from our Buenos Aires-loving South African friends) - while resisting the temptation to heat-up the leftover gluhwein. It's 13 F out there but it's still a work day.