Friday, 17 July 09 (WARMING OF THE HOUSE)

Last Friday we invited a bunch of amazing people we're lucky to call friends over to an official Housewarming Party.

Jay led the crowd, followed closely by Cheryl and her beautiful white mums & singing card. Further received were 2 Duchaine Brothers & one Christy Sawhill (who brought us an awesome book on living off the land and a delicious bottle of red wine), Tyler and Kim (who brought their own wine glasses and a bottle of very tasty orange muscat to share), Ian and Julie (who brought Toby and amazing strawberry upside down cake, and who I think are responsible for leaving the absolut citron & pomegranate juice we've been enjoying), Natividad (who offered her services as an on-site nanny for Toby), Sarah W, Chris T, Andrea, Jackie (who enjoyed the backyard swing almost as much as Jaxon did), our new neighbor Allison (who brought puckery granny smith cider), the Botanas, Justin Taylor, Sarah J & Kristen S, and the Wilkins Family (minus Polly).

3 batches of Sangria* were consumed, along with a big dish of Killer's Killer Artichoke-Spinach Dip** and Julie's strawberry cake***. We lit the tiki torches and played games around the fire, including the "I'm having a party and I'm bringing..." game.


*Sangria (one big batch): one huge jug of Carlo Rossi burgundy table wine, one 2-liter bottle of diet 7up, a healthy splunk each of triple sec and brandy, one sliced lemon, one sliced orange, refrigerated overnight. Add ingredients as needed to refresh a near-empty bowl.

**Dip: one can of artichoke hearts (in water - not marinated), about 2/3 bag of spinach (or a couple handfuls of fresh spinach), 1 brick of cream cheese, 1 tub of sour cream, one ball of mozzarella, 1/2 cup or so of shredded parmesan, a squirt of dijon mustard, 1 clove of garlic, onion flakes, garlic salt, sea salt & pepper to taste. Mix everything together in a big bowl. Bake covered at 400 for about 45 mins. Serve w/ warm french bread.

***Cake:
2 cups crushed fresh strawberries
1 (6 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin mix
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1 (18 ounce) package yellow cake mix, batter prepared as directed on package

-Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
-Spread crushed strawberries on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. Evenly sprinkle strawberries with the dry gelatin powder, and top with mini marshmallows.
-Prepare the cake mix as directed on the package, and pour on top of the marshmallows. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen the sides, and turn the cake out onto a serving tray. Store cake in the refrigerator.