Merging Tribes & Bringing Back the Party Spirit

 

Even though I haven't ridden or been to The Barn in a while, my Tribe of Equestrians have kept me on their chain and we've seen each other once or twice. We were texting in circles, settling on a date, prior to them being sucked into their family obligations and travel for the Holidays and last Sunday, Dec. 19th was a match. I have no such obligations now and I had the unstoppable urge to cook and bring the Party Spirit back to my house. The dust on my serving dishes was a testament to how long it's been.

On my own turf, I was able to add some other long-standing friends, so that everyone could encounter those I've been talking about forever. We were a dozen Festives, all told.

 

One of my friends, and her adult daughter, have a Christmas Collection Compulsion and were thrilled to be able to haul some Nutcrackers over to display. They also helped drape my covered patio with fabric I'd purchased at a flea-market a decade ago. We had air circulating, for health and safety, but enough drapes to keep in the heat from my two propane heaters.

The menu included Crab that I'd bought live and boiled myself, with salt, pepper, Bay Leaf that I collect locally, Fennel and Pastis. We cooked a 10lb fresh salmon on the charcoal BBQ and had chilled asparagus: with mayonnaise that I made with fresh lemons, free-range eggs and Olive oil that came from family olive trees overlooking the Mediterranean. Hot baked potatoes and Cardoni in Gruyere sauce. (One vegetarian version and one dish with marrow bone jelly in the layers). Cheese plate, Tiramisu and pecan pie; drinks with and without bubbles.

I had warned everyone to bring jackets and had provided blankets on each chair, as we were having a cold spell. We were amazingly cozy, which was a great surprise.

I had set up the fireplace in the living room but forgot to light it, as we were outside. I put a match to it last night as my reward for finally putting away all the plates and glasses that had been washed but left out for almost a week. The big chunks of wood are from a Redwood tree that the electric company cut down in our last home. They burn for hours.

The pictures on the mantel are of our first collie, Diva, and our daughter growing up together. The wooden yoke was used to harness cows to a cart, during The Artistic One's childhood on a farm in France. 

Harnessing memories from the past and embracing new ones, as the days start to lengthen once more. 

To be continued.....