St. Patty's Day Dinner Shindigs

And she doth bringeth the drink of glory to the people, and it was good!

Saturday evening, Denise and I decided to invite friends and colleagues to our house to have a St. Patrick's Day Dinner Party. A good number of people RSVP'ed, and we planned for a week or two just what we'd have and do for these few hours of Saturday to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland.

So Saturday morning came, and we went off to the market and bargained our way to two heavy bags of produce to whip together in a few hours. I meandered (a bit lost) in the Kimironko Market, while Denise talked to her "brothers" and "sisters" about the good prices they could offer her. We scurried home and the cooking began. Well, really, Denise began. She's a wizard in the kitchen (as a culinary arts degree-holder should be). She just put in her earphones, and hummed along to the invisible music while grooving and doing magical things to the food we just purchased. And quickly.



I was skeptical that we didn't have enough food, but Denise proved me completely wrong and made a feast in less than 3 hours! Potato salad, coleslaw, salad composée, beef sautée, rice melange, bread pudding, and I'm sure a few other things I'm forgetting now. We are currently still eating the leftovers.

I was charged with the responsibility of fun. I think I'm rather creative, and pretty fun!, so I thought to myself for a time about what to do. I knew it! A Jeopardy-like game, only entirely about St. Patty's Day! Well, I was on it. And while Racondo brought me my bucket of eggs (as I mentioned in a previous post), he also brought me a ream of paper. Not a few pieces of paper, but a ream! So I took out some highlighters, and put together a well-thought-out system of categories to use for my game: Ireland, St. Patrick, Lucky Irish Words, US-Irish Relations, Magical Creatures, and Green-Leafed Plants.

Can you imagine that it took as long for me to find the trivia needed for the game as it did for Denise to pull out all of her food items?! It's true.

But I am so proud of my game. So, so proud. So proud, in fact, that I am preserving my cards for next year's holiday so I can show off my fun trivia for others. And everyone loved the game at the party! Even though, that is, most questions gave me looks of confusion and loss. High five me!

Our guests came, and we had a good amount of people. We ate, we drank, we chatted, we chuckled, and we just had an overall fun time (much thanks to my game).

Something funny went down at the beginning of the party. We asked everyone to bring Irish beverages for the event, and everyone did. One of our co-workers, however, brought to us a bottle of grenadine syrup. I'm not quite sure she knew what she was bringing, or if she has ever had to come to a dinner party with anything before. It was a little perplexing, but I resolved with Denise to solve the matter by asking Racondo to buy us some Sprite at the store. He came back with a case of glass bottles filled with soda, and I got our pitcher in the kitchen and started filling it with Sprite. All of a sudden I was surrounded by my Ugandan colleagues.

"What are you doing?!"

"Making a batch of Shirley Temple."

"What?!"

"Just wait."

So I poured in the Sprite a good amount, and then pulled open the grenadine. Their eyes bulged. I poured some of the drink into a cup for them to try. As the sweet nectar touched their lips, their eyes widened even more with sheer ecstasy.

"This is amazing!! You have to show this to us!"

"I just did! There's no magic for these. A Roy Roger is the same thing with Coke."

I poured myself a cup. And when I went back a little bit later, there was no drink left in the pitcher! I guess that was a hit!