Fat Sunday

It is high time this house had a partay, so on the occasion of Mardi Gras we hosted a great food fest on Sunday. Lucky me that the theme of the school's annual auction a few years back was "Mardi Gras," so I borrowed some decorations and voila!



We invited a big group of people -- about 50 in all, and about 20 came. It was a mix of some family and various groups of old friends. I had told people to wear a mask and bring something Mardi Gras-ish for the dinner table.

People promptly arrived at 4:00 (when does that ever happen that everyone arrives just about at the same time?!). B was in the middle of making crab cakes, and jambalaya was on the stove too.

Jambayla!

As people arrived, their dishes were added to the table... and we proceeded to have an enormous feeding frenzy. (Much later, after everyone was gone, I thought how funny it was that we INHALED all that food so quickly.)

A and R brought a delicious olive tapenade to go with crusty bread. I think I've mentioned before how I'm a fan of "grown up" olives now that I'm "grown up." They are so good.

T and T made wonderful spicy shrimp. It sure had a bite to it, but was so delicious.
K and R brought a yummy crab spread.
D also brought some great shrimp cocktail.
College girl K made an artichoke heart/parmesan/shrimp spread.

Oh... then there was DINNER! Besides B's jambayla, there was M's colorful slaw (thank you K for bringing slaw too!). D and J brought red beans and rice, and so did the second K and R. J and J brought gumbo and cornbread. (boy ... this is a LOT of food. Am I remembering everything?)

Nope... then there was dessert. I made delicious Coconut Cupcakes, Key Lime Pie and Chocolate Chess Pie.

Can you say STUFFED!!??

We decided the next party theme is Greek -- Mamma Mia Style. Watch for the invite... after we clean up THIS kitchen mess!