Friday night, Kurt and I had dinner at National, the super cheap Thai restaurant near my apartment. We took advantage of their BYO alcohol policy (Is it wrong to bring Japanese beer to a Thai restaurant?) and broke out from our (more like my) Pad Thai rut and tried Shrimp Pad See Ew. Very good. Then we both fell asleep in the middle of Analyze That. Super exciting evening.
The main event of the weekend was a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at Kurt's apartment on Saturday night. Last year they hosted a similar dinner in response to the earthquake disaster in Haiti. This year, we focused on helping a village in Samoa build the infrastructure (gutters and water tanks) to collect rainwater. Kurt and his boss have personally been involved with the project over the past few years. It was great to continue spreading the word and collect whatever contribution we could. I think it was quite a success!
Of course I didn't take any pictures but Kurt's brother Erik had the brilliant idea to set up a camera in one spot that would take a picture every 2 or 3 minutes to capture the night's progression. Catch the entire string of images on YouTube here. Thanks, Erik!
Prep time before any guests arrived. Erik and Silvia worked on a salad. I toiled away on some Tomato Bruschetta and Sweet Pea Crostini (both adapted from Big Girls, Small Kitchen recipes). Kurt was the pasta master--preparing a boatload of spaghetti and two sauces, spicy and mild.
Near the height of the party. We never got an overall headcount of guests but the apartment was definitely FULL. I spent most of the time next door in Jenn's apartment just to get some breathing room. We were all terrified that the food would run out but thankfully there was more than enough. It was a great turnout to say the least. After the dust settled and we took a peek at the collection bowl, we realized the party had raised over $500! We did not expect that much at all and are so grateful to everyone who contributed to the project. Every little bit helps and it will be great to send them a nice, fat check soon. Thanks, everyone!
Sunday was a good recovery day. Cleanup from the party was surprisingly quick and easy. I was even able to take some leftovers to a Super Bowl party later in the evening which was graciously hosted by my friend Andrea. There was so much food for essentially five people to consume. We were gluttons while criticizing all the commercials and the half time show. I guess the evening was interspersed with brief spurts of watching the game too.
Then before you know it I'm back at work on Monday morning. Where do the weekends go?!
Yea, the party was the highlight. It was great, the apartment was SLAMMED! I'm still surprised I messed up the spaghetti estimate so badly though... Thanks for the help putting it all on.
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