tapas party

Unfortunately blogger's photo app is not cooperating with me at the moment, so I will refrain from posting more photos and describe my evening last night.

Jason and Larissa decided to co-host a Saturday night tapas party and it was delicious. I ended up going overboard with my dishes to pass and in addition to making humanitarian garlic shrimp (amazingly when you have to peel and devein shrimp yourself they cost MORE...but hey, at least getting wild Gulf of Mexico shrimp, I did not kill any Thai children), I made an egg bake, buffalo celery sticks, and goat cheese toasts with mango chutney.

There was loads of sangria at the fête courtesy of Jason and Adam, as well as an amazing chicken paella made by Jason, potatoes brava from Ben, green beans from Lars and a delicious strawberry cake that Bridgit found at Metro Market.

Jason's friends Sara(h) and Glen(n) also joined in on the fun.

It really was a fun party, and totally one of those "oh hey, I am a grown up" experiences. I drank a wee bit too much sangria and red wine though, and then thought it would be a good idea to go to Buckley's with Adam on the way home for some Trois Pistoles.

Too bad sangria doesn't magically wear off overnight though, as it was not a fun morning.

evening stroll

I didn't think I could do it, but in the best interest of satisfying my grease craving for the least amount of money, I pulled myself off the couch, threw on a hoodie and shoes and walked to the grocery and the neighborhood Greek spot, Mykonos.

Glad I did, as the little stroll provided some entertaining anecdotes perfect for my attempt at foraying back into the blogosphere.

• I narrowly avoided a river of horse piss, as a carriage and riders pulled up to the corner of Van Buren & Kilbourn just as I'd finished crossing. Their equine chauffeur apparently decided the red light was as good a time as any to let out a river of pee. Thankfully I missed it, and thankfully if I hadn't, at least I wasn't wearing flip flops.
• My stop at Metro Market was pretty much instigated by my desire to pick up some ice cream, which the hangover of the day was craving. In the interest of the pocketbook I opted to get the teeny tiny Ben and Jerry's one cup. Of course the entire aisle of frozen desserts was empty, except for one girl who was digging through the 10 for $10 Dippin' Dots on sale. Seriously for like five minutes. Finally she sensed my presence and moved and apologized. There were only like four kinds of B&J, so I grabbed my Cookie Dough, just in time as I saw her circle back down the aisle. I don't know why someone needs ten non-ice creams, but whatever.
• Once I reached the checkout line, I plopped my mini-dessert, two vitamin waters and bottled waters down on the conveyor, allowing a reasonable amount of space between my stuff and the two-liter of coke in front of me. The cashier still felt the need to ask "Is this separate?" to which the douchey coke guy replied, "I dunno, are we separate?" Eew. I mustered up enough energy to give a resolute "Uh, YEAH." Gross. Sorry dude, if you buy my groceries, great, but I'm not sucking your ****.
• I made my way to Mykonos to order my chicken pita and fries and spotted Buckley's regular, "Judy," eating at a table. It's always weird to see eccentric individuals out of context. And it's also pretty judgmental of me to categorize someone as a boozer, when I am also in the bar ALL THE TIME. So, I guess maybe she also thought the same thing: "Wow, good to see her not drinking."
  

My little adventure succeeded in being reasonably economical in regards to satisfying my hangover cravings. I spent about $14 and now have $12.63 left until Monday at midnight. Considering I would have spent more than that for a less satisfying meal and no stories if I'd ordered in, I guess putting on shoes was well worth it.