Plaidophile

Martinis: It was fun to make these for people, having practiced quite a lot lately. Not only did we finish off my bottle of Tanqueray, but we put a decent dent into the 1750mL bottle of Sapphire. Highly recommended. A+

Daiquirís: I didn't make as many of these, but I did take the opportunity to teach others how to make them (and by "daiquirí" I mean the original version popular in the 1940s that's making a comeback recently, not the blended horror that got popular in the 1980s). I did make them sweeter than proscribed, and so perhaps I have done my own part in propagating an inappropriate modification to a classic drink. Still, these were another big hit. A

Retro drinking in general: I feel like I'm on the forefront of a new trend, evidenced by Alton Brown and Rachel Maddow. Of course I gained an appreciation for the martini from Spud's friend Paul who never stopped drinking proper martinis to begin with, so it's not as if I'm a complete dilettante. A+

Edamame hummus: I had a bunch of edamame which needed using, and Alton Brown had made an edamame bean dip at one point, and the little tagline at the end of the segment was that you could replace chickpeas with edamame in hummus. So I used edamame instead of chickpeas in my normal hummus recipe (chickpeas + olive oil + cumin + red pepper + garlic + toasted sesame oil + coriander seed). People tried it and said it was "interesting" and "good" but yet very little got eaten. C-

Chickpea hummus: I had also made hummus exactly the same except using chickpeas, and almost all of it got eaten, because I know my hummus damn it. B+

(As an aside, I realize that usually hummus has tahini, but I forgot to buy any, and toasted sesame oil does a better job of rounding out the flavor that it brings anyway.)

Roasted chickpeas: Always a big hit. Put chickpeas and separated cloves of garlic into a roasting pan, add olive oil and stir to coat, and sprinkle on kosher salt and rosemary. Bake at 450F until slightly crispy, and then add some cracked pepper. People couldn't stop eating them. A-

Roasted edamame: Same as above, with edamame instead of chick peas, and remove the rosemary. These weren't such a big hit. C-

My sister bringing her friends, and Mark bringing his friends: The more the merrier. It would have been nice if we'd not all been crowded into my kitchen most of the night though. A.

The cake: It was not a lie. A+.

Mark's cheesy rolls: They were delicious. A+

The various cheeses: I got a Tomme de Savoie, some other hard cheese I can't remember the name of, and a mushroom brie. All were excellent, both with the sourdough baguette and with the olive bread. A+

iTunes Genius: I told it to make a playlist based on Dave Brubeck's "Take Five." It did an admirable job of actually sticking to jazz and jazzy electronica, which is the first time it's actually been useful. My sister even commented on how good the background music was. Meanwhile I had my iPod Touch on the coffee table so people could request songs but even when I did specifically point this out, the vastness and randomness of my library confused people too much, so Genius took DJ duties all night. It worked well enough. A

Apple TV: On the other hand, it's retarded how the Apple TV needs my TV to be on just to play music. At least it worked all night, though. B

Mark accidentally reminding me that I meant to give out copies of foodsexsleep as party favors: It went over well. My sister liked it a lot. It seems that everyone has a different idea of which song is "the single" from the album, which is interesting. Rating withheld.

Leftovers: Not too much left over. I had the rest of the cake (one slice) for breakfast, and the mushroom brie and the sourdough baguette for lunch. I tossed the edamame hummus, and kept all the chickpea-based stuff. I'll be eating well for the next few days, in any case. B

The mess: Not too bad. Most of the dirty dishes fit in my dishwasher, amazingly enough. I was a bit worried that my kitchen island might have gotten water damage but it was fine (I am very glad I sealed the wood with olive oil when I got it though). It didn't take too long to clean off and then I just re-sealed my island to be sure. A

The fact most of my friends had other plans for last night and couldn't make it: I really should have planned further in advance, but I suck at these things. Oh well, it still worked out okay, and frankly more people would have just meant my kitchen would have been even more crowded. B