Any excuse to party

One of my favorite cookbooks that I used when I was growing up was a seriously socially dated 1960's book called, "To the Bride".  (I especially loved that my dad was the primary cook in the house and used its recipes more than I did).  It had advice on how to select tea towels (check the backstitching!) and how to make your home welcoming for your husband . . . and it also had this wonderful introduction to the desserts section:

A tiara to go with my purple dress.
Because I can.

The cookie jar is the most important part of a kitchen.  You can buy a cookie jar to match your kitchen, or plan your kitchen around the cookie jar.  

Do you see why I loved that cook book?

So,  we all know about people who go out and buy an outfit to wear to a party.   But me, I went out and found a party to go with my dress.  It's a purple dress, which I got for a dollar at a yard sale a few years ago.  I almost didn't buy it, because it goes with almost nothing else I own and I didn't have any good excuse to wear a formal-ish gown.  But my host daughter Y reminded me that I love making something out of nothing, and urged me to create the excuse. Hence, the Purple Dress Dinner.

Guests don't have to wear purple dresses, but they can if they want.
The can wear tiaras, too.

Any excuse to party, really.  Any excuse to bring friends and family together.  This year, I had the added excuse of vegetable extravaganza.  Please somebody, help me eat these vegetables before we move!!!!  My friends were super obliging.

Because I'm trying to empty out the fridge and freezer, we had a lot of odd concoctions that ended up working kind of surprisingly well.

For example:  frozen watermelon?  I sliced it into ice cube-sized pieces and we had watermelon water.  

And giant head of fennel?  I got the chance to try a recipe I'd been holding onto, awaiting the day that fennel would come my way.  I'd had some really yummy tandoori shrimp when I was at a math meeting, and so I'd looked up a recipe on the internet (I'm guessing the recipe is not in my dad's copy of  To the Bride), and saw that one of the ingredients was fennel.  Hence my waiting for my CSA to gift me.  Alas, the recipe was a tad short on measurements and proportions:

What is tandoori paste made of?
Mix together salt, cayenne, coriander, chili powder, garlic powder, dry mustard, ginger, turmeric, fennel, cumin, and paprika in a food processor. Add lime juice and yogurt when ready to make a paste; store in refrigerator. You can use it as a rub or marinade.

After dinner, we took a stroll through a nearby park
that has a lovely rose garden.  

My version came out !exciting!tangy!wow!   But what the heck, I added it to the mix of things my friends might want to nibble on . . . and it turned out to be a good nibble.  Also a good nibble: swiss chard salad.  Also, massaged kale salad.  Also, garlic scape pesto.  Also, quiche with escarole.  Also, deviled eggs (okay, so those weren't vegetables, but they were in my fridge).  Also, chocolate rhubarb cupcakes . . . which I totally recommend, by the way.  Oh, and naked cherry juice (left over from canning sweet cherries, no sugar added).

Roses are kind of over-rated in my opinion.
They're really pretty, but they don't all smell as sweet as
other roses (by any name).

That list does sound kind of fancy.  But my dress looks kind of fancy, too, and it was what I happened to have.  

Even more fun was the friends I brought together.  I've been trying to . . . how do I say this?  Diversify my portfolio of social capital.  That is, I've been trying to connect to my community in a lot of different ways.  And somehow this party reminded me of how I'm slowly succeeding.  I had a friend from my garden group, from my neighborhood, from the blogosphere, from my college, from my family, from a completely different part of the college . . . and I didn't even include the running/biking peeps, or my church-mates.  (Maybe next year).   Man, this party made me feel like I'm one of the luckiest people alive.

On the other hand, roses are photogenic.
And they happen to be around.  

One of the best things about our family starting the Special Dinner tradition  a bunch of years back is that it's freed us up to turn almost anything into a party.   Super heroes?  check.  Tax Day?  check.  Zoos?  party like an animal! 

So huzzah for my $1 purple dress.  And for living near a park that has roses bursting from the ground, and for vegetables that overflow my fridge, and for a bunch of fancy friends to celebrate all of the above with me.