Sobremesa

Such a rich time on Saturday night with these friends gathered around our table....

It was a dinner party with some assignments attached, and we all left the evening together with wonderful food enjoyed and with grateful hearts...  

See the invitation below:

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Dear Fellow Amateur Comedians and Philosophers,

     We invite you to join us for an evening of good food, humor and wit, and critical debate and discussion on Saturday, April 1, 2017.  After our successful and fun evening together last year, we are planning a new evening of different (but no less entertaining) readings and conversation.  

We ask that you bring three items to the evening:

1) One funny reading (of no more than one page in length) to share during our appetizer--because it will be April Fools' Day and because laughter is indeed the best medicine.* 

2) A dish that you've always wanted to try but never have made before:** 

     --Connolly- appetizer

     --White- salad

     --Hutchinson & Atkins- main dishes (split it up) 

     --Huff- dessert 

Bring a drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic is fine; if flaming, please only small flames) to go with your dish. 

3) An article, essay, screed, or article of no more than one and half pages (single-spaced max, one per couple) to discuss during the main meal.  We will be reading these at the table so prioritize brevity and pithiness. You may read excerpts from a longer article as well.  This should be a piece that you find worthy of deep discussion and maybe debate.***  We will be reviewing and debating the merits of each one over dinner and then voting on them based on the following criteria:

     --most creative

     --most compelling

     --best written

*  For reference or inspiration see this link recently read by one Brendan Connolly to a group.

**  If you are fear taking a risk and messing it up, please read Julia Child's reflection on dishes gone wrong:

     If a dish goes horribly wrong, like a `vile' eggs Florentine she once made for a friend,     Julia instructed, `Never apologize.'  She considered it unseemly for a cook to twist herself into knots of excuses and explanations.  Such admissions `only made a bad situation worse,' she said, by drawing attention to one's shortcomings (or self-perceived shortcomings) and prompting your guest to think: Yes, you're right, this really is an awful meal. `The cook must simply grin and bear it,' Julia said firmly.

***  Given the wide range in dinner guests' expertise and skill sets, any explanation of complex statistical analyses, architectural concepts, or medical terms/conditions should be kept to a minimum length.

Here are a few of the links for some hilarious Craigslist ads shared during our appetizer time:

Used Trampoline

Couch of the gods