Sinterklaas Party
Saturday started with lots of baking for our St Nicholas party, interspersed with answering texts and mails from guests who'd caught the plague and couldn't come. There were rather a lot of them, poor people! So we had small groups cycling in and out with the first guests arriving at around five and the last at around midnight (not the Spanish this time *g*).
Stuff what happened:
#1 Sinterklaas goodies. Wingnut's mum asked if she could help by sending a couple of things that I wouldn't be able to bake. "A couple of things" in Wingnut mumspeak = two big bags of taaitaai figures (chewy aniseedy biscuits), three big bags of schuimpjes (colourful chemicals, sweet!), pepernoten (aniseedy in smaller form), a big box of marzipan, a big bag of chocolate-covered kruidnoten, marzipan-filled chocolates, and two rolls of Sinterklaas wrapping paper. No wonder HM Customs were so keen to have a look.
#2 Singing. A couple of traditional Sinterklaas songs involving a steamboat and shoes were sung in exchange for presents. But most of the songs were non-Sinterklaas. Flexor had brought his guitar and, with his able assistance, a couple of people made their first acquaintance with The Masochism Tango: "I long for the touch of your lips, dear. But much more for the touch of your whips, dear...."
#3 Good conversation about, well, everything.
#4 A baby. Every party should have one at some point.
Inspecting the post-party debris, I came to the conclusion that we hadn't done too badly on the alcohol front this time. Our parties are BYOB, which people do so in such amounts that they don't drink all their OB, leaving behind generous quantities of B (and W) in a house with a teetotaller and someone who rarely imbibes... This time, smaller numbers and guests in delicate health (necessitating the making of hot toddies) meant that less alcohol was brought and subsequently left. Sometimes I say that we need to have parties after the original parties just to finish off the drink! But not in this case.
Then I realised that the cupboards were suddenly full of chocolate (including Ferrero Rocher, the obvious choice for international gatherings :-D ). I was still finding stuff I hadn't seen before this morning. Er, chocolate party anyone?
Stuff what happened:
#1 Sinterklaas goodies. Wingnut's mum asked if she could help by sending a couple of things that I wouldn't be able to bake. "A couple of things" in Wingnut mumspeak = two big bags of taaitaai figures (chewy aniseedy biscuits), three big bags of schuimpjes (colourful chemicals, sweet!), pepernoten (aniseedy in smaller form), a big box of marzipan, a big bag of chocolate-covered kruidnoten, marzipan-filled chocolates, and two rolls of Sinterklaas wrapping paper. No wonder HM Customs were so keen to have a look.
#2 Singing. A couple of traditional Sinterklaas songs involving a steamboat and shoes were sung in exchange for presents. But most of the songs were non-Sinterklaas. Flexor had brought his guitar and, with his able assistance, a couple of people made their first acquaintance with The Masochism Tango: "I long for the touch of your lips, dear. But much more for the touch of your whips, dear...."
#3 Good conversation about, well, everything.
#4 A baby. Every party should have one at some point.
Inspecting the post-party debris, I came to the conclusion that we hadn't done too badly on the alcohol front this time. Our parties are BYOB, which people do so in such amounts that they don't drink all their OB, leaving behind generous quantities of B (and W) in a house with a teetotaller and someone who rarely imbibes... This time, smaller numbers and guests in delicate health (necessitating the making of hot toddies) meant that less alcohol was brought and subsequently left. Sometimes I say that we need to have parties after the original parties just to finish off the drink! But not in this case.
Then I realised that the cupboards were suddenly full of chocolate (including Ferrero Rocher, the obvious choice for international gatherings :-D ). I was still finding stuff I hadn't seen before this morning. Er, chocolate party anyone?