The Open House

So yesterday was our big blowout open house. We love our house and wanted to show it off, much like a new baby. And show it off we did. I think by the zillion tour, I had somehow reverted back to my days as a campus tour guide complete with rehearsed stories and sure to point out the quirky details of the house. For example, by 2:00 pm (the Open House was from 11:00 to 3:00) I would take people upstairs, show them the quilt in the bedroom and say that I wished I had designed the living room aorund the quilt which was all primary colors and then I would take them to the kitchen where I would regale them with stories of our lovely neighbors from whose herb garden I poached dill and chives and who inexplicably hated figs even though they have a huge fig tree in their yard.

You know who did not have to suffer through the the rehearsed quality of the late afternoon house tours? Scotte, Jason, and Stef. They were sensible enough to come early. In fact this blogging trifecta was the first to arrive. I kind of giggled with glee when I saw them coming up the walk. Luckily, they got the house tour when everything was fresh and spontaneous - Oooh lookee here, a quilt; OMIGOD I HAAAVE to show you the basement bathroom. My one regret is that I didn't get to spend that much time with these three. It wasn't long after I gave them the tour and poured them a bellini that more people came up the walk. And then more people and more people. By the end of the day we counted 65, well more than the 42 who RSVPed.

Since this IS a food blog, the food was great. And what was the best? The lemon ginger muffins that Scotte brought. People were constantly coming up to me and asking for the recipe. It was such a standout. Moist, flavorful, and not too sweet. And Scotte is seriously the spiritual twin to Bree van de Kamp. Scott came with this adorable metal basket of muffins wrapped in a tasteful dishcloth. The basket was a housewarming present. Isn't that the sweetest?

Our own dishes certainly held their own to the fabulousness of the lemon ginger muffins. By the way, this prompted me to reminisce about my friend whose last name was Wong. In college some frat boys would constantly call her and ask "What's Wong? What's Wong?" When she told us this story, our friend Dan said she needed to change her name to Muffin. So if they asked "what's Wong," she would reply, "Muffin wong." HEE. Anywho, the bellini bar was incredible. People LOOOVE the bellinis. J was sensible enough to make a how-to guide on bellini making for those people who don't watch Everyday Italian. We had the traditional peach, along with raspberry and blueberry.

On the food end, we had:

parmesan pastry cups filled with dill creme fraiche and smoked salmon
deviled eggs (a salute to J's Texas past)
caramelized onion and bacon quiche
roasted pepper and feta quiche
Thai chicken meatballs with Thai chili sauce
a cheese plate with Gruyere, Cheddar, and Fontina cheese
Nigella's Union Square mixed nuts
spinach balls
lemon pound cake
and blueberry muffins (MUFFIN WONG!).

The is the first time we ever undercatered an event (20 more people!). But we were able to ensure that there was champagne and prosecco flowing throwing the entire party. This was the first event since our wedding I really needed to process everything that happened. I loved that people actually used the basement as a party room. I loved that my biggest challenge was to not put the food out too early (because we made it in advance). Most of all I love that our crazy community of friends, co-workers, singers, and bloggers came together to celebrate our house.