Friday the 13th...the bbq.

Tim and I hosted a potluck to celebrate the rare and exciting occurrence when the 13th of the month lands on a Friday. SPOOKY! To prepare, I read the first chapter of "I Like You, Hospitality Under the Influence" to beef up my hostess skills, and I also used the cheese ball recipe and oh, my. So. Good. Buttery cheesy richness, that is now making my small intestine whine like a box of hungry kitties.

Okay, that was maybe a little too far. But here is how I spent my Friday:

1. Sleeping in! I took the day off! Wooo HOOO!
2. Finding recipes to steal on Buttersugarflour.com
3. Running errands;
a. Fixing the glass in a picture frame at Yu Hardware, my favorite hardware store in the entire world.
b. Shopping for mangos, veggies, and all the fresh stuff at Tony's Finer Foods
c. Dropping off recycling
d. Returning $12 worth of spices and then pushing around a cart full of vodka, beer, and two different types of milk at Jewel
e. Paying $3.85 for six fresh, beautiful polish sausages at Starpolska
4. Baking
a. Mango Tart from an Australian amateur baker



b. Red Velvet Cupcakes from Runnersworld.com that I wrote "scary" messages on:


In case you can't read that, it says "the call is coming from inside the house."

c. Peppercorn cheese ball. I will not taunt you with photos of this. That would be cruel.

d. Technically not baking, but I did mix some killer drinks---a sort of lemonade-y beer vodka cocktail. You may be judging me at the moment, but I'll note that a second pitcher was requested and drained (Kaye is a trooper).

5. Drink and enjoy. Several of my co-workers joined the party, as did the small handful of couples that we know in Chicago. We grilled lots of brauts, and approximately two tofu dogs. Wii bowling, lots of chatter, and a bowl full of apples later, my co-worker pulled this out of the oven:



If there was ever a time to scream and pull out the butcher knife, stabbing in random directions as you attempt to escape your eminent doom...uh, now is the time. THAT, my friends, is what is known as a "Bacon Explosion." It is sausage and cheese wrapped in bacon and drenched in BBQ sauce. I had ONE FORK FULL and was like, um, holy crap, NO. NO NO NO.

Actually, the funniest thing was one party guest who had spent about 45 minutes petting Mimi, the giant orange cat, saw that no one was eating the daunting explosión de tocino and sincerely asked "will the cats eat it?"

HA!

Fun times for all, and lots of dishes and left over beers and brauts today. Yippee! Happy Heart Day!