The traditional greenies were there, however, the fried turkey was an impossibility due to the much needed rain that was falling all of Thankmas day. The folks here in Charlotte have caught on to the concept of Thankmas and seem to be campaigning for it to be citywide by next year. Much food was enjoyed as well as too much drink, I hope everyone had a great Thankmas this year!

Well, I will be back in a couple of days with a more positive blog all about baking bread with Jenny. I have claimed one Athenian for Charlotte...just a few more to go.

I must say, last night, as my storyteling skills have recently been hampered by my illness (once thought to be a virus, I delayed the antibiotics at the doctor's warning and now am paying the price with delayed recovery), I passed the baton to Ben who, trying to tell a story to explain his lack of entry intot he clean plate club, was harassed to no end. Poor guy was trying to link the placement of some flowers over a dog's grave to his waning hunger, this was even a stretch for me, but I, being in that position many a time, with all of the eyes of the Monday supper clubbers staring me down and their laughter making my story that much longer, that I tried to defend him. Ben then launched into an explanation of why his story was so confusing and from there he was on his own, exclaiming that when Liquor and High Fat Foods are involved, one can't often get one's thoughts straight, so too said Chip as he tried to engineer a high point of huff and exit Sharon's house early so as to avoid the dishes.

I also saw Hannah there and met her new lady friend who will hopefully attend Monday night some week, though I warned her that this week I would be cooking, and she would need to plan accordingly as far as time.

Please let me know who all will be coming this week to dinner, I hope many people can come, but as I will be finishing the magazine up until 2 or so on Monday, I will need to know exactly who is coming so I can make sure to be prepared and not serve dinner at 9 or 10. Well, it's off to bed in the hopes that my computer will work tomorrow...

Well, I am about 3 months behind on the blogging, but half of the time when I'm on the computer I'm in a foul mood about my job, so I don't want to spew negatives, but I will do better... In the meantime, the Athena Magazine for Women might get published in the next couple of weeks, so I will update you on the opening party plans as soon as I have them - you all have to come out in support and hopefully we will have a kick-ass band playing - any suggestions? If you want to see the preview, I'm pretty uch finished with the website and the preview section has some of the magazine pages in it - Athena Magazine Now I'm struggling with the fact that I really want to go to the Lenny Kravitz concert tonight, but missed the tickets the first time and now see two more available on Craig's List for $100 each, what do you think Jocelyn?

Well, a big thank you to tall of those who came to dinner tonight. In no particular order those in attendance were Zach, Jocelyn, Chip, Hannah, Shawn, Sharon, Jason and me. I prepared much of the ingredients this afternoon, and as that was the case, dinner was only an hour and a half late (I really had 7:30 in my mind with cheese and crackers at 7:00, but I think my excuses grow thin, but hey I'm learning, not too bad for someone who had never cooked something not involving some sort of box bottle or can before last fall).

The night did start with the cheese and crackers courtesy of Hannah. Wine, courtesy of Shawn. Then we ate stuffed chicken marsala with Zucchini and onions on the side as well as a rip off of the cheddar bay biscuits from the Red Lobster. Dessert was milk and cookies, thank you Jocelyn for the milk. Dessert was, as is often the case at my house, followed by a listening party of a local Athens rapper who I used to work with, thank you C.E.D., FLY and the whole M-Pac family, the folks were impressed tonight. I think my writing skills are failing due to lack of sleep, so I might remember more in the morning, but for now,, let me just say I had a good time and I hope everyone else did too. Wish me luck as I head to Lake Oconee and Madison tomorrow for the Athena Magazine, should be fun, my boss and I are supposed to be wined and dined by the Ritz folks, we shall see...

The supper club was quite nice (thank you Hannah for the salsa and mm mmm good fajitas) and a good outlet to get rid of the massive desserts I had on hand. I'm running late to teach Flash to Chips pack of wiley eighth graders though so I better run.

The thing that stuck out in my mind about the awards, in addition to the fact that I did like Chris Rock as the host, was the use of the Eminem song in the montage at the beginning of the show - I guess it DID win the Oscar - but come on, Chaplin walking away to EMINEM?!

Last night I made dinner for my Mom's birthday. For thos of you who don't know I am debating the pros and cons of going to culinary school, likely in New York for 6 to 8 months. Among the pros are that I never really cooked before last fall and really enjoy it, find it relaxing except for when it stresses me out, and certainly like the idea of cooking better than web deisgn and graphic design. Among the cons are that, it does stress me out at times and people always tell me that the restaurant profession is not so much fun. Oh, and the school I am looking at, where Jacques Pepin and Bobby Flay teach, costs $33,000...got any money for me? (Chip, I'll agree to do soem personal cheffing for a while). The biggest excitement by far though is that the school is supposed to be really good and offer really good placement to its students at some of the best restaurants and food businesses in the world including the French Laundry in California, Food & Wine Magazine and...The Food Network! (so, the idea of starting my own show sounds a bit exciting, I just am not thinking that happens all that often).

Anyway, I bring that up to explain the menu I made last night. It turned out pretty well and on my usual time schedule it wasn't too much later than I estimate (only actually 15 minutes later than I said I would be). I made Pumpkin Butternut Squash soup, Balsamic Chicken with mushrooms, peas and corn, a blue cheese soufflé, and Red Velvet Cheesecake. I must say that I need to thank those folks at Southern Living for that last one, it really was even better than I expected. My Mom loved it but doesn't want the temptation of having it around - so...ANYONE who comes to my Oscar party tonight gets a piece! (as long as you aren't trying to sneak away with the whole darned cake). The blue cheese soufflé turned out well, and if you haven't tried a cheese soufflé of any kind, I will have to make it one night, they are really good if you are a fan of cheese. I will also have, by popular demand peanut butter bacon truffles, those home made almond joys and maybe some other things for tonight, although I am considering just getting some food in addition to those two, you know, so people can eat at a normal hour.

Well, all of this talk of food is making me hungry, so I'm going to go eat breakfast. Let me know if you are planning on coming tonight for the bulk of the party so that I can plan accordingly, and don't worry I won't really be offended if you can't come. Have a good Sunday everybody!