August 26, 2018 The Aftermath

Yesterday was far too busy to take pictures, way too busy to write anything down.

The Summer Supper Party was a complete success, with a few provisions. These come first:
I am sorry that I didn't have time to invite all of those people that I would have invited, had there been time. A few special people, family and friends, didn't get their invitation because there wasn't enough time to go out and deliver them in person. My own Mother wanted to come, but there wasn't any way to do it. I am deeply sorry that these important people didn't get to be here. They missed out on a good thing and I owe them one (at least one). But the good thing is the thing, so here is the story.

To begin:
We spent weeks planning this. Weeks were spent building the place to have it. Weeks of hard work went into preparing the place and the plan. . . And, yesterday, it all came together in a spectacular way.

We woke up early to begin cooking all of the food we had spent the previous three days collecting. The amount of food was something of a surprise to us and cooking for this many people in our tiny home kitchen was a challenge all on its own. The number of people we would have to feed was something of a mystery until the Friday, when the RSVPs finally began to roll in.

On Tuesday the number of people committed to coming was twelve. This would have been a disappointing number, but we would have taken it and moved on. . . By Thursday the number had hit a very respectable twenty-six committed to attend. . .  We expected about twenty percent more would simply show up un-announced, and that would have been something near forty (so I went out to rent tables and chairs on Friday). . . On Friday the number of people committed to come to our first Summer Supper had grown a bit. In the end we had over fifty people. We had enough chairs, tables, and space for all of them. But they were coming to be fed, so this was a big thing.

Ann and I spent the entire day cooking, chopping, and otherwise preparing for fifty people. Our plan was to err on the side of generosity, but not knowing exactly how to feed such a large group was a constant worry.

The menu was to serve a Comprise salad, with tomatoes, basil, spinach,olive oil and feta cheese; backed up by shrimp and Chicken skewers, with bread; a dessert of strawberry shortcake, blackberry cobble, and apple crisp; backed up by lemonade, iced tea, beer, and pop. Enough food to feed an army is was what we built on our six foot tiny home counter. How to move the food around took a long time to figure out. And in the end we over-served everyone we could.

I built a greenhouse frame and covered it with shade cloth.
Then lit it with 1100 twinkle lights.
The sun never came, but a light rain did.
No-one were hurt by it.

Guest began arriving at two P.M. instead of the appointed hour (at four). This was a good thing since I needed help finishing the preparations in the outdoor serving area I had built for the occasion. They helped me secure the table cloths and bring things out from the house. The bulk of the crowd came around four o'clock and simply greeting them all, while trying to have conversations with those recently arrived, was a challenge. Before five everyone had come and we began the final push to bringing out the food. Since the drinks were all in place before the people started coming, the crowd milled around while waiting for dinner to show up. Needless to say, Ann and I were quite busy showing people around and trying to keep people from becoming bored. Supper began at around  five thirty. Ann enlisted some help to bring it all out, while I began finishing our pre-cooked meat skewers on a charcoal grill.

By the time I finished cooking, most everyone had eaten their fill. (In fact: Ann and I didn't eat much at all because there wasn't time, and the food had mostly run out. We ate egg salad sandwiches around nine and never got a spoonful of the desserts.)

People began abandoning the party as a gentle rain started at six-thirty. A few had left prior to this, owing to family obligations and the like, but by seven-thirty almost everyone had left. We sat around talking with a few guests until nine o'clock. For us this was a complete success. Again with a few provisions.

• One of our desserts had taken a tumble as Ann went to check on it. The Blackberry Cobbler spilled over the front of the oven and this will have to be taken apart to get the thing clean.
• We bought entirely too much beer. This will have to be used up prior to the New Year.
• We will have to find some way to get rid of the extra food.
• And there is the problem of cleaning up, though this isn't the biggest problem since the place isn't that messed up.

In the end we are very happy about the whole thing and plan on doing it again next year. For the people who came we are very grateful. To the people we missed we are very sorry. For the people who brought gifts we are thankful. For the time we spent in doing this we are glad.

And very glad to be done with the whole thing.

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Someone took a few pictures: