Divine Dinner Party

And speaking of growing up- Last Saturday I hosted a small dinner party for 10. It was Alexis' birthday and hell, any excuse to throw a fete. I consulted the cookbooks and decided to do all Greek.
Everything turned out delightfully and thank God everyone enjoyed every last bite.
There were not even left overs!
The menu consisted of:
Feta Cheese Dip- you should of seen my blender after this one. Not pretty.
Psari Plaki- Baked Flounder a la Tassie
Anginares me Koukia- Artichokes with Lima Beans

Since we all basically live at the Beatrice Inn every weekend I thought I would add a touch of the ole Bea to the cocktail hour.
I made my rendition of "Jack's Juice". Jack is one of the bartenders there and brother to co-owner Matt.
He makes the most divine cocktail:
Muddled Cucumbers
Lemon Juice
Lime Juice
2 tsp Sugar
Splash of soda
Vodka
mint garnish.

The drink is so clean and goes down like nectar of the Gods.
I knew I wasn't about to muddle cucumbers for 10 guests so I put them in the blender with some mint and vodka and then let them soak overnight.
But then I realized I would have to strain all the mix or people would need spoons to drink this stuff. Argh.

Guests included the usual suspects and some new ones.
Justin and Paul
Fay and Deepak
Frankie
Rod
Alexis
Susan Joy
Alex de Looz

Susan and I have been friends for years since we did yoga at Crunch in Soho with Brian Crumley but we have never had chill out one on one time. Damn that girl is smart! And hot! But I already knew that. And Funny! I sat her next to me and we chatted about Count D'Orsay and Jesus (!).

Alex de Looz is new too. He is co owner of Pin Up Magazine and lives one block away. He is terribly good to look at and quite an amusing creature. He fit right in with the rest of us.

After dinner everyone lit up, some cigarettes, some joints and then it was dessert time. Since I was not about to master a Greek pastry I called my girl Melba and she hooked me up with two sweet potato pies. Damn they were good!

By now every one had played musical chairs and wine bottles were taking over the table.
Alexis disappeared and came back in 10 minutes to invite us all into my office.
Perplexed we entered to find he had set up a vintage camera to take pictures of the crowd as a souvenir.
Sweet!

We all posed with my favorite golden piggy bank and ended it with a massive group shot.
The images turned out amazing, except for the group shot. After so much wine Alexis forgot to focus the camera when he moved it back. Oops!

We then proceeded to my room, reasons are unclear to me. At this time the clock struck 12 and Fay and I brought up a cake for Alexis and sang happy birthday.

Lucy came over with a glass in hand and we all retreated to the living room for dancing to Elton John, Eartha Kitt and Nina Simone.

As is standard for all events, Lucy and I sang Marvelous Party in a drunken stupor and then everyone fell into cabs.
I walked Alex home and then passed out, after one more nibble of sweet potato pie that is....