Weekend Schmeekend

Holy Hot Weather, batman!

It is officially Summer in the city and Memorial Day weekend is the perfect way to set it off.

This weekend I was busy (not much different than last weekend, or the weekend before, or next weekend) but it was fun!

On Thursday, I was running errands for my dinner party on Saturday and while at Home Depot, I dropped a 2x4 on my foot. OMG! It hurt incredibly bad! It took everything I had to not break into tears like a 4 year old, but I knew it would not be pretty. As I waited for the guy with the saw to cut the lumber, I could see two of my toes slowly turning purple. By the time I got the lumber cut, checked out and home, my foot was throbbing and my two toes were a crazy collage of purple, red, and black. After a few hours, I knew one of the toes was broken. It had swollen up and become a nice shade of royal purple. My big toe also had a great bruise on it, but it was not broken. Who knew such a small bone could hurt so much! This city is made for walking, but not for walking with a broken toe!

On Friday, I took my first ever LIRR trip into Long Island and spent the night with my Mom and her husband who were in town taking care of business. We spent 18 hours eating, drinking, and catching up. It was a short visit, but it reminded me of the weekends when I would come home for a day or so from college just to get away and see family.

On Saturday, I hosted a dinner party for one of my book clubs. A few months ago, we read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and we all loved the idea of having a midnight dinner based on the book's dinner parties. So we did. I am not the type of person who hosts a party and basically just opens up my apartment; I go all out. I decorated, I made themed food, and I tried to keep things close to the book.

Here was the invitation:

Midnight Dinners are a soon to be tradition at la maison Roberts! Dress in your black and white (red scarves optional) and come on up to the snazziest dinner to hit Harlem this year.

“Always precisely at midnight, at the moment the grandfather clock in the foyer begins ...to chime, the first plates will be placed on the table.”

It's true. Dinner will happen at midnight. It was discussed and decided that if we are going to have a midnight dinner, we should try to keep it authentic. Feel free to bring a sleeping bag and spend the night; you are trekking all the way to Harlem and it will be late.

“At dinner, which begins promptly at midnight, each course is styled in black or white but bursts with color once pierced with forks or spoons, revealing layer upon layer of flavors.”

This would amazing, but I don't think any of us have this much magic up our sleeves. Just bring something delicious, fun, and enough to share.

“But the Midnight Dinners have an air of nocturnal mystery already, and Chandresh finds that providing no menu, no map of the culinary route, adds to the experience. Dish after dish is brought to the table, some easily identifiable as quail or rabbit or lamb, served on banana leaves or baked in apples or garnished with brandy-soaked cherries. Other courses are more enigmatic, concealed in sweet sauces or spiced soups; unidentifiable meats hidden in pastries and glazes.”

It was also discussed and decided to make the event a potluck style dinner, but we are keeping with The Night Circus theme and going in with a blind eye. We ask that you tell the group if you are bringing an appetizer, side dish, drink, or dessert, but keep the specifics to yourself. It's more fun that way!

Keep in mind that there are a few food allergies amongst the group: berries, apples, hazelnuts. The main dish will be meat free to cater to the masses, but I wouldn't say meat is off the menu. If you have any additional allergies or requests about the food please let us know and we shall add it to the list :)

Please feel free to bring guests, games, & music playlists. Magic tricks and sleights of hand encouraged. 


Everyone who came had a decent time even though the apartment felt like an oven because it was hot outside and we had food cooking all night. Here are some pictures:

Living room wall decorations

Candles, lots of candles.

Clock on the wall (You have to read the book!)

Appetizers!

Desserts!

 

Fancy Jello Shots!

The group with a self-timer camera.

Me and the photographer

No one got any pictures of the main courses because it was midnight and we were pretty hungry! We may have also used my fire escape as a means of cooling down, but I am not saying that we did, because that might be illegal.

On Sunday, I cleaned up. I napped. Then I went to work. Then my friend Jenny and I went in search of fleet week festivities, but instead of finding them we ended up at a bar in Greenwich Village called Blind Tiger. They had decent food, an excellent beer selection, and an all around cool atmosphere.