Wednesday, January 08, 2003

And lest we forget, let

And lest we forget, let me broadcast to the world that the finest bigos I’ve ever et - and I’ve et some fine bigos to be sure - was served to me last Saturday night at Andy and Heidi’s house.  Charles and Lori brought pierogies which they fried in butter and slathered with carmelized onions; these we ate enthusiastically with sublime pickled herring and sevruga caviar and sour cream on crisp light crackers on the side.  Oh, and we drank vodka too. 

Our tastebuds sensitized and ringing, Andy served up the stew - masses of basi and smoked turkey in mounds of sauerkraut, the flavors all mingled and subdued, tangy and sweet and heartwrenchingly tender… with this he served the best damn potatoes I’ve EVER eaten, chunked and parboiled, seasoned and buttered and roasted to a fluff inside a crispy shell. 

For dessert, we enjoyed Ralph’s typically wonderful Aussie sweet wine and some See’s candy, and Kel brought a traditional poppy roll.  And a marble cake.  And pfefferneussen.  And a traditional polish chocolate wafer disk.  And a bunch of weird cone-shaped chocolates wrapped in colorful foil and filled with some kind of unusual wafer-n-cream combo. 

Then we let Ralph take the kids home, and Charles took Lori home, and Kel and I got into the hot tub and simmered ourselves into bliss under an unusually starry sky.  Andy joined us after about half an hour and shortly after that we hove out of the wooden barrel, toweled off, got dressed and drove home.  We got home after midnight, which is pretty darn late for homebodies like us.

Polak fest has become a well-established mainstay in our party repertoire, but we’ll never do better than last Saturday night - it sets a new standard.  That kind of satisfaction can last halfway through a standard workweek.  Well, welcome to Wednesday, Chuckles - the party’s over.  Time to smoke another turkey.