Wed. Feb 18th - First Potluck of 2009!

Was a good time had by all. It happened three weeks ago, so I can’t promise that my memory will be 100% accurate…but I’ll try my best.

Cast of characters:

Laura B
Dave and Isabelle
Jannes
Karin and Riki
Laura’s male friend, the actor
Laura’s cat



I got the invite from Marie, who got it from Dave and Isabelle. I went over Laura B’s place at Sunnyside. Dave answered the door, and when I entered, everyone was around a table, playing a card game.

Not sure what the card game was called, so here’s the gist: You have 7 cards, all with nouns. The player in charge picks up two cards in the center of the table, which are adjectives, and you and your opponents try to pick the card in your stack that best matches the description of the adjectives. The player in charge then picks the noun card he thinks fits the best with the adjective cards, and whomever card that player picks, the person who put that specific card down is the winner.

I was thrown right into the game while Laura got me a glass of wine. It was around then that I was introduced to everyone. It was nice seeing Jannes from Berlin again; he gave me a card with his band’s myspace info on it. Dave and Isabelle were there too, solid and happy to be there. I met Laura’s friend, the Actor, though I do not remember his name. He seemed like a gentle guy, and I believe went to college with her at Charleston. Then I got to meet Karin and Riki, who both taught and traveled with Laura in Thailand. Besides having awesome names, they were really nice, and told me a little bit about their adventures there (something about elephants, if I remember correctly) …and about the food. Oh my God, I love Thai food. Karin and RIki were staying with Laura for a few months.

I brought 2 bags of Terra Chips, which were happily consumed by everyone, especially Karin. Most of the other guests had already eaten, so there was a plate of fancy crackers, brie and a bagel pizza waiting for me. Of course I ate everything…because you never turn down a food offer from the host. Ever.

For some reason, Karin kept winning (approximately 4 out of every 6 tries), which was starting to bug me, since I ended up not winning a game the whole night. But I got over it, especially after she told a funny story regarding her dad. Oh, and Laura’s cat was there, and everyone else was petting her, except for me. But somehow I wasn’t feeling allergic, which usually never happens. I wonder if her cat is hypoallergenic, if there is such a thing as hypoallergenic cats.

After Isabelle and Dave left, I spent another half an hour hanging. Laura had her laptop open, so we showed each other youtube videos (my God, has we all gone geeky?) I of course showed them the 1st part of Food Party.. Then Jannes showed us an animated video of this kid who recorded John Lennon with a tape recorder back in the late 60’s; it was a little long-winded (Lennon can yap for a ridiculous amount of time) but did have its pretty moments.

All in all, it was a good time. I do believe that we might have a tea party in a couple of weeks, and perhaps do a blind tea taste test, to see if if my company’s tea is better than the tea Karin buys. Stay tuned…