March 26, 2008

Dinner Party Fan




     Ok, call me old or maybe a crappy 20-something year-old, but I must admit that one of my favorite things to do with friends is have dinner parties.  This all started with weekly dinner parties (Thursday, then Wednesday nights) with my chère Alli at Penn State. Slowly but surely though, the dinner parties increased to fiestas at Meg and Petra's, crêpe and mimosa weekend mornings and of course my annual Chanukah dinner (got to share the Jewish glory of latkas). So being here, I continue to faire la fete (party) with as many dinner parties as I can manage. 
Our past dinner party was in honor of our birthday boy Rene.  Here with his girlfriend Susie, a Canadian assistant, Rene is one of the warmest, coolest and most thoughtful people I've met out here.  Dying lately for some buffalo wings, one of his culinary favorites, Rene tried out "Buffalo Grill," a local chain restaurant in France to appease his barbecue hankering.  So, let me try to describe "Buffalo Grill" to you all. Adorned with Native American and cowboy paraphernalia, "Buffalo Grill" serves an array of meats in a family style restaurant decorated in a red and black motif. And overall, I now know what it must feel like to be an Australian going to "Outback" in the U.S. Seriously, this restaurant is ridiculous. Most of the pictures of 'indians and cowboys' are pictures of the French country sides, including cute cottage homes with cowboys mounted on horses photoshoped in. 
Nonetheless, Rene's "Buffalo Grill" visit was more than disappointing, so over dinner out one night we decided, why not try making some hot wings ourselves with a little dinner party. With some cooking advice from Mommy Myers and some hot ketchup we hit gold. I spiced up the ketchup with some more vinegary twang and chili sauce, chopped up some celery and made some homemade blue cheese dressing and voila a meal for the gods. Oh wait did I mention the glorious greek salad our demi-Greek, Alex made, including olives and dolmas!!!   
With a hankering for some milkshakes, Susie also whipped up some dark chocolate milkshakes along with the black forest cake she bought for Rene. And how could I forget the french fries, which were quite good as well with some apple cider vinegar, very boardwalk fries-style. And so, that was our little dinner party, which of course included some highly-intellectual conversation, hilarious stories from Alex, our king of accent-imitation and lots of guitar serenading from Ross, Rene and even a bit from myself. 

Cheers!
picture: 1) the meal, Ross, Alex, Susie, Rene 2)Me at "Buffalo Grill" with the Perrots in 2006

3 comments:

lucasbuck said...

did you get a haircut?? it looks amazing!!

Lindsay said...

yup yup, earlier that day in fact. thanks for noticing, one of the best compliments ever. next time its goin even shorter, get ready!!

Unknown said...

maybe you can open a chain of bbq hot spots in canada and the u.s and call it 'lindsay's Q